[nagdu] Service dogs who were pets

[Tami Jarvis]

The few such programs I've looked into do seem to talk about public 
manners and training for that in their literature. How firm they are in 
teaching the etiquette to their clients, I can't say. They tend to shy 
away from guide dogs in training, but the ones I contacted were very 
nice about it. /smile/

There seem to be a couple -- or maybe even a few -- OTs floating around 
the Portland Metro area whose dogs are kinda nightmares. But I've only 
run into the other kind, who talk more about public access and manners 
than any other facet of training and handling. Some seem to have done it 
all on their own. Others had assistance from one of the helper 
organizations.

I think you may be onto something with attitude being a factor for the 
talented pet with a bit of task-training (or even a lot) tacked on. I 
got Mitzi hoping she would work out as a guide, but even so I found that 
I had to watch myself to not get sucked in by The Adorable Precious. 
Times when people were cooing and giving her all sorts of attention, I 
had to be very firm in remaining in the habit of remembering that she 
was a working dog and that it was up to me to teach her manners and then 
continue to have her practice them. Sometimes folks would actually 
argue. So for those prone to think their pet's acting like a pet is okay 
to begin with, there may not be much motivation to be strict about 
manners or even learn them? Who can say?

Getting education to them if they're not looking for it would be 
difficult... Hm... Targeted TV and radio ads might reach people, but 
who's going to pay for that? Is there enough of a problem to warrant 
that level of advertising? I don't know. It's more of a random thought.

Tami

On 08/30/2013 09:46 AM, Tracy Carcione wrote:
> Did the training center instruct the owners about the kind of behavior
> expected of service dogs?  Or did they work it out on their own?
> Tracy
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Margo Downey and Arrow"
> <margo.downey at verizon.net>
> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, August 30, 2013 12:31 PM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Service dogs who were pets
>
>
>> Hi.  A couple of friends have service dogs who were their pets but were
>> trained at a service dog facility--very wonderful balance dogs.  The
>> facility staff determined that the dogs would be good for the service
>> purpose and then trained them for that.
>>
>> Margoa nd Arrow
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
>> Sent: Friday, August 30, 2013 10:54 AM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: [nagdu] Service dogs who were pets
>>
>> I've been thinking about what Ann said about expectations.  I bet many
>> people who have trained a pet to be a service dog still think of it
>> first as
>> a pet, if only subconsciously.  There's Fluffy, begging at the table,
>> saying
>> Hi to everyone he meets, and then Joe Q discovers Fluffy can do this
>> great
>> extra thing, like detect low blood sugar or anxiety, and alert him to
>> it, so
>> Joe Q trains Fluffy to enhance that ability, but doesn't do any other
>> training, or change how he thinks about Fluffy, except to appreciate
>> his new
>> skill.  On the other hand, most of us, from the first, think of our
>> dogs as
>> service dogs first, and pets second.  From the beginning, everything
>> we do
>> is with service in mind, and thus we expect a different standard of
>> behavior.  Everything that's done has to be evaluated as to how it will
>> affect the dog's work. For instance, I'm sure Jetta is not being
>> allowed to
>> beg at the table, because that is not acceptable guide dog behavior.
>> So, as Ann said, people who've trained pets as service dogs have to be
>> made
>> more aware of acceptable service dog behavior, which, IMO, requires a
>> change
>> of mindset.  I'm not sure how that could be done, though.  I wonder if an
>> organization like IAADP could be helpful, having as members many kinds of
>> assistance dog partners.
>> Tracy
>>
>>
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