[nagdu] puppy! and Owner Training

[Ben Humphreys]

Julie,

All good info.  Looking forward to hearing about the trainer.

I think it's interesting that you haven't had a 
single dog "wash out" for typical reasons like 
health, fear, aggression, apathy, etc.  I wonder 
if part of that is just sticking with it through 
all the problems until they're worked out, if that's somehow possible.

Also, you mentioned the pokiness factor, which 
for me, has been the main problem with my first 
guide, and seems to be so pervasive among 
handlers, as opposed to "my dog is too fast", 
that I wonder if it's inherent in guide work.

I wonder if there is any way of evaluating walk 
speed of a puppy or at least indications of eventual pace?

Great discussion...

Ben

At 08:26 PM 7/8/2013, you wrote:
>Ben, I'll talk to the trainer and see if she's 
>okay with going public. *smile* Depending on the 
>dog, I'm on my third, some things they got right 
>away and some things they didn't.  Dog 1 was a 
>rock star at overhangs, Dogs 2 and 3, not so 
>much.  Dog 2 was good at locating people we know 
>in a crowd or large place.  Dog 3 has been the 
>best overall.  Most things he figured out with 
>minimum to moderate instruction from me. He's 
>super good at remembering places we've been and 
>problem solving new situations.  He gets bored 
>with too much of the same thing and  walks super 
>pokey. Dog 1 was content to do the same things 
>over and over.  All three needed months and 
>months of daily training.  Even the areas that 
>each dog excelled at still required guidance and 
>fine tuning. I prefer the term owner training to 
>self training.  It is me, the owner, doing the 
>training.  The term self training sounds to me 
>like it’s the dog training himself.  I wish 
>that were the case, but so far I haven't figured 
>out how that works! *smile* When I trained my 
>own dogs the cost is pretty reasonable.  There's 
>the initial cost of the dog or puppy, which can 
>vary from free to several thousand dollars.  My 
>previous three dogs came from shelters and were 
>around $100.  Dog 4 is of course from a breeder 
>and is $700.  You need some basic equipment, 
>crate, collars, leashes, carpet cleaner, bowls, 
>food, toys, grooming supplies, vet care 
>including some nonroutine checks on hips, elbows 
>and eyes.  In addition there will be incidental 
>expenses during the training of the dog.  You'll 
>need to expose the puppy to all sorts of 
>transportation, for example, so you might find 
>yourself taking a train you wouldn't normally 
>take for the exclusive purpose of training.  I'm 
>taking a guess that $1000 could cover all of 
>this.   Less depending on where you live, your 
>particular vet and how lucky you are at scoring 
>good deals at garage sales. Of course hiring a 
>trainer costs more.  I want to talk to the 
>trainer before I talk about the costs.  I want 
>to make sure she's okay with that. Julie 
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