[nagdu] A Mia misconception

[Tracy Carcione]

Hi Noah.
This is a pretty common thing.  It's easier for the dog if she has the 
building on her left, and all the people have to go around her.  If she's on 
the right, she has to look right and left, and go around things herself. 
But I agree with you; a strong left tendency can be very annoying.  I prefer 
my dog in the center of the sidewalk, so we can dodge left or right, 
whatever seems best.
Rox's solution seems good.  I will also say that my dog Echo had a big left 
tendency that was driving me crazy, so I got a trainer out to look.  He 
figured out that Echo was very sensitive to how I was holding the harness 
handle.  If I held it over the center of her back, she walked straight, but, 
if I pulled it even a tiny bit right, she would pull left.  He showed me how 
to hold it the way she wanted, and we practiced a bit, and voila!  it fixed 
the problem forever more.  So make sure you're not pulling on the harness, 
trying to get her to go right, because dogs are taught to pull in the 
opposite direction, and it will make her go left. Try to hold the harness 
right in the center of her back.
Tracy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Beckman, Noah G. via nagdu" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2014 8:43 PM
Subject: [nagdu] A Mia misconception


> Good evening everyone,
>                I am noticing a consistent tendency in Mia's guide work 
> that I would like to eliminate.  It seems as though her perception of her 
> guiding window (the space both above her and to her right that she needs 
> to keep clear of obstacles) is quite a bit wider than necessary.  In other 
> words, I think she feels she needs to guide me as though my right arm is 
> raised and pointing straight out to my right.  Although her efforts to 
> make doubly sure my right shoulder doesn't collide with anything might 
> seem touching, it has several negative symptoms.  As we walk down a 
> sidewalk, she will tend to favor either the middle or the far left side. 
> If there is a building line, curb into the street, row of parking meters, 
> etc. to my right, this tendency becomes especially pronounced.  As I 
> attend a large university, the volume of people on the sidewalk at any one 
> time can reach levels comparable to New York City.  This means that her 
> love of the left often results in oncoming people
>  either having to step off of the sidewalk or cut over to my right in 
> order to avoid us.  Or, if we approach a group of people that is standing 
> on the sidewalk such that there is still a little bit of room for us to 
> pass, she will sometimes freeze or walk at a snail's pace.  The same is 
> true for slightly narrow, but definitely navigable gaps between furniture 
> or other objects.  When I ask her to hup right, she will (usually) but not 
> all of the way to the boarder of the sidewalk.  Also, she will drift back 
> to the left immediately.
>                I've tried putting the leash in my right hand and tugging 
> slightly to the right.  I've tried scolding her and, in extreme or 
> repeated offenses, correcting her when she pulls me to the left.  I've 
> tried putting on a praise party on those few instances where she keeps me 
> to the right without repeated encouragement.  None of these efforts has 
> noticeably mitigated the issue.  I am not exactly sure how or why this 
> started; I only became acutely aware of it in late August around the time 
> other students started moving back to campus.
>                Other than this problem, I hardly have grounds for 
> complaint when it comes to any aspect of Mia or her work.  I simply want 
> to be able to walk along and have thoughts or conversations with others 
> that are not continually interrupted by me having to remind my dog that we 
> need to stick to the right.  Your thoughts and suggestions about how to 
> correct this issue would be much appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
>
> -Noah
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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/carcione%40access.net
>