[nagdu] Adjustment from working with a king to a dog

[Buddy Brannan]

I’ve said this in another post, probably several other posts, but the hardest thing for me to learn wasn’t the mechanics of guide work. The mechanics are easy. This hand signal means that thing, and when you move your feet this way, it means this other thing, and when the dog stops or backs up or what have you…all that stuff was pretty easy by comparison to the hardest thing, which was learning to trust my dog. Being a cane user, and I’d say a *good* cane user, I was used to having all the control and making all the decisions. Pole? Walk around it. Check. With a dog, you have to let some of that go. And I’ve had to relearn this three different times. 

On Jun 26, 2014, at 11:29 AM, Daryl Marie via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> 
> Hi, Clare!
> I am less than a year into working with my first guide, Jenny, and I was a cane user for my entire life.  The tactile feedback is very different from cane to dog, and I personally thought the transition would be difficult; instead, I found myself freed from the feedback of the cane.  Even my best friend thought I would have a hard transition and was surprised when I didn't.  Others will have different experiences.  The advice I can give here is to break down the feedback you receive from your cane and think about what feedback you think is necessary, and what you can do without.
> 
> As for your dog's signals... all dogs will have different signals that they use.  Trainers will know your dog and know some of their signals. In the beginning, they will tell you that your dog is distracted, focused, scrounging, etc., and you will learn in training and beyond the signals your own dog will use.  I tend to second-guess Jenny signals on locating thigns, because her body language is the same as if she's diving toward something, so I act accordingly.
> 
> You will make mistakes; this is normal!  Don't be like me an put on yourself the unreasonable and stressful expectation of perfectly understanding your dog as soon as you start training, or even in the first few months.  You will both make mistakes, figure each other out as you go... and when you both "get it", there's no better feeling in the world!
> 
> Daryl and Jenny
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Clare Westlund via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Sent: Thu, 26 Jun 2014 09:10:03 -0600 (MDT)
> Subject: [nagdu] Adjustment from working with a king to a dog
> 
> afraid that I will miss something that the dog is trying to tell me when off leash. Thank you all for your guidance and advice! Clare Hi everyone! I am preparing to get my first dog next month and I had a couple questions. I am nervous about the adjustment from working with a cane two then using a dog? What was it like for you? I am nervous that I will not understand what the dog is trying to tell me when and and or out of harness? I don't want to interpret the body language or mannerism of the dog in a bad way? Since I am totally blind I am
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
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