[nagdu] Guide Dog Obedience

[Linda Gwizdak]

Hi Michelle,
I'd make Troy wait til the cows came home for the water if he breaks the Sit 
command.  In other words, water NEVER appears until he learns to stay. 
Maybe don't keep the water down so then you always know how much water is in 
the dish before it is put down. Make him sit and stay before you put it 
down.  If he breaks, remove it immediately - before he gets to it. He has to 
know that he must wait for your OK before going for the water.  This can be 
a safety issue as he coould cause the bowl to be upset and water spilled all 
over the place.  Some dogs have tried to knock the bowl out of the person's 
hand.

Have you had him check for any conditions that would make him very thirsty? 
I have found that it is wise to find out if there is a medical problem 
before correcting some behaviors.

HTH!

BTW, welcome and hope you join us in our lively discussions.  I'm Lyn and 
I'm working with my eighth dog, Landon. He's a four-year-old red Lab/Golden 
cross from The Seeing Eye.

Lyn and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michelle" <m-johnson at bigpond.com>
To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 1:48 AM
Subject: [nagdu] Guide Dog Obedience


> Hi,
>
> I've got a question. I'm a first-time guide dog user, and have had my 
> current guide dog for just over two years. He's good with his obedience 
> commands most of the time, but when it comes to telling him to sit and 
> stay when I'm checking how much water he has in his container, or if 
> someone else has to go into the laundry for a few minutes for any reason 
> and Troy is thirsty, I, or the other person, will tell him to sit and 
> stay, but then his compulsion to drink right now causes his obedience to 
> go out the window. What do I do about this, so then he won't generalise 
> this breaking of commands to other parts of his working and social life?
>
> Advice much appreciated,
>
> Michelle
>
> P.S. Even though Troy gets enough water to drink each day and has access 
> to it every day, when he wants water, he is so impatient that he can't 
> seem to sit and stay for as lo g as we need him to when it comes to 
> checking his water container or going into the laundry for other reasons 
> before letting him go for a drink. He breaks his stay before I or others 
> leave the laundry.
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