[nagdu] Owner training your own dog

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Well, being an owner-trainer, can I also slam my school?  'Cause I tell you
that school has pulled some stuipd stunts...  /lol/

Seriously, I have to say that in the end, it occurred to me owner-training
was more convenient at the time, since I happened to have gotten this dog
with "the right stuff."  Since I could train said newly acquired adolescent
poodle who appeared to have the traits I wanted in a guide to begin with,
and since I truly do love training animals and working with them over time,
it suddenly occurred to me that it wasn't worth my whilte to go to a guide
dog program at all.

In other words, it wasn't so much that I answered the question "why
owner-train" as that I had no answer at all to the question, "Why not?"  So
I did.

The answers to the how questions of choosing a dog and learning which tasks
and how to train them is very, very long, since it's all a process.  I was
fortunate enough to find this list early on, which taught me a lot about
guide dogs and what they dog and what issues I needed to learn...  And of
course, the first person I met was Julie.  Who also told me about the
vi-clicker-training list, where I met a number of others who are also on
this list even if they don't owner train themselves, so that was way cool.
Without all of those people, I'd still be sitting around scratching my head
trying to figure it out.  /lol/  Well, also, there was a lot of prior study
and reading in behaviorism and other training theories and what not, plus a
whole, whole lot more frantic reading and study and asking desperate
questions and...  I like learning as much as I like training, so this was
all just good fun to me.  Exhausting, grueling hard work, don't get me
wrong, but I happen to enjoy that sort of thing.  And Mitzi is really a
delight, despite the stories I tell on her sometimes.  Actually, the stories
stem from the "dark side" of the traits about her I adore the most and that
she uses so well in her work.

Picking a dog?  Good luck!  /lol/  I've heard enough of the trials and
tribulations of others by now to realize that you need to know what you're
doing and be willing to look and watch and wait for the right one, then know
it when happens across your path.  I believe you need to have educated
yourself ad infinitum in order to recognize the right dog when you find it.
It's just that the process of finding appears to be different for everyone,
fraught with heartache and hazard, then the seeker suddenly has a dog from
somewhere that was not on the list to look.

Me, I ordered my current guide dog over the phone because I had decided to
get a nice, sensible cat, so I called some poodle breeders...  

I am not making that up.  Like I say, looking for a guide dog prospect.
Good luck!  Literally.  /lol/  If someone knows the science of the process,
please do tell me, because like any self-respecting owner-trainer I've been
fretting about where to get my next pup since this one was just barely
trained.  I know what I want, exactly, and I have the acquisition timed down
to the split second based on Mitzi's life expectancy, health, energy,
wishful thinking.  /lol/

Oh, as for finding guide dog programs being open to giving an owner-trainer
advice...  lolololol.  Ouch!  I just broke a rib!  Oh, you silly, silly boy.
/grin/

Seriously, if you feel nobody's been rude enough to you lately, call a guide
dog program, tell them you're an owner trainer and you have a question...
Then just sit back and listen.

Have Xanax on hand.  Or maybe a good bottle of Scotch.

Well, one such conversation was enough for me, and I ended up making it as
short as possible before my phone melted from the steam coming out of my
ears.  Someone else told of a conversation with that same program (perhaps
even the same person) that sounded exactly the same but went on longer, to
exactly where I had realized the conversation (I use the term loosely) I had
was going before I ended it.  So, more steaming ears for me.

I would say guide dog programs are not supportive of owner-trainers.
/smile/



Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Jeffrey Young
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 4:53 PM
To: the National Association of Guide Dog Users NAGDU Mailing List
Subject: [nagdu] Owner training your own dog

Hi guys,

I'm curious about owner training dogs. How do you find a dog? How do you
learn to know everything you should teach a dog? Have you found GuideDog
schools open to giving someone advice as far as training a dog?

It just seems like it would take so much time and effort that it could be
more worth your wile to just find a school.
Note that I'm looking for responses from people who have actually owner
trained their dogs or are in the process of doing so. I'm not really
interested in someone who wants to promote their school of choice wile
slamming the practice of owner training. Unless said person has experience
with owner training, but prefers one of the established schools.

Thanks

Jeff Young
Independent Scent-sations Distributor

Email: jeff.young8806 at gmail.com
Phone: (318) 243-3003
Website: http://www.jeffyoung.scent-team.com

Inter our weekly drawing for a free 16 OZ gourmet scented candle here.
http://jeffyoung.scent-team.com/weeklydrawing/index.php
Follow me on twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/blindaction

_______________________________________________
nagdu mailing list
nagdu at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/tamara.8024%40comcast
.net