[nagdu] GDF training
GARY STEEVES
rainshadowmusic at shaw.ca
Tue Mar 20 17:43:44 UTC 2012
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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