[nagdu] traffic work at GDF

[Jenine Stanley]

Marsha, 


I an't give you specifics because I'm not an instructor, just play one on
TV. <grin> 

You know, I said that once on an email list and someone wrote asking which
show I was on. <grin> 

We work with the individual student depending on his/her hearing loss and
ability to judge traffic as to how we handle issuing the "Hup-up, forward
command. BTW, it's Hup-up, not Hop-up as my spell program corrected.
Different instructors may also teach things slightly differently. 

Yep, only 2 weeks to go. Good luck to you!

Jenine Stanley
jeninems at wowway.com
http://www.twitter.com/jeninems


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Marsha Drenth
Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2012 9:46 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] traffic work at GDF

Jenine, 

Awww darn! *smile* humph! LOL
Well I actually wasn't going to ask, just wanted you to sweat. *smile* 

Now I am curious, if a say a student can't hear the car, how would the
traffic training be different? 

Holy Cow, only 2 weeks until I am in class. Wow!

Marsha drenthSent from my iPhone

On Sep 8, 2012, at 4:49 PM, "Jenine Stanley" <jeninems at wowway.com> wrote:

> Hi All,
> 
> Let me clear up the question about traffic training at GDF. 
> 
> Terrie is correct that at one time we did use, for some teams, a 
> strategy by which the person could administer self traffic checks.
> 
> Please capitalize, bold and italicize this for yourselves. We are no 
> longer teaching individuals how to traffic check their dogs as a means 
> of regular maintenance of traffic training.
> 
> In the past this was easier to do because we could hear almost all of 
> the cars passing us. We understood most traffic patterns and could 
> easily judge when to give a command. That is just not the case any 
> longer and with the increases in distracted drivers, GDF does not feel
this practice is safe.
> 
> This is similar to our stance on leash guiding while crossing streets. 
> It's just not safe anymore.
> 
> I won't even describe the practice of self traffic checking save to 
> say that it was used for teams with very good orientation skills who 
> worked unpredictable traffic such as heavy city traffic or complex 
> parking lots a great deal.  I rarely used it for my dogs but it was 
> interesting to know about.
> 
> Again, we do not use this practice now and are not likely to ever use it. 
> 
> Our traffic training is very similar to that of other schools in that 
> we use a specific car or cars from the school and at some point during 
> class, usually twice, we will drive the car at teams in the standard 
> method of traffic checking. I believe that for some teams, the traffic 
> checks are announced and explained first, if there's any history of 
> accidents or other anxiety in the handler over traffic. We want the 
> process to go as naturally as possible.
> 
> The next time though the checks just happen. 
> 
> We also train in Queens and it never fails, the natural traffic checks 
> we get there can't be beat, though I wish they could sometimes. <grin>
> 
> We teach you to ask the dog to go "" when a car is blocking your path, 
> not command it to do so. The dog waits until the car passes and it's 
> safe to move. This questioning command of "Hop-up, forward" is very 
> different from the command "Hop-up, find the way" which is used on 
> sidewalks to give the dog the decision power around obstacles.
> 
> Hope that explains things. As always, off list questions are welcome, 
> but no, I'm not going to explain our self traffic checking. <grin>
> 
> Jenine Stanley
> jeninems at wowway.com
> http://www.twitter.com/jeninems
> 
> 
> 
> 
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