[nagdu] walking in to objects

[Tami Kinney]

Cindy,

DD has finally learned that rule. If the dog is walking me off a cliff 
or in front of a bus, by all means yell! Otherwise, let her do her job 
and let us work out mistakes that do come up. It's difficult for him, 
but he is getting better. /grin/

To work a clearance problem, though... As I conceived it in training 
Mitzi, the thing to communicate to the dog is that the dog is 
responsible for clearing. This is a responsibility the dog cannot space 
on. Faulty clearance is not okay, it causes problems, so you my darling 
poodle, had better clear things or we will have to keep doing it over 
until you do. The more times you fudge the clearance, the more annoying 
I will become about working it again... And so forth.

Also, at least in my opinion, letting the dog slide on smaller key 
responsibilities increases the likelihood the dog will slip up when it 
counts and you're walking off a cliff with no one to yell, "Stop!"

For myself, I would find coaching most helpful if the sighted coach 
could follow along and see what is going on when mistakes happen. 
Especially at first, that would have been a big bonus! The bright side 
is that I have learned to be much, much  more aware of my own 
surroundings and what is going on with my dog. But that takes, as they 
say, time. And working through those times when you do lose trust in 
your dog, which can also translate to the dog and increase the 
likelihood of mistakes. So that is a toughie. You need to trust the dog 
to set it up for success. But you get hurt if your trust is misplaced... 
And if you don't question your team in times like that, then you're less 
human that way than I am. /lol/ It's a really tricky balance.

I dunno, Hannah. Can you talk to your trainer and ask for more 
observation without interfering in your team work? Seeing what is 
distracting the dog that may be something you can't see or hear could be 
really helpful. Then you could work on that sort of distraction. Or 
maybe there is something in her body language or demeanor that you can't 
pick up by feel because you are literally too close to her. Is her tail 
up? How is her head set? Stuff like that. In time, you will become more 
sensitive and aware of such things, but at first it is harder to tell 
the fine points of what the dog's body language could be telling you. So 
having an observer to see what is going on can be a real help in 
diagnosing the root of the problem. Also, having some reliable 
observation of what you are doing is a good way to diagnose if handler 
error could be a fact. Not to suggest you're in the wrong, but it does 
happen. And it's awfully hard to notice while you're building up 
experience as a handler. Or sometimes even when you have. /smile/ But 
the mutual diagnosis does get easier, so that's a plus!

So what I would find helpful in terms of a critique on my handling would 
be specific descriptions of my own body language, foot placement, 
tracking with my dog, etc. I'm not interested in a long diatribe of the 
"you're doing everything wrong!" type. Not helpful. But especially at 
first when I was transitioning from trainer to handler, I would have 
loved someone to follow me everywhere and suggest where I could improve 
so I didn't have to work so hard to figure out what I was doing wrong 
myself. /lol/ Well, you got a lot of that in school, so that's a plus. 
But the real world is more complex, so that's why it takes time in team 
building.

Again, I'm just tossing things out. I can tell how much you love 
Princes, and that she is capable of excellent work. So I hope you are 
able to iron this out. The period of wondering is the worst for sure! 
And the decision that it can't be worked out would be heartbreaking. 
You're not the only one to go through it, but that doesn't make it 
easier, I am sure.

Best,

Tami

On 04/14/2012 06:04 PM, Cindy Ray wrote:
> I would want to qualify my last message. I suspect that there are times that one would want the trainer to yell at you to stop. If the dog was taking you out in traffic and a car was coming, or you were about to walk off a cliff or subway platform; and so that is all a judgment call, but I was just wondering if the dog is getting to make mistakes enough to correct?
>
> CL
>
>
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