[nagdu] Owner Trainers

[Mardi Hadfield]

Mardi from Arizona here. I am an Owner trainer and Most of what Julie said
is exactly what I have experienced training my own dogs, all 4 of them. My
first guide was trained as a service dog for mobility as I was completely
wheelchair bound at the time. I started Lily at 13 weeks when I got
her.Lily was a  white Siberian Husky purchased from a breeder. All the
Husky breeders were very adamant that I would never make a service dog out
of a husky.Well, I just had to prove them wrong and I did.Lily pulled my
manual wheelchair, opened and closed doors,cabinets,and drawers. She could
pick up any thing I dropped,including credit cards,paper,change,keys
ect.She could pick up a dime off the floor and hand it to me!I could ask
her to bring me a towel,keys, hammer,remote control to the TV, In fact she
knew many things by name and would bring me any thing I asked her to.If I
couldn't finds the remote or the keys or just about any thing, she could
find it and bring it to me.Lily was also able to predict my seizures. I
sent videos of her in action to her breeder and the breeder was
shocked.When I was diagnosed as legally blind,there were no schools that
trained guides for wheelchair users. I decided to train Lily to guide me. I
first taught her to leash guide me and later worked with a private trainer
to teach her to guide me in harness from the wheelchair. By this time I had
my first power chair which made things easier for Lily as she did not have
to pull the chair.Lily became ill with Valley Fever and I retired her. She
died a month later.I then acquired a male border collie named Maximus to
train, but he had been abused before I got him and could not handle being
out in public, so he was career changed. I discovered that he too could
predict my seizures.I purchased a dark gray, black and white husky from a
breeder and named her Nala. She was 2 years old.She had never had any
training.With in 4 months,with the help of my trainer,Nala became the best
guide dog I have ever had. She was very special and I know I shall never
find another like her.Nala could find a place if we had only been there
once. I could tell Nala that we are going to the bank or certain store and
she would take me there flawlessly.She also picked up on the seizures.Nala
once woke me in the night to an electrical fire in another room in my
house. I was able to get the fire out in minutes and avoided a lot of
damage and none of the other animals were harmed.Once when I went to
Rachel's apartment, I missed the last bus home, WE came by bus so I was not
sure how to get home.I enede up rolling it all the way home and Nala got me
there safwly. I never got lost with Nala. She could always find home .When
Nala was 9 years old she was diagnosed with asthma and mild arthritis.I
retired her and looked for another husky to train.I was unable to find a
husky and opened my search to other breeds.After a year and a half I found
a 10 month old Belgian Shepherd.During my long search,Nala made it quite
clear that she did not want to retire.With medication,she was able to keep
working lightly and this kept her happy.Shaman, my Belgian shepherd was a
rescue from a shelter.I started training with the help of my trainer but
Nick decided to go back to collage so I did most of the training of Shaman
my self.At first I had doubts that Shaman would make it as a guide. He was
slow to learn and still had a lot of puppy left in him.Shaman was quite
different than my huskies.I hooked Shaman up to Nala's harness and worked
both dogs together. Shaman learned a lot from Nala.One day we were going
down a side walk and Shaman pulled me off to the left to chase a large
lizard.I corrected him and on we went. I waited for the light at the corner
of Grant and Oracle,a very busy street. Suddenly Shaman began to dance
around
nervously and backed up so I backed up the wheelchair and when the light
changed a large truck made a right turn on red and the back wheels of this
truck went right over the curb cut where Shaman and I had been just minutes
before!I knew that day that Shaman was going to make a great guide dog. He
has only gotten better as the years pass.I am now training Neechee,another
Siberian Husky.She was 1 and a half years when I started her. I am very
happy with her training, She will also be a wonderful guide dog for me. I
have also been training a black lab for my friend Rachel.I did the initial
training but Rachel has participated in Lady's training much of the time
recently. She has done a great job and I am very proud of both Rachel and
Lady.I have used all natural traffic checks for both Neechee and Lady. They
have always responded appropriately in traffic and are very good at it.I
used both set up and natural traffic checks  with my previous dogs. I have
trained many other types of service dogs in the passed as well as 1 other
guide dog for some one.I have really enjoyed training my own guides and I
think as long as I am able,will continue to due so. I love my huskies and
no schools train them as guides, so I will have to train them.  Mardi and
Shaman and Neechee,GDIT.
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http://wolfsinger-lakota.blogspot.com/
http://wolfsinger2-thegoldendragon.blogspot.com