[nagdu] Considering A Dog

[Vanessa Lowery]

You can request a breed preference, but it might increase your waiting time.  For instance, I have requested a GSD this time from TSE, so I will possibly have to wait longer.  I was penciled into the October 22, 2012 class, but a dog was not available for me.  Fortunately, Griffin's health has stabilized, and wiht the onset of cooler weather, his work is sharper again.  So I have decided to wait until the spring of 2013.  At that point, he will be 10 and 1/2, and provided that a dog is ready for me, I can retire him before the summer hits.

I have used clicker training taught by TSE to teach Griffin how to find things.  I was instructed via email, over the phone, and in person on how to use this technique, and it is quite handy.  

Now, when you are in class, you are handed over a dog that is already "clicker wise", and if you want to learn how to use the clicker with your dog while in class, such will be done.  When I learned how to use the clicker to teach griffin to find things, it was not a part of the "class program".  But instructors doing field work wiht grads would often use the clicker to help resolve some problems.  A couple of clicker lists for TSE grads were formed, and between those and the other points of contact I mentioned, I learned what I needed to know.  If I go to a new doctor's office, for example, and I know I will have a reason to see that doctor again in the future, I can teach Griffin to find the elevator if one must be used and the physician's office suite.  The only area where Griffin has always struggled a bit is finding a seat.  That one task is not his strong point, but using the clicker, I taught him successfully to find outdoor trash cans, out door mailboxes (the community blue ones), pedestrian traffic poles, the elevator up and down buttons in my office, and the place where I swipe my card to enter certain sections of my office.



Vanessa Lowery, LGSW
Adult and Community Services Division
Adult Services Screening Unit
410-853-3550
VLowery at dhr.state.md.us



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