[nagdu] Bad weather and class

Fri Feb 14 23:05:09 UTC 2014

Well Raven, Holly has done well. She can find paths where I'd never think of 
looking! Now, the walks are clearing its much better.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Raven Tolliver" <ravend729 at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 2:39 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Bad weather and class


> Hi Tracy,
> The trouble my golden had with guiding in the snow occurred when we
> received our first nonstop lake-effect snow. The snow just kept coming
> down and it got so deep that he had difficulty discerning the sidewalk
> from walkways to buildings, from the street where the curb was flush
> with the sidewalk. So sometimes he would run those curbs that were
> flush, and some times I would cue him to turn and because it was a
> snow-covered walkway, he would ignore the cue and look for a path that
> was clear. He quickly adapted after I put in some work with targeting,
> and this winter he had no trouble at all. It wasn't a huge
> inconvenience. My O&M specialist told me that it may or may not be a
> issue for my dog. I was able to catch onto his issue right away, and
> dealt with it in four or five training sessions throughout the day.
>
> A guide dog in the snow is far easier than a cane in the snow. Getting
> lost using a cane in the snow was my breaking point that brought on my
> snap decision to get a guide dog. The dog beats a cane every time.
>
> On 2/14/14, Raven Tolliver <ravend729 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'm not sure if a school would teach a dog to guide over a snow bank,
>> especially if they can't see what's on the other side. The snow bank
>> is an obstacle like any other, and yes, it's important to get your
>> butts out of the road, but since it's considered an obstacle, the
>> instinct seems to be to stop and try to find a way around it.
>> Unfortunately, that's just not possible some times. What I do is cross
>> the road, and when we get right up to the snow bank, I drop the
>> harness handle and heel him up and over.
>> The difficult thing about teaching snow-coping skills to a dog is you
>> can't do this unless the snow is there. Too, just because a dog is
>> trained to deal with winter in one place doesn't mean it will be ready
>> to handle winter in another place.
>> For instance, my golden was trained during winter in NY. As I said
>> earlier, the snow there at that time was nothing like the snow is here
>> consistently, so he was not prepared. Really, I think it's up to the
>> handler and their particular situation, and if they can't quite manage
>> to teach their dog how to guide in winter conditions, hopefully
>> someone from their school can give them some tips or come do a home
>> visit.
>>
>> On 2/14/14, Raven Tolliver <ravend729 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I would imagine that classes go on. Sidewalks in most places are
>>> shoveled or salted, so ice is not as much a hazard as you might think.
>>> Not here in Michigan anyway. I've lived in Southeast and Western
>>> Michigan for a long while and the sidewalks are just as cared for as
>>> the streets are. Given, there are some places where you must walk over
>>> patches of snow. But patches of ice are pretty rare.
>>> My golden and I were still able to get out there and work despite the
>>> below freezing temperatures. Classes around here aren't cancelled
>>> unless the world is on the brink of ending, so the show goes on.
>>> Outside of classes, we still have errands to run, buses to hop, and
>>> volunteering to do. Life is definitely not put on hold because of the
>>> snow, and trust me, there is a lot of it here. You just work through,
>>> around, and over it, even if you have to climb over 2-1/2 feet of snow
>>> to get out of the street and onto the sidewalk.
>>> It would have been nice to score a winter class, but I don't think New
>>> York winters are anything like West Michigan winters, so it probably
>>> wouldn't have made a difference. Too, that would have clashed with the
>>> school semester, so it was out of the question.
>>> For people from different parts of the country who aren't used to
>>> working through so much frigid temps and copious amounts of snow, I
>>> would advise those people to avoid the winter classes if you plan on
>>> getting a dog from a place with weather like Momma Michigan's. It
>>> definitely takes some getting used to, even for some dogs, so if both
>>> the handler and dog are thrown off, your mobility is shot.
>>> My golden was very thrown off by the snow his first winter here in
>>> Michigan. His trainer couldn't even tell me how he'd handle it since
>>> the winter he was trained dropped little snow in New York. I had to
>>> put in extra training with him to get him acclimated so he would still
>>> turn down the paths I needed and stop at those curbs flush with the
>>> sidewalk. He got it down quickly, and this winter, he's guiding in the
>>> snow as if he's been doing it his whole life.
>>> Too, if you put booties on a dog, they definitely walk faster,
>>> especially if it's those clunky ones the schools commonly give out.
>>>
>>> On 2/14/14, Larry D. Keeler <lkeeler at comcast.net> wrote:
>>>> Welcome to Michigan's weather! It will finally go abov freezing this
>>>> week!
>>>> Holly mostly didn't work much this winter because of the cold and
>>>> sidewalks.
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
>>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 10:07 AM
>>>> Subject: [nagdu] Bad weather and class
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> It seems like, here in Jersey, we've had a major storm every week for
>>>>> at
>>>>> least the last month, and, even when there's no storm, it's been very
>>>>> cold.
>>>>> I wonder how the schools around here are handling it.  Do people just
>>>>> go
>>>>> out, unless it's actually blizzarding, and stomp through the snow as
>>>>> best
>>>>>
>>>>> they can?  I would have a hard time judging my new dog's pace, if all
>>>>> the
>>>>>
>>>>> time we were walking carefully on ice, or maneuvering down narrow
>>>>> shovelled paths.  And in my book, one or two trips to the mall 
>>>>> exhausts
>>>>> the possibilities for learning anything useful there.
>>>>> Or, I suppose, they could come into New York City a lot more, because
>>>>> the
>>>>>
>>>>> City tends to clean the main walkways pretty well.  A lot better than
>>>>> my
>>>>> town does, for sure.
>>>>> I wonder what Leader does, since bad weather is a constant in Michigan
>>>>> winters?
>>>>> Anyone been in class in the northern part of the country during 
>>>>> January
>>>>> or
>>>>>
>>>>> February, with lots of snow?
>>>>> I'd be real interested to hear about it.
>>>>> Tracy
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> nagdu mailing list
>>>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>>>> nagdu:
>>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/lkeeler%40comcast.net
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> nagdu mailing list
>>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>>>> nagdu:
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/ravend729%40gmail.com
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Raven
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Raven
>>
>
>
> -- 
> Raven
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/lkeeler%40comcast.net