[nagdu] Changing the rules when you get home

[Howard J. Levine]

Right on I agree with you 100 percent, I live in New York can't stop, must
get out of street as fast as you can. You just do what works for you.

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Raven Tolliver
Sent: Friday, August 23, 2013 12:19 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Changing the rules when you get home

I changed a lot more than just the rules.
One of the first things I did was put the choke chain to rest, and switch to
a prong collar. I did not like the chain because frequently, it got caught
in my golden's fur, and it would turn around and slide down his neck. I
could never keep it in a proper position for a leash correction. I also did
not like the idea of briefly choking my dog for a leash correction. So for a
couple months, I used the prong collar, and it worked much better for me.
Then, I just switched to the martingale check collar, which is what I use
now.
I don't remember if my school said to heel the dog off of a bus or not.
Regardless, I work him off the bus. I gauge how much of a step down there is
by his behavior. If he steps right off after being cued to go forward,
there's obviously not much of a step. But if he stops in the doorway, and
does not obey the cue "forward," I know that there is a larger step down.
The school did say not to have the dog lay down on the bus. I don't think
this is practical, especially for longer bus rides. It doesn't come
naturally for my dog to just sit up while the bus is moving, so he just lays
down, and I slide him back under the seat. If someone comes on with a
wheelchair, stroller, or cart, I briefly grab up his front paws.
The school taught us to switch the dog over to the right side when working
through doors that opened out to the left. The only time I'll maneuver
through a doorway by doing a complete 360 is when I am carrying things in my
right hand.
I stopped treating so frequently concerning curbs and stairs. The school had
us treating at every curb, which is just ridiculous, especially the way they
had us stopping at the curb when we reached the other side of the street.
They trained the dog to stop with its front paws on the curb, but you and
the rest of your dog would still be hanging out in the road. I'm sorry, but
I did not like that at all.
Not all roads have bike lanes to just hang out in, and you only have about
20-30 seconds to get your butts across the road and out of the road. So I
allowed my dog to continue over the curb, and just verbally praised him for
it. It's just not necessary to stop in the street after crossing the road.
At stairs, I allowed him to go up stairs without stopping at them.
Usually, he stops at stairs whether they are going up or down, but if he
does not stop, I don't rework it because I personally can feel through my
harness whether my dog is stepping up or down.
Too, when crossing streets, the school discouraged any kind of automatic
turning after crossing. If we needed to make a turn, we were instructed to
take two or three steps after the curb, cue "wait," then cue our dogs left
or right. Again, not practical, at least, not in my environment. On campus,
there isn't a lawn on the street side of the sidewalk, so turns after
crossing have to be immediate. I have to cue my dog "to the curb, right. To
the curb, right," or else, we will pass up the turn.
I also changed my dog's diet. He is now on a fish-based, grain, gluten, and
soy-free dog food. And I started feeding my dog fruit -- cantaloupe,
honey-do, and pear. He has never been interested in vegetables.
When I lived with my parents, I did not let him off leash until his
off-leash recall was reliable. And I did not force him to sleep on his bed
or in his crate. He was restricted to sleeping in my bedroom with me, but
the spot was up to him. He never got up on the bed, since he considered
jumping up on the furniture a sin. Here in my apartment, he sleeps wherever
- in the bathroom, living room, somewhere in the bedroom. The spot is up to
him and he moves around throughout the night.
He has never had an accident indoors. My puppy-raisers even said that he
never had an accident with them, even when he was sick. But sometimes, I
will take him out if I wake up around two or three in the morning though.
Oh, and lastly, I got him several squeaky toys. I don't know why schools say
not to get them. Maybe because dogs will try to chew the squeakers out and
eat them? My golden guy loves his squeaky toys, and I always monitor him if
he's playing independently with anything but a Nylobone.


--
Raven

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