[nagdu] Physical therapy

Fri Jun 6 19:51:30 UTC 2014

Well, Jessica I'm sorry about your broken ankle and I hope you will get
better really soon and meanwhile we'll write a lot of stuff so you'll have
plenty to read--smile
.
Now here is a question.
I have a torn ligament in my ankle, actually it tore about 20 years ago but
it keeps bothering me so I'll be going to physical therapy, anyone taken
their dogs to physical therapy?
I won't have access issues at all that's not my concern, wit's what you do
with your dog while you do the exercises and such, just having him on leash
beside you  or maybe secure the pup somewhere close by, what are peoples'
experiences?

Or is this one of those places where it is preferable not to have a dog,
I'll basically be doing thins like, holding on to a pole and balancing and
practicing steps and strengthening my ankle  and so on.
It's apparently either that or surgery down the road so I want to be serious
about getting it done.

Sincerely,

Dan the man, Parker the hound dog

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Raven Tolliver
via nagdu
Sent: Friday, June 06, 2014 3:42 PM
To: Marsha Drenth; NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog
Users
Subject: Physical therapy

Jessica,
Your dog losing her training should not even be a concern. That undoing
would take 12+ months, if not years.
Build your bond through playing with your dog, massaging her, treating her
randomly throughout the day for simple good behaviors like laying down
quietly, and just having what I call a "pat and chat," where you sit with
your dog, pet them and talk to them. I don't know if other schools emphasize
this, but at GEB, they always told us the key to strengthening our bond in
the beginning was ensuring that all good things come from you. Food, treats,
playtime, petting, all come from you or at least are given in your presence
to make certain that your dog understands that good things happen when you
are around and to esteem you above others as the [primary source of good
things. I like this teaching because it doesn't give rise or even appeal to
being alpha, dominant, or controlling over a dog, but instead establishes
you as leader through your status as the provider and caregiver, in addition
to giving guidance and direction while working.

Off leash recall is one of my favorite things to train. Personally, I use
toys to train a dog for this, provided the dog is play-motivated.
I start by just squeaking or crinkling a familiar toy while the dog and I
are in a quiet room, no words, just that unmistakable sound. The dog comes
every time, and I click and praise the dog excessively,slipping him a few
treats. If the dog reliably responds to the toy after a few times, I start
introducing a verbal cue "here" or "come," after the sound has captured
their attention. Eventually, I fade the toy out, using it every other time I
give the cue, then every second or third time, and so on until I can get the
dog to come to me without the toy at all. Then, I start working on
distraction level and distance. We start with just across the room, then we
move into a hallway, then a yard, with varying levels of distractions from
other people, dogs and so on in order to ensure that the dog will come no
matter what, or at least 8 or 9 times out of 10.
Set the dog up for success by moving backward at any point in this process
if the dog is hesitant or doesn't obey reliably when moving to the next
step. Some people just expect that the dog should be able to generalize
easily and so there's no need to go back to the basics in order to truly
move forward, when this is not always true for every dog, especially in the
face of distractions. Some dogs pick up on this incredibly quickly. Others
take longer to get this skill down pact,while others never truly master the
off-leash recall.
Good luck, and heal up soon.

On 6/5/14, Marsha Drenth via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> hi Jessica,
> Sorry to hear about your ankle. I totally understand, as I am dealing 
> with a broken rest myself. I hope things start to heal. And that you 
> can start set work your dog very soon. Please keep us updated on how
things are going.
>
>
> Marsha drenth
> email: marsha.drenth at gmail.com
> Sent with my IPhone
> Please note that this email communication has been sent using my 
> iPhone. As such, I may have used dictation and had made attempts to
mitigate errors.
> Please do not be hesitant to ask for clarification as necessary.
>
>> On Jun 3, 2014, at 10:39 PM, Jessica Roberts via nagdu 
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>> Its been a while since I've written.
>> I came home with Garbo my female yellow lab on April 10th.
>> She is such a wonderful dog and I can't believe we've been home for 
>> almost 2 months.
>> We got back into the swing of things and she does routes like she has 
>> always done  them.
>> She amazes me.
>> Unfortunately, about a week and a half or 2 weeks after I got home I 
>> got very, very sick, pneumonia type sick.
>> Just as I was getting over that on May 8th, I was walking my son to 
>> daycare int eh early morning, my husband behind me.
>> My back was hurting as it sometimes does, and I was jsut not doign 
>> well, my body was jsut tired from being so sick.
>> I thought we were at a poitn in our route wehre you have to step back 
>> and allow the dog ot go in front of you and follow her to the right, 
>> so I did that, and accidentally stepped too far, was not at the right 
>> spot, my mistake completely, and fell off a 1 and a half foot drop 
>> intot he street.
>> My girl came to me, even though I dropped the handle, and licked my 
>> face, whining, she thought it was her fault and it wasn't.
>> I cralwed on teh sidewalk, and cried, it hurt so incredibly much.
>> Somehow I got back up and somehow leaning on her and my husband got 
>> Noah to daycare.
>> I then got on a bus, you see I was on teh way to take my biology final.
>> However the pain got worse and worse and I was about to puke on the 
>> bus, so when we got to the transfer point we got off and got a cab to 
>> the hospital.
>> The exrays were inconclusive.
>> It was so swollen they couldn't see.
>> The next week I went to the ortopedic, and they did more exrays, and 
>> sure enough there was a hairline fracture, along with tendon damage 
>> and swelling on and around the bones.
>> They put me in a brace that goes on my foot and all the way to my 
>> knee, it keeps the ankel still, and I use crutches or a cane, 
>> depending.
>> Up until yesterday my husband has been feeding, relieving, etc. Garbo 
>> because I simply couldn't, and still can't to a large degree but have 
>> started while holding onto him takign ehr out once a day to workon 
>> our bond.
>> She still listens well to me, I'm just hopign she wont' have lost her 
>> training when I can work her once more.
>> TSE said they'd send an instructor and a balance handle out to me 
>> once I'm healed more.
>> She is such a tropper just lying quietly and playing sometimes 
>> thorugh all this.
>> Does anyone have recommendations of things I can do with her to work 
>> on our bond or to make sure her guide work doesn't go away?
>> Also does anyone have tips for practicing off leash recall and being 
>> able to enforce it, she comes to me sometimes but only when she wants 
>> to and that's frustrating.
>> Thanks so much and sorry for the rambling.
>> Jessica
>>
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--
Raven

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