[nagdu] Dog attacks: accessible cell phone with camera

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Julie,

That's about the same conclusion I've come to with my very similar method.
It's just automatic, I don't think about it until afterwards when I
deconstruct an incident to see how I could hav handled it better or even
just to figure out what happened.  /smile/  I do my sort of self-debriefing
more now that I don't have vision to read the body language, so I want to
review what I heard and other information I picked up so I can use my other
senses better.

So I wouldn't be comfortable with just putting Mitzi in a down stay and
remaining inactive to diffuse the attack by no escalating.  However, I think
that for the programs it is the best way to teach their graduates how to
deal with aggressive dogs and to train the dogs to do that.

Thanks for the good answer!

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Julie J
Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2011 5:34 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Dog attacks: accessible cell phone with camera

Tami,

I totally get your question.  I don't have a good answer though.  A lot of 
how I interact with dogs just comes to me, I don't think about it too much. 
when I sit down to write how I do this or that is when I really think about 
it.  The doing is very automatic for me.

It's difficult for me to postulate on whether or not a new to dogs person 
would be able to pull off my method of doggie de-escalation.  It could be 
that it comes easily to them and it could be that the language of dogs is 
completely foreign to them.   I think also a lot of it is confidence and the

ability to keep calm when that is the last thing you want to do.

There was an article in my local paper about all the loose dogs and 
consequent dog attacks.  The author was a person I know and who I frequently

encounter with Monty.  She is fearful around him.  Her body language speaks 
volumes.  I think it probably escalates the situation when she is out 
walking her own dog and encounters another dog.  Her voice goes up an octave

and  she has those quick, jerky movements. I doubt that she could be 
successful with my method because she is too afraid and shows it.

I don't think the method of having your dog in a down stay to diffuse the 
situation is bad.  I can see how that could go a long way in communicating 
to the other dog that you are not a threat.  It's just not what I'm 
comfortable with doing.

Julie



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