[nagdu] An Introduction

Cindy Ray cindyray at gmail.com
Fri Aug 22 12:20:22 UTC 2014


I have never trained a dog to guide and never will. I believe I can imagine that you wouldn’t need a sighted trainer to help you. There could be a few things that someone who is sighted and whom you also trusted could help with. Sometimes they could see that your dog is posturing, for instance, about another dog, especially if it hasn’t gotten to the stage where it is being vocal about it. However, it wouldn’t be long before you were keenly aware of that fact without that help, so I can see being able to do this with very little sighted help.

Cindy 

On Aug 22, 2014, at 5:40 AM, Julie J. via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Debby,
> 
> I just received Jetta, who was trained and placed with me by a blind trainer.  I am an experienced guide dog handler and I'm certain that makes a difference here.  Meghan followed behind Jetta and I either with her cane or with a sighted guide.  She had no difficulty keeping up when she was using her cane.  If I noticed Jetta doing something, like curling in toward me, I would mention it to Meghan so she could offer suggestions.   We skipped the part where the trainer clips a leash to the dog and walks alongside in the very beginning.  I've never liked that anyway.   I had no problems at all with our training arrangement.  Meghan knows Jetta very well because she has worked her frequently and nonvisually.  She could give me very specific information about how Jetta navigates her environment and what to expect.  I believe that this was Meghan's first time independently placing a guide with a blind person.  It was a new  experience for both of us.   Previously I had owner trained my guides.
> 
> If a person was entirely new to guide dogs and dogs in general I  think there would have had to be a lot more training with the person.   The blind trainer would have to ask lots of questions and check for proper positioning when the team was standing still.  I think the blind trainer could use a sighted reader/describer to assess some of the visual elements.
> 
> As far as traffic training goes...it can be done by a blind person, the dog portion anyway.  *smile*  You just get a driver and explain very thoroughly what you need them to do.  If you can set up ongoing communication during the traffic training by cell phone head sets or walkie talkies or something, that makes it much easier.
> 
> Julie
> 
> -----Original Message----- From: debby phillips via nagdu
> Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2014 11:10 PM
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] An Introduction
> 
> Hi Valerie, your post was very interesting, and I can see that
> you have put a lot of time and thought in to the process.  I do
> not believe that every blind person should and could train their
> own dog, but I have seen one that was awesome.  The man who
> trained him did a great job.  I believe though that his next dog
> was from one of the schools.  I think I do have a couple of
> concerns.  One is this: traffic is becoming more and more
> dangerous.  It doesn't mean that we should all stay home and
> never go out.  Lol.  But it does mean that we, and our dogs need
> to be extra aware.  Gone are the days of simply listening for a
> surge of parallel traffic and heading across the street.  There
> are turning lanes, right on red, and cars are just plain quieter,
> and I'm not even talking about the hybrids.  Seeing Eye does a
> lot of traffic training with our dogs, some of it using the
> general public and some of it that they set up.  Keeping a
> certain distance from traffic is important.  So if you can find a
> trainer who is willing to work with you on that part, I recommend
> that.  I hope that ow am not sounding like I am against what you
> are doing, I'm not.  I admire you for your effort, and wish you
> success.
> 
> I may offend some folks when I say the following: I do not
> believe that a blind person can train me with a dog.  Dogs and
> people move faster than people who travel with canes, (though I
> know some very fast walkers who use canes.  There are certain
> parts of instruction that a blind person could do, like some of
> the dog care, things like that.  But instructors see how the dog
> and person are walking together, they can often figure out
> whether a different kind of harness is needed, for instance.
> Right away, my instructor saw that I was not giving Neena enough
> tension in the harness, and that sometimes I was pushing her.  I
> don't think that a blind instructor would see that.  In those
> early days of training it's so important to get feedback, and I
> really believe, that at least in this situation, that feedback
> needs to come from an instructor who can make visual
> observations.  Now, I have had two blind mobility instructors,
> and they were awesome, and I had no issue with them.  But I think
> there's a difference between cane travel and traveling with a
> dog.
> 
> It's okay if you disagree with me, I had a friend while I was a
> student at CCB and we debated this issue a lot.  He never did
> convince me, by the way.  (Grin).  But it wasn't for lack of
> trying.  But that doesn't mean that I haven't learned a lot from
> other people who use dogs as guides.  I definitely have, but not
> the basics, and not stuff dealing with dogs and traffic.
> 
> Well, I really need to be in bed now.  Tomorrow is Friday, yea!
> Maybe I'll get to more email then.  Again, good luck, Valerie!
> Debby and Neena
> 
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