[nagdu] follow was Grave problems with Pilot Dogs program

Fri Apr 15 22:55:41 UTC 2011

Dar,

I'm feeling very stupid today, because when someone else mentioned key
jingling a bit earlier (for me) was the first time I ever thought of it.
And I'd almost forgotten until you mentioned again.  D'oh.  That's so
wonderfully obvious!

I need it, too.  DD had his vocal chords nicked during his cancer surgery (5
years ago now, and he's doing great!), so he can't always project enough
volume for me to hear him, even in only slightly noisy environments, well
enough to follow.  Mitzi's good at following him, but she also gets bored
and would rather go about on errands of her own, which she assumes will be
useful to me, because she's decided that.  /grin/  She kinda has a point,
there.  He's a total stroller and a very leisurely shopper who loves to stop
and contemplate every other item he sees and describe it to me.  I enjoy his
descriptions quite a bit, and he will present items of particular interest
for me to feel, and we have fun.  Only I'm not a stroller any more than
Mitzi is, and am more of a mission-oriented shopper by nature, so sometimes
I would rather use a shopping trip to work on orientation for me and crowd
or route work for her.  The bright side is, she loves, loves, loves to "find
Dad."  So that's fun for me, too.

For follow though, I am definitely going to suggest he jingles his keys.
Why neither of us has ever thought of that is beyond me, but it should work
for us.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of d m gina
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 2:55 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [nagdu] follow was Grave problems with Pilot Dogs program

Hi there
The follow command can be taught different ways, ladies at times will 
jingle their keys and the dog would follow, until the  dog picked up on 
how to do this,
A feller would snap his fingers.
I also give the persons name, saying follow Jan.
Or I will say my husbands name after following a small bit to make sure 
I'm following him.

Original message:
> To all of you who have taught the follow command, can you share tips on
how
> you did it?

> I taught Belle, but I don't really remember completely how I did it.  She
> picked it up very easily and was one of those dogs who would follow to the
> exclusion of all else.

> I've been working on the concept with Monty off and on for a while now,
but
> he isn't very good at following.  He wants to be out front and in the
lead.
> that's fine most of the time, but sometimes I do need him to follow, like
> yesterday when we were following someone in a parking lot to a particular
> car.

> Thoughts? Ideas?
> Julie

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sheila Leigland" <sleigland at bresnan.net>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 7:51 PM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Grave problems with Pilot Dogs program

>> When I got my first dog I taught him to follow on my own. They don't want
>> the dogs to just follow people so they don't risk teaching it.

>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Lyn Gwizdak <linda.gwizdak at cox.net>
>> Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 3:45 PM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Grave problems with Pilot Dogs program

>> Carin,
>> I've known several people who got dogs at Pilot.  They went during the
80s
>> and 90s and they had traffic training and their dogs worked fine as far
as
>> I
>> could see.  What I did hear is that they don't teach the "Follow"
command.
>> I have since heard that other schools aren't teaching the "Follow"
command
>> either.

>> To me, the "Follow" command is a very good one that I use all the time
>> when
>> I'm in a store or just out and about with other guide dog users and I
>> don't
>> know the route - usually inside a mall or store.  Out on the street, I
use
>> the regular guide commands.

>> Lyn and Landon
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Karen Alexander" <kalex710 at gmail.com>
>> To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 4:42 PM
>> Subject: [nagdu] Grave problems with Pilot Dogs program

>>> I spoke with Alec a member of Nagdu and a guide dog handler. I found out
>>> that Pilot Dogs train their dogs for only three months. It seems that
>>> they
>>> are not thoroughly trained with traffic, etc. I am just in the beginning
>>> state of choosing an organization.

>>> I could used input from anyone on this list regarding Pilot Dogs both
>>> positive and negative.

>>> It is a grave concern to me to be given a dog who could put both of us
in
>>> harms way. How can a service dog organization not be called out for
>>> unsafe
>>> dogs?

>>> The newbie,

>>> Carin

>>> Karen Alexander

>>> home:    330 864 8351

>>> mobile:  330 715 4690

>>> 710 White Pond Dr #705

>>> Akron, Ohio 44320

>>> _______________________________________________
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et

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--Dar
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