[nagdu] GDF training

[GARY STEEVES]

Hi Jeanine:

That was a great email. Dog guides Canada teaches the find command and they are empowering in teaching us to taylor it to our needs when we get home. I'm still learning how I need to give the command to Bogart and see if he will do it. He has a tendency to go to the the esculator going in the wrong direction. I've recently started to tell him find the esculator right and it has worked. I have also tried things when buried deep within a store to say find the way out and let him go. I was amazed the first time when he did it with no issue. Maybe I should try saying find the esculator up (or down) and see what he does. 

Just out of the blue one day at a place where I encounter a T intersection
 and I'm on the bottom of the T I asked him to left, find the curb. He actually turned onto the grass and lined us up with the curb across from us. I was blown away. So now I will give more complicated commands as long as they are using words that I think he already knows. It has great results. There is probably so much more he can do without me even knowing. 

Gary

----- Original Message -----
From: Jenine Stanley <jeninems at wowway.com>
Date: Friday, March 16, 2012 8:49 am
Subject: [nagdu] GDF training
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>

> Thank you all for your interest in how GDF's training is 
> slightly different
> from that at other schools. As always the disclaimer applies 
> that everyone's
> mileage may vary on this but these have been my experiences as a 
> graduatesince 1990 and staff member since 2008. 
> 
> Back in 1990 when I first went to GDF, I knew a bit about having 
> a guide
> dog. I'd had 2 already from another school. I also knew that 
> dogs could do
> more than what that school told me they could but I had no idea 
> how to get a
> dog to the point of being able to do all those extra things. 
> 
> Needless to say, I was amazed when taught at GDF that I was 
> indeed a dog
> handler and had the knowledge and power to teach my dog 
> additional things.
> This was back before clickers and food rewards. 
> 
> Nothing wrong at all with using those training techniques but I 
> was taught,
> and GDf still does teach people, how to teach my dog to find 
> things for me
> without using a clicker or food. It was my job to retain the training
> techniques. 
> 
> My first instructor told me that my dog would do as much or as 
> little as I
> expected of her as long as she understood those expectations. 
> 
> At that time during our training, we learned how to show the 
> dogs the
> difference between a flight of stairs going up or down. I could 
> then say to
> my GDF dog, "Find steps up." In a staircase and he or she would 
> choose the
> correct flight of stairs. Same with escalators. 
> 
> This has been dropped from most classes now as people just 
> weren't using it,
> but it's something I work with each of my dogs during class to 
> master. 
> 
> The greatest difference I saw back in the '90's with my GDF dogs that
> continues to this day is the use of the "find command". More 
> schools are
> indeed using this command in many ways but it's been at GDF for 
> much longer
> than I've been associated with them. 
> 
> During class at the Smithtown facility, you are expected to have 
> your dog
> find your seat in the dining room each day, an empty seat in the 
> lecturerooms, your own room, doors, the training vans, the trash 
> cans at the relief
> area and anything else you want him or her to find for you. I 
> teach my dogs
> to find the Coke machine right away. <grin> 
> 
> All of this is done without clickers or food or other external 
> devices. The
> dogs work for praise. 
> 
> Yes, we do use clickers in some phases of training but not 
> during formal
> class and wean the dogs off them quickly. We do use food and 
> suggest its use
> in problem solving but we don't expect you to carry around a 
> treat pouch to
> get your dog to work. 
> 
> Some of the things people from other schools find challenging 
> about class,
> and I'm speaking here of class in our facility, include the 
> footwork. We
> have you step off with your right foot, using your left leg as a 
> fulcrum to
> steady yourself. 
> 
> I had to work to overcome my original training of investigating 
> the curb
> with my right foot then stepping off with the left. This often 
> found me
> losing my balance and stumbling off the curb onto my dog. I've 
> never done
> that starting with the right foot. 
> 
> Some people will note that their dogs don't care which foot they 
> start off
> on and the dog adjusts. Some dogs do. Others struggle with it. 
> I'm told
> often by grads and observers that our dogs watch the handler's 
> feet for
> position and any uncertainty and correct their guiding 
> accordingly. 
> 
> We also do some of the turns a bit differently. I'm struggling 
> here to
> recall what was done in my last class regarding left turns as I 
> do them the
> original way I was taught at GDF. This involves coming to a 
> corner and
> before giving the "left" command, turning my body 90 degrees to 
> face left,
> trying not to twist the handle of course. My knees are against 
> my dog's
> side. Then I give the "left" turn command and my dog has space 
> to back up
> around any obstacles like shrubbery or poles at the corner. 
> 
> The right turn command also is a tad different from what I was 
> used to
> before. It involves taking a step back with the right foot then 
> putting your
> weight on that foot and moving the left one back as well to give 
> the dog
> space to make the turn. 
> 
> In my early days at GDF we used a lot of hand signals. Those 
> were dropped by
> Mike Sergeant but are being reinstituted. Some people choose to 
> use them and
> some do not. I can't live without them. The thought is that 
> using hand
> signals does alert your dog to focus more on your body movements for
> direction. 
> 
> The final thing that is different about GDF that is probably the 
> toughestthing to learn is leash guiding. Yes we teach it and yes 
> we teach it in a
> very specific way to stay safe. 
> 
> Do many dogs guide on leash? Sure they do but can they do so in 
> Manhattan?Our dogs have. 
> 
> That said, we have drastically revised our leash guiding 
> instructions due to
> the increasing traffic threat out there. Distracted drivers 
> don't give dogs
> enough time to react when leash guiding so we no longer 
> recommend using
> leash guiding for street work. It can be used indoors, in 
> familiar areas
> outside without traffic but isn't recommended for street 
> crossing any
> longer. 
> 
> The distance between the dog's head and shoulders and your body is
> significantly shorter when leash guiding, giving less reaction 
> time. Your
> hand should be in a specific position on the leash with a 
> specific length of
> leash between you and the dog. It's not as easy as it sounds. 
> 
> I can imagine some of you saying "that's not really very 
> different from my
> school." 
> 
> It may not be now as many schools have picked up on some of our 
> methods.Some instructors still get into friendly but heated 
> discussions with me
> about why the "Find" command is impossible and often misused. My 
> response is
> to ask if those misusing the command are from schools who teach 
> it during
> class thoroughly such as Southeastern and GDF. The answer, a 
> sheepish no. 
> 
> When teaching your dog to find something, you're also paying 
> attention to
> the dog's signals when it's not there. You also are a partner in 
> helping to
> find it, not just giving a command and hanging on. 
> 
> I'll end this message with a situation that always gets me. I've 
> even caught
> our grads doing it. Them I can chide, in a friendly way of 
> course. 
> 
> We're in a room, say at a convention, and someone comes up and 
> asks how to
> get out of the room. 
> 
> My thought, "Tell your dog to 'find outside'. Or whatever the 
> command is you
> use to find a doorway. Your dog can do these things. It's up to 
> you to
> practice and keep him sharp. It's also up to you to use your 
> knowledge of
> orientation to give him clues. That's what GDF taught me. Hope 
> this helps.  
> 
> Jenine Stanley
> jeninems at wowway.com
> http://www.twitter.com/jeninems
> 
> 
> 
> 
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