[nagdu] Two weeks with Taylor - Update

Tue Oct 14 05:17:01 UTC 2014

Congrats Lisa AND TAYLOR. It SOUNDS LIKE YOU ALL ARE BOTH DOING
WONDERFUL. KeepUP THE GOOD WORK.

Danielle

On 10/13/14, Nicole Torcolini via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Lisa,
>
> 	Yes, and it is so funny when they do their little happy dance or whatever
> it is to indicate that they are happpy. Lexia sticks her nose in the aiir
> and wags her tail. As far as redirection versus correction, it sounds as
> though you are primarily using what many handlers refer to as redirection.
> Redirection involves refocusing the dog in a way that is usually neutral or
> positive whereas corrections are generally thought of as negative..
> Corrections can be thought of as communicating to your dog the idea of stop
> or no. Redirecction is more like teling your to do something else instead.
> Let me know if that did not make sense. Also, let me know if youu would like
> me to give you a summary of the pros and cons of both techniques and
> examples of where each one would/would not work well.
>
> Nicole
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Oct 13, 2014, at 9:32 AM, Lisa <dreamymarmot93 at yahoo.de> wrote:
>
> Hey Nicole,
>
> yes, when Taylor finds this particular gate, I praise him and he is so happy
> about that everytime.
> Hm, I'm not exactly sure what correction and redirection practically mean...
> When I notice that he is getting distracted but is still kind of
> concentrated, I tell him "Forward" and then he's back to his task most of
> the time. But when he's really distracted and pulling and going elsewhere, I
> often stop for a moment to get myself orientated and him focused again and
> then I show him our direction and start walking again. Leash corrections
> have been shown to me but I try to avoid them so far because I figured that
> my other corrections are working fine as well.
>
> take care
> Lisa
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nicole Torcolini"
> <ntorcolini at wavecable.com>
> To: "'Lisa'" <dreamymarmot93 at yahoo.de>; "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National
> Association of Guide Dog Users'" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2014 9:32 PM
> Subject: RE: [nagdu] Two weeks with Taylor - Update
>
>
>> Lisa,
>>
>> Glad that things are going well. Luckily, Lexia does not destroy
>> things that are not toys, but she definitely  does a number on those
>> ropes,
>> which, for some silly reason, she likes more than the other toys. I am
>> glad
>> to hear that he likes to work. When he gets distraction, do you use
>> corrections, redirection, or some combination of both? When he finds the
>> gate, do you praise him?
>>
>> Nicole and Lexia who will destroy certain toys
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lisa via nagdu
>> Sent: Saturday, October 11, 2014 10:42 AM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: [nagdu] Two weeks with Taylor - Update
>>
>> Hello everyone!
>>
>> Now it's been two weeks since Taylor and I graduated from guide dog
>> training.
>> Those two weeks have been both exhausting and incredibly fun.
>> By now, we have destroyed one toy (a rope with two knots that now
>> consists
>> of a thousand single strings), figured that this dog tries to chew on
>> EVERYTHING that he can find, including our wardrobe, soap, plastic bags,
>> shoes, paper, bottles just to name a few items. But I got him some
>> obviously
>> delicious chew bones of cowhide and his behaviour inside the apartment is
>> getting better literally day by day.
>> His guiding is flawless as it has been during training and it is so great
>> to
>> work him. When I take the harness, he is so excited and happy. And other
>> dogs, children and most of the other things you face outside don't
>> distract
>> him. Only when people start looking at him too fascinated or dare to say
>> something, he starts pulling like crazy. But I was able to correct him
>> and
>> get him focused again anytime so far.
>>
>> The last few days, we've been working on finding a certain entrance.
>> There's
>> a building I have to go to quite often and when I was still using my cane,
>> I
>> could find it easily. But now that the dog is on my left side, I cannot
>> look
>> at the different stones there anymore. So I wanted to show Taylor the
>> right
>> gate and then make him remember it. I now have a command for this gate and
>> I
>> was so astonished how incredibly fast he learned it. We went there
>> several
>> times now just to practice it and by now, he guides me to the gate
>> everytime. I'm so proud of him.
>>
>> Furthermore, the school made him sleep in his crate in a seperate room
>> with
>> the door closed during the night. I thought it was quite reasonable
>> during
>> training, so we all would get some proper sleep. But now since training
>> is
>> over, I had the wish to have him around me during the night as I have
>> during
>> daytime. So one evening, I didn't tell him to go in his room. At first,
>> he
>> was totally confused and started running around and playing in the bed
>> room.
>> When he was still up at 1 AM and started eating the carpet, I decided to
>> give him one more night on his own. ;-) But since the evening after this,
>> he
>> has been sleeping on his blanket in our bed room so quietly and
>> peacefully.
>> This is just awesome. So we are much closer and he is much more involved
>> in
>> our everyday life.
>>
>> Okay, I think this is enough for now. Let me say once again that I'm
>> really
>> happy to be here on the list because I already learnt a lot from your
>> e-mails!
>>
>> take care and greetings from Germany
>> Lisa
>>
>>
>>
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>
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