[nagdu] Fw: 12 hours from gdb visit.

[Lisa Irving]

What an excellent explanation. I guess my feet are ambidextrousI only hope 
I'm not confusing my dog guide. .
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Katrin Andberg" <katrin at maplewooddog.com>
To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 20, 2011 8:58 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Fw: 12 hours from gdb visit.


>I come from the competition obedience world and I was taught that on a heel
> you always start forward with your left foot so you don't leave the dog in
> the dust and the dog can cue off your left leg/foot moving forward to move
> with you on the heel forward.  So when I trained James to be my guide, I
> would probe with the right foot so that I could forward on the left, since
> that was my ingrained habit with dogs after years of competition heeling.
> When I had my interviews with 2 guide dog programs, the instructors doing
> the interviews both said that at their schools (GDF and Freedom) they had
> their clients probe with the left and forward on the right since they 
> found
> that people who did the opposite (what I did with James) would tend to 
> lurch
> into the dog on the forward.  I never seemed to have that issue with 
> James.
> But once James retired after 8yrs and I went back to using a cane, I would
> find myself probing with my left and forward on the right, probably 
> because
> my cane is in my right hand and I was taught that at curbs to bring the 
> cane
> across your body to your opposite foot, so when I started training Jess
> that's what I taught her- probe with left, forward on right.  I don't much
> think the dog cares in all reality though, they aren't stupid, and they 
> pick
> up nuances of human behavior incredibly quickly and well it seems.
>
>
> Katrin
>
>
>
> Katrin Andberg
>
> <mailto:katrin at maplewooddog.com> katrin at maplewooddog.com
>
>
>
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