[nagdu] First dog concerns

[Tracy Carcione]

Yeah, I hear you.  It's hard to manufacture confidence.
You can tell TSE you're really having trouble trusting your dog in
traffic, and you'd really like someone to come out and make sure you're a
safe team.  Be gently insistent, if that's what you want to happen.
Maybe a day of stomping around town with an instructor will help.
After that, well, I just took a deep breath, tried to relax, and said
firmly "Fluffy, forward!"  It ain't easy.

On the other hand, don't let sighted bystanders spook you.  You know how
much clearance the dog should give, and they don't.
Tracy

> Hi!
> I did call the seeing eye last week, and they gave me 2 suggestions.
> The first was while I'm standing at the corner, to put lite pressure
> forward on the harness handle to make sure he holds his ground. I was
> also told to make sure Biery is leading me across the street by
> putting the thumb in the pocket and making sure he's pulling. That
> doesn't help with confidence at all though...
> Chris
>
> On 9/4/12, Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net> wrote:
>> Hi Chris.
>> Call The Seeing Eye.  Traffic is nothing to mess with.  They'll be
>> better
>> able to help you than the list. And they're happy to do it.
>> I was hit by a car once, and my dog was killed.  I lost my confidence in
>> street crossings, and it was transmitted to my next dog, so yes, your
>> dog
>> can pick up on your lack of confidence.  Eventually, I got a dog who had
>> enough confidence for both of us, and I got my nerve back.  But better
>> not
>> to start down that road at all.
>>
>> I know what you mean about having a hard time getting to know your dog.
>> My Ben is quite aloof.  I like to say he's a secret experiment, crossing
>> a
>> lab with a cat.  He will run around me a bit first thing in the morning,
>> and usually that's it.  It took some getting used to.  I just had to pay
>> attention, and see what it seemed he wanted, and pat him anyway, even if
>> he didn't seem to be excited about it.  I think of him as an
>> old-fashioned
>> guy, the Humphrey Bogart of guide dogs.  He gets up and goes to work,
>> then
>> he comes home and sits in his Lazyboy with a beer.  He doesn't bring
>> home
>> flowers, or make passionate declarations of undying love, but that's not
>> important.  He's happy and he does his job.  He just doesn't wear his
>> heart on his sleeve. Hope that makes some sense.
>> Be patient.  It took a long time for me to bond with Ben, but slowly it
>> happened, and we could still work together all through it.
>> Tracy
>>
>>> Good afternoon List,
>>> My name is Chris Harrington, and I have recently gotten an awesome
>>> guide dog from the seeing eye named Biery. He is a male german
>>> shepherd, and an extremely sweet dog. However, I am having some
>>> worries about our bond and the future. He is a confident dog,
>>> especially ware traffic is concerned. However, he is sensative as
>>> well. During training at the seeing eye, I was traffic checked, and
>>> Biery got me quite close to the car. He was hit with the news paper,
>>> however the supervisor missed and hit him in the eye area. After that,
>>> his confidence was down to nothing when it came to intersections. That
>>> passed, and he bounced back to his confident self after about a week.
>>> I was crossing the street in front of my college campus last thursday,
>>> and came with in two feet of a car that was turning as I was crossing
>>> the street. I could hear it turning in front of me beforehand, so I
>>> kept the instinct to get out of the way down until I was up close to
>>> it, at which time I panicked. I thought I felt Biery back up, but I
>>> can't be sure. A gentleman saw me from across the street, and he came
>>> out and let me grab an arm to get the rest of the way across, which I
>>> accepted, because at that point, I wanted out of the street as quickly
>>> as possible. From what the gentleman had told me, the dog veered me
>>> out of the cross walk, but I wasn't in the intersection, because I
>>> could hear cars going by on my left hand side. It's been extremely
>>> hard for me to moove the trust from myself, to the dog, and with this
>>> happening, I'm having even more trouble as far as trust goes. Will the
>>> dog pick up on this and shut itself off from me? I'm also having some
>>> trouble getting to "know" the dog if that makes any sort of sense...
>>> He's not a verry playful dog, and I'm having a really hard time
>>> figuring out what he likes and doesn't like. I hope I'm making some
>>> sort of sense here, and I appolagize for the ramble, but this is
>>> something I am really worried about.
>>> Any suggestions would really really be appreciated.
>>> Thanks,
>>> Chris Harrington
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
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>
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