[nagdu] Sound/body cues?

[Daryl Marie]

Nicole,
Thanks for the questions.
Yes, I honestly think that the toe-tap is bringing on lightbulb moments for the simple reason that I am needing to do it less frequently.  For example, at the top of stairs, more often than not, now she will sit without my having to even tell her, so I think the toe-tap is doing what I want it to do.

The kissy sound is something new I've just started (in the last day or two), so we're not super up on consistency yet, but when she gets it, she GETS it, and I have a little fiesta.

Hope that helps!

Daryl and Jenny who really aren't looking forward to the snow... again
----- Original Message -----
From: Nicole Torcolini <ntorcolini at wavecable.com>
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users' <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 18:09:07 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Sound/body cues?

I am kind of worried about two things. With the kissy sound, are you certain
that Jenny understands what you want? Also, with the sit command, do you
think that the light bulb comes on, or could it be that the thought process
in Jenny's head goes something like this:
You: "Jenny, sit"
Jenny's thoughts: "Do you really want me to sit? I don't want to."
You: tap your foot
Jenny's thoughts: "okay, I guess I really do have to."
In essence, I am worried that the verbal commands are being regarded as
optional or suggestions.

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Daryl Marie
Sent: Wednesday, March 19, 2014 1:46 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Sound/body cues?

hey, Raven,

Tapping the thigh is a "come here".
There's another hand signal for "sit", but I've tried for the last five
minutes to describe it and cannot do so.  For some reason that makes no
sense to me, Jenny does not like to sit at the top of stairs as we have been
trained to do.  This is one of the few hand signals she does not respond to
well in particular situations, so at the top of stairs, if she's standing
instead of sitting, I will verbally tell her to sit along with the hand
signal.  If she doesn't feel like it, which is most of the time, I tap my
toe and it's like this lightbulb goes on ("I should sit!")

The snapping to sync up is starting to see results, but it is only effective
if I am not wearing gloves or mittens - an impracticality for six months of
the year in this northern climate.  The other thing that seems to be working
fairly well is if she's walking too fast, I'll do a quick kissy sound twice
and, whether or not I use the word "steady" it slows her right down.  This
isn't always consistent, but if one doesn't work, the other does.

Daryl
----- 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: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 14:18:23 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Sound/body cues?

During training, one of the sound cues my class was taught was to double tap
our thigh to cue our dogs to sit. Dunno why that was the only cue that had a
sound cue rather than a hand signal.
With the Golden Guy, I also snap to get his attention while working.
Most of the time, it's when he is hell bent on going in our routine
direction or through a frequented set of doors, and I want to go somewhere
else. In that instance, I will sweep over his head and point in the desired
direction or just snap in that general direction to get him to turn
immediately.
It's interesting that Jenny doesn't respond to hand signals well.
Whenever I train dogs, I almost always teach hand gestures before I
introduce verbal cues. I understand that all trainers don't do this though.
When we first got our dogs, a fellow classmate would tap her feet near her
dog's head to get her to stop sniffing while lying down.
I'm curious about snapping while working to get your dog to slow down or
sync up with your stride. Does Jenny seem to be getting the hang of it?

On 3/19/14, Daryl Marie <crazymusician at shaw.ca> wrote:
> Hey!
> Just been starting to use sound cues with Jenny in addition to, or 
> instead of, the original hand signals that she doesn't seem to respond 
> to.  Lately, if she's not sitting when she needs to, I tap my foot, or 
> if she's not walking steady, I snap my fingers in a rhythm with my 
> feet to focus her a bit.
>
> Does anyone have any other pointers?  Successes? Questions...
>
> Daryl and the awesome Jenny girl
>
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>


--
Raven

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