[nagdu] navigating without your cane

[Jenine Stanley]

Julie P., 

You asked if walking around without your cane at guide dog school is used to
evaluate whether someone might need a dog to take more initiative. I can't
say certainly that this is done but I can't help but imagine instructors are
making these kinds of observations. 

When I got my first 2 dogs at Pilot Dogs back in the mid 1980's, we had one
exercise during those days before we got our dogs in which we had to learn
various parts of the building then were sent to find them randomly.  This
was good training for the few routes we learned during class, such as to the
bus stop and back. 

One student had extreme difficulty with O&M. She just couldn't understand
spatial layouts and was a route traveler, meaning she learned a specific
series of directions along a prescribed route and if anything changed, she
was in trouble because she just didn't know how to interpret it and work
around. She truly needed a dog who would do that for her without a hitch.
She ended up leaving training because she simply could not interpret where
the dog was taking her enough to direct it. We used the various exercises of
finding things in the building though to try to help her but eventually, the
instructor said it just wasn't enough. 

Jenine Stanley
jeninems at wowway.com


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Julie Phillipson
Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2011 2:31 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] navigating without your cane

ok so I was on the right track, thanks for the more credible explanation. 
Is it also used to evaluate what dog might be the best match for the person 
like someone might need a dog to take more initiative then someone else 
does?

Julie Phillipson
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jenine Stanley" <jeninems at wowway.com>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2011 1:42 PM
Subject: [nagdu] navigating without your cane


> Julie,
>
> One of the reasons guide dog programs ask that you navigate without your
> cane prior to receiving your dog, say during those first few days on 
> class,
> is to in part observe your skill at orientation and mobility and also get
> you used to not having that cane input as you move around spaces. Most
> schools have you walk with your dog at heel in the building. When you do
> progress to harness work indoors, you're used to that form of input, but
> initially while heeling the dog, you are in charge of movement, 
> orientation,
> etc.
>
> At GDF we have the dogs guide on leash from the beginning and very rarely 
> do
> we ask you to heel your dog and simply walk around.
>
> For some people changing the input from the cane to the dog is hard, 
> harder
> than they thought. When traveling with a dog, we do lose important sound
> cues initially, replacing them with others eventually, but we also lose 
> cues
> about proximity to obstacles that we have to relearn with new inputs.
>
> Hope that makes sense.
>
> We do allow people to use their canes in the building prior to receiving
> their dogs but there are times when we do ask that canes be put away. Once
> the dogs are issued, unless someone really needs it, we ask that all canes
> other than support canes be put away when working the dogs and when moving
> around the building.
>
> Jenine Stanley
> jeninems at wowway.com
>
>
>
>
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