[nagdu] working up to obstacles

[Shannon Dillon]

Yalie will take me up to the thing and then take me off the sidewalk
to go around it.  She was trained to do this.  She takes me to the
edge of the sidewalk, shows me the curb, waits for me to tell her
forward, and takes me off and around then back onto the sidewalk.  I
think since we've been working together for seven years we have
modified it to her largely just doing it all on her own.  She just
let's me know we're hitting a curb before stepping off of it.  But we
usually get pretty close to the thing before she takes me off the
curb. We have had to double back when there is construction that we
can't find our way around because of the busy street we'd have to walk
out into. I am not sure if that was her choice or mine. It was once
and a long time ago.

My only complaint about Yalie is that she doesn't acknowledge yellow
tapes. She just goes right under them and I learn there is a tape by
bumping into it. I noticed this particularly when working with my
fiance's dog who handles yellow tape like a
burrier. He walks around it.  I think Yalie missed that day in school.


On 4/30/13, Julie J. <julielj at neb.rr.com> wrote:
> I’m wondering how everyone else’s guides work impassable obstacles?  For
> example, let’s say there’s been a severe thunderstorm and a largish tree
> branch has fallen across the sidewalk, entirely blocking it off.
>
> How would your guide work that situation?  If you’ve had more than one guide
> did they work something like this differently?
>
> Do they go all the way up to the branch and then stop to wait for further
> instruction?
> Would they alter course from a distance, so you never get close?
> Would they stop a few feet away, at the most obvious turning point to go
> around the thing?
> Something else?
>
> Monty has always worked obstacles from a distance, meaning he will choose a
> clear path from as much as half a block away.  Of course, I never taught him
> this.  I have no idea what obstacles are that far away so I could offer
> instruction from that kind of distance.  This is just how Monty has
> interpreted his job duties.  Mostly I appreciate not walking up to the
> obstacle only then having to double back and go a different direction.
> Sometimes though, it is rather annoying, not having the slightest idea why
> he is insistent that we go a different way. He is zealous about safety to
> the point of insanity.   If he views something as unsafe, no amount of
> coaxing, prompting or encouraging will get him to budge.
>
> I do appreciate his stubborn insistence on safety, I just wish I understood
> better what we were going around.   I also wish I knew how I managed to give
> him the impression that he should stop so far away.  *sigh*
> It’s not really a problem so much as a curiosity to me.  He’s a very smart
> dog.  I wonder what goes on in his fat head.
>
> Julie
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-- 
SHANNON L. DILLON