[nagdu] Some people are assholes

Tue Oct 7 05:44:43 UTC 2014

Okay, I love this topic. It's terrible that this happened, but as
someone said, you can't control people, only how your dog reacts to
them.
For the stomach upset, ginger is your savior. I use ginger capsules
for both my dog and myself when we experience tummy upset. Slippery
elm bark powder will also help. You can put a teaspoon or 2 in your
dog's water, or make a tea with it and put it in the food. My dog
hates the stuff for whatever reason, so the ginger capsules are
easiest. Choose one or the other and give it for a few days. Things
should clear up. Your health food store should have this stuff.
As for food refusal, this is one of the things I worked on with the
Golden Guy after we got home from GEB. Guiding Eyes certainly worked
on this with us, but you know how it goes--new territory and new
people can mean different rules.
During our obedience routines, I set my sister up with some kibble
first. I put the Golden Guy in a sit, and had my sister throw food
directly at him. When the Golden Guy tried to catch the pellets, I
snapped my fingers at him to get his attention, or called his name in
a warning tone to attract his attention. If he focused on me, he
received a high value reward, if he didn't. he got a leash correction.
I also had her sit across the room from him, calling to him sweetly
and shaking a cup of pellets at him. If he focused on me, reward. If
he tried to go for her, I would just grab his attention and put him in
a sit or down.
The leash correction method is obviously not how I would do this now.
But this was right after I got him, and I knew nothing about the power
of positive reinforcement and redirection. So this is how I have told
other service dog handlers to teach their dogs food refusal. Everyone
has said it has worked. I even have done this method with the Golden
Guy, and had success.
Set someone up with pellets or dog safe people food such as boiled
chicken, berries, or cheese, whether it's a stranger or a familiar
person your dog knows and loves. With the dog on leash, put them in a
sit-stay or down-stay. Have the person throw food at the dog, and
beckon to the dog with the food. If your dog responds, do whatever you
know gets your dog's attention, whether it's snapping, calling their
name, clicking your tongue, whatever. Reward them for turning their
attention to you. If they go for the person with the food, or try to
catch the food, grab their attention and cue them to heel or sit, ask
them to do something they know--something that will yield a reward
from you. Show them that going for food from others is not rewarding,
and that doing what you expect is rewarding. If you use food rewards
for this, use something high value. If you have a dog with a lot of
self control and who manages not to respond to the antics, or after
several repetitions, picks up on what you want, pause and praise them
like they're the best dog in the world, which they all are to us.
If your dog doesn't seem to get it, take baby steps. Remove the person
and the food, and just focus on grabbing your dog's attention. Come up
with something that your dog will recognize and respond to. Teach your
dog to respond to your cue or sound signal by rewarding him for
responding to it. You can click and treat or say "yes!" and treat.
After your dog has the hang of this, add the person and food back in.
And be sure to practice this in different locations, wherever you can
make it possible.
Of course, this should happen over a period of several sessions. Do
not drill your dog, and don't do this for any longer than five
minutes. Start and end every training session on a positive note,
preferably by asking your dog to do something they are successful at,
like an off-leash recall, remaining in a down-stay, or finding an
empty chair.
Teaching your dog to only accept food on command is also an extremely
effective way to avoid this problem. Guide dog programs teach this to
a point, at least Guiding Eyes does. The dogs are taught to only eat
their meals on command. Of course, this has nothing to do with food
offered from people in an uncontrolled setting.

On 10/7/14, debby phillips via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> When I go on retreats, I ask if I can make an announcement at the
> beginning.  I tell everybody that this is So-and-So my Seeing Eye
> dog.  I ask them not to pet, especially if the dog is in harness.
> I then ask them not to feed my dog, and I tell them that if they
> do, when the dog is having diarhrea or barfing at three in the
> morning then it's them that I will call.  It gets a laugh, but
> gets my point across.  I have had pretty good luck with that.
> It's the person on the street that makes me mad, and I think part
> of it is fear.  If my dog takes something from someone, how do I
> know that it isn't something poison? I don't mean to be paranoid
> at all, but it certainly could happen.  There are some dang weird
> people out there.    Debby and Neena
>
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-- 
Raven
"if God didn't make it, don't eat it." - John B. Symes, D.V.M.
http://dogtorj.com