[NAGDU] Tasks - New routine!

Morgan Leland morganland at me.com
Thu Dec 17 20:34:27 UTC 2015


Those tasks do sound like a great way to keep their brain working! Summers are the problem here in Arizona but I am starting to think about this now because it is very hard to be outside for any longer than five minutes at a time as the temperatures reach approximately 120 (why does anyone live here, lol). 

I am going to try to do some of these things with Fairest. Can anyone tell me how I would even start to teach to "bring" command? Is that something I should just Google? I find sometimes the way sighted people and the way blind people train their dogs is very different. I remember trying to teach my pet dogs "look" to get their attention based on some videos I had seen online, and then when I got to guide dog school I found "touch" is much more effective for me because I can't see if they are looking at me anyway. I had never even heard of the "touch" command before that! Now even my pet dogs do it and it's a great tool. 

Any insights or resources regarding training for additional tasks would be much appreciated! Fairest does very well when there is environmental pressure and expectations, but gets very bored if there is not.

Morgan and the Fairest 

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 17, 2015, at 10:30 AM, Lisa via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:

Hi Daryl,

Some days, I  can't go out much due to my health issues. Apart from playing or free running, I teach Taylor new tasks in the house. We started with the simple command "Bring!" and then extended this so he can distinguish a few objects. Like "Bring the socks!" or "Bring the bottle!".
A friend of mine taught her guide dog a bit of dog dancing to keep him occupied. She started by standing upright and teach the dog to walk around you on the right side, then on the left side, while each side of course has a command. Unfortunately, these are the only moves that I kept in mind but google might help you there. ;-)
There's also a game where the dog learns to find one certain tea bag in between a pile of different flavoured ones by remembering the particular smell.
Currently, I'm thinking of teaching Taylor to help me unload the washing machine.
All these tasks have nothing to do with guidework but they at least keep the dog's brain working. :-)

I hope both you and Jenny find ways to keep yourselves busy!

Lisa

----- Original Message ----- From: "Daryl Marie via NAGDU" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Daryl Marie" <crazymusician at shaw.ca>
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2015 4:56 PM
Subject: [NAGDU] New routine!


> Hi, everyone!
> 
> I've written before about my employment situation... and it has once again changed. I received a lay-off notification yesterday, and my last day will be Dec 31.
> I am in NO WAY sad to see this job go.  But unemployment stresses me out. The irony is, I think once this monkey's off my back, Jenny will be less stressed overall as well.
> 
> But Jenny in particular thrives on routine. Last time I got a lay-off notice, the transition period was short and sweet, and occurred in the summer. Now that it's winter (and therefore cold and snowy), walking outside for extended periods doesn't sound like fun.  I have a couple interviews, but am at a bit of a loss as to what to do to keep both myself and my dog occupied. There's a local mall nearby that I can use to work on training and targeting and all of that, but there's only so much of that I can do before getting bored or boring my dog, and the closest bigger malls are ones I hate going to or are across really REALLY busy intersections with short lights that sighted people hate crossing.
> 
> Any suggestions?
> 
> Daryl
> _______________________________________________
> 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/dreamymarmot93%40yahoo.de


_______________________________________________
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/morganland%40me.com




More information about the NAGDU mailing list