[nagdu] Hand Signals Was Pilot Dogs training

Juanita Herrera juanitaherrera1991 at gmail.com
Sun Jun 24 17:17:06 UTC 2012


I did not know some schools discouraged hand signals. That's what I'm
used to, so I thought everyone else did it too.

On 6/24/12, Julie J. <julielj at neb.rr.com> wrote:
> Thanks to all the Pilot grads who have offered information.  It helps me
> to understand things much better.  I didn't know about the hand
> signals.  That's an important thing for me.  I definitely want to have a
> dog who knows them and the freedom to use them.
>
> Julie
> On 6/23/2012 9:56 PM, Criminal Justice Major wrote:
>> Hi, julie J,
>> Yes, Pilot has the students do basic routes all together.
>> In the very beginning however, one instructor will be with one student so
>> trainy and dog can get used to each other.
>> After that, they increase it up to doubles with two students and dogs.
>> I do remember back when I was in training with Odie, there were two other
>> retrains as well.
>> One night on our night walk, all three retrains and dogs went out together
>> and did the same route like during the day time.
>> We did do some work inside of a pet store, Columbus shopping mall, a
>> couple of drug stores and training on the buses.
>> Because Columbus, Ohio doesn't have a monarail system, no training was
>> able to take place on that.
>> When I did train there with freedom, the trainer that did prepare him
>> didn't have us doing any country sidewalkless routes.
>> The second time, that was included.
>> Yes, I do agree with you that each trainer does things differently.
>> I experienced that with my first guide dog at GEB.
>> I'll admit during my three times of training, I found myself getting
>> annoyed after a while because of being told so many different things bgy
>> different trainers than the one who trained the dog directly.
>> I just had to go with the flow and abide by instruction.
>> For the test walk at Pilot, you end up doing the same basic route that you
>> worked on during class.
>> Instfuctor is with you, but they try to keep their distance  and will step
>> in if need be.
>> Ultimate goal is for guide dog team is to do their best and if both pass
>> the achievement walk, then they can go home.
>> When I did it though twice, I managed to pass the first time around with
>> flying colors.
>> I had the nervous gut in my stomach that I was going to fail.
>> Once I found out that I passed, the butterflies were all gone.
>> I am curious to hear about the training from those who've attended TSE,
>> SEGDI, GDB, GDA, GDDI, Fidelco and Leader Dogs.
>> Although students do basic routes together or for instance if there are
>> some that have customed needs, are the dogs trained by one instructor or
>> do others take over?
>> I remember back when I was at GEB, I had to have different instructors
>> work with me because Orleans became a big wheeny when it came to his
>> trainer Andrea Martine/Gardner.
>> If she was around, he would not stay focused or on top of his guide dog
>> work.
>> Thankfully when it came to Freedom David Berry and Odie however, they
>> didn't have any dificulties with their instructors around.
>> They worked fine and stayed on top of things for the most part.
>> As far as the differences of the trainers at Pilot though, yes, I had one
>> instructor who didn't like the idea of me teaching Freedom hand signals
>> and she claimed that he didn't like my hand moving toward his face.
>> After we went home, I continued using the hand signals and Freedom did
>> just fine.
>> The instructor who trained Odie was all for the hand signals and
>> encouraged them to be used.
>> His explanation was that they come into play when you have to step outside
>> of a classroom during lecture to avoid inerupting the teacher and when
>> leaving the building like an apartment complex early in the morning to not
>> disturb other residents that may be asleep.
>> I do like the hand signals and greatly used them during
>> I couldn't talk and it hurt if I tried.a nasty lung infection.
>> Since Odie's instructor Mike Tesmmer encouraged me to use them again, they
>> were helpful.
>> Even so, I'll gladly teach them to my next dog.
>> *Smiles*
>> Bibi
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>
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