[nagdu] overhead obstacles

[Julie J.]

> Dar,

That's the problem, he's not going around, at least not usually.  He's 
stopping too far out so I can't reach the branches.

The way he works ground level obstacles is pretty subtle.  He'll plan a 
route around many feet ahead and start veering around so that quite 
frequently I have no idea we've gone around something.  If the turns are 
going to be sharp because of a narrow path and obstacles he'll slow way 
down. I'm completely fine with this approach.  I don't really need to 
know or care about everything we are passing on the sidewalk.

The only time I have difficulty with balance is on uneven ground or 
steps down.  We've got that worked out pretty well.  He'll go slower 
over the bumps and I've taught him to take a single step at a time when 
we are going down.

I'm enjoying his work immensely these days.  He's past the puppy and 
beginner dog phase, but not yet an old dog starting to slow down.

Julie



> I would take a cane with me, and when he starts to go around the 
> object say things like,
> show me what yu are doing.
> Then try to walk up to it using the cane.
> then praise.
> That way they learn that they need to show you what is happening.
> When I was training with my last dog, the instructor would start to 
> have the dog go around the car, even though I didn't know it was a car 
> he was going around.
> This was on the sidewalk.
> The sudden rite or left can throw off balance if you are not expecting 
> what is happening.
> so when they go up to the object and stop then I would praise and can 
> get my feet to go the direction they need to go.
> if you don't have a balance problem, then you can move faster.
> Just my thoughts.
> that is where treating works out well.
> Original message:
>> Monty and I have been struggling for a while now with overhead
>> obstacles.   I need to figure out a game plan and get on it.  He's
>> stopping too far out so I don't always understand that he's stopping for
>> a tree branch or whatever.  I'll tell him to go forward or around or
>> whatever and his responses vary.  Sometimes he'll refuse, sometimes
>> he'll go and I run into the branch and sometimes he'll do some really
>> amazing intricate guide work to weave me through the mess.
>
>> I've been trying to get him to work up closer to the obstacle so I can
>> reach it and know what's going on, but it's not been exceptionally
>> successful.  So I'm open to ideas, suggestions or anything anyone has to
>> offer.
>> How exactly do you guys work overhead obstacles?  Do you go off the
>> sidewalk and around? Or duck down and go under? Or backtrack and go a
>> different way? Does your guide stop for an overhead or does the dog
>> automatically lead you around it?
>
>> He's not ignoring the overheads.  We are just having difficulty in
>> understanding each other, which leads to me giving confusing directions.
>>   I want to get this worked out before I really mess up his previous
>> training and he stops indicating them all together.
>
>> For the new folks, I have owner trained Monty so I have no trainer or
>> school to call.  Monty is exceptionally safety conscious and works most
>> obstacles from a distance, which is fine when he takes me around without
>> my additional direction.  I also will be using clicker training to fix
>> this snag since I feel it is probably my issue and a miscommunication
>> rather than blatant goofing off on his part.
>
>> Thoughts?
>> Julie
>
>
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