[nagdu] EXTERNAL: Puppy raising

Tamara Smith-Kinney tamara.8024 at comcast.net
Fri Jul 30 00:24:59 UTC 2010


Rebecca,

Well, ultimately, you need to take your youngster in the places it will be
working to teach it proper etiquette and to familiarize it with those
surroundings.  You can pracitce foundation skills and develop some
familiarity with similar settings that are pet-friendly.  I spent some time
with Mitzi in outdoor café areas around our old neighborhood before I ever
took her into a café or restaurant.  Even then it was a coffee shop, and I
went in long enough to work with her while we ordered, then we came straight
back out to the outdoor seating where we worked some more on lying down
under the table and such while she was still very excited from her big
adventure and all those smells from inside the shop.

Sill, even by that time, I had quite a bit of time and money invested in the
little beast.  I would not want to be without recourse if some vicious cur
tied into her while we were training.

There are some milieus where simply asking doesn't really work, though.
Like riding the bus.  Sooner or later, you have to take the dog on the bus
to teach it how to behave on the bus.  Stuff like that.  It may be a matter
of personal definition, but even though Mitzi was doing some limited
guiding, I would never consider her out of training until we rode the bus.
Also, we needed to ride the bus to places to work on other facets of guide
dog training...  And I had to learn to manage the dog on the bus, as well.
So we went a couple of times with her out of harness, me with cane, and I
let her become familiar with the bus, the movement, the people, all that,
and I was able to work on teaching her "under" and learning how to stuff her
poodliness under the seat at the same time, etc., etc.  It wasn't in my
plan, but we also got to learn to deal with the hefty amount of interference
from other passengers involved in just getting on the bus and sitting
down...  Good grief!

Even when I started taking her into regular restaurants in harness, she was
still definintely in training.  I would ask and explain to the staff,
especially when they questioned her status as a guide dog.  She was, in
fact, guiding by then, so I had some ground to stand on, but she wasn't
trained, in my opinion, because she hadn't learned yet how to behave
properly in restaurants...

Am I making any sense at all?  It seemed to me as we learned to work in more
advanced settings that training in these places mostly involved working with
Mitzi to keep her focused and on her "indoor" behavior in a stimulus rich
environment...  Sights! Smells! Sounds! People! Kids! Stuff!  It all drives
any prior training clean out of a young dog's head.  /smile/  It causes
young poodles to positively levitate.  /grin/  While wriggling.  You can do
obedience exercises at home 24 hours a day every day, but the first trip
into the grocery store will still be a lot of work just overcoming the
smells.  Then, at some point, you have to suck it up and teach your dog to
go past the meat counter without insanity.  /grin/

When your dog can guide you past the meat counter, you're doing good.  When
she can guide you past the meat counter, then sit quietly while you order
meat, that's when you know there's hope! /lol/  

As for protections for guide dogs in training -- well, the programs have a
lot invested in those pups even by the time they hit the ground.  An
owner-trainer may not have money invested in breeding lines and vet care and
staff to work with puppy raisers, but an owner-trainer tends to have a much
more limited budget, too.  The percentage of available funds invested in
that one dog gets pretty high pretty quick.  The time expenditure is pretty
hefty, too, way more than one would spend on a sweet pet.  Having no
recourse against some yo-yo with an aggressive untrained dog that ruins your
guide dog -- or worse -- is just beyond thinking about!  In Oregon, the law
is not as strong as it is in other states, but it does cover guide dogs in
training.  Whew!  Not that I have any wish to ever find out how that would
work in the course of an owner-trained guide.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 8:23 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] EXTERNAL: Puppy raising

Hi Meghan. The way you explain the leaving and coming back makes sense.
You're teaching a very defined skill, unlike with parents who teach "how
to be a good person" which is very different. In your situation, you're
trying to stop the dog from barking and you reintroduced the situation
quickly so the good behavior was reinforced. 
My problem with the "just leave if the dog acts up" is that it teaches
the dog that if it is just tired of working, all it need do is act up.
Your explamation sounds like it teaches the correct behavior v. the
incorrect one. In fairness, this can be very difficult to keep in mind. 
I'm still not sure why service dogs in training need the rights that
guide dog users do. Your thoughts? I guess I don't understand why asking
for permission and sticking to dog-friendly places wouldn't be enough? 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 10:36 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: EXTERNAL:[nagdu] Puppy raising

Hi Meghan.
I would be extremely interested to hear more about your puppy-raising
experiences.  You have a guide dog, too, don't you?  How does that work?

Or are you between dogs?Tell us all about your puppy!
Tracy



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