[NAGDU] Tasks - New routine!

[Lisa]

Hi Morgan,

I'm glad you liked the suggestions. :-)
Our dogs are usually very open and eager to learn new things. Many of those 
ideas I got from google but like you, I wasn't sure how to start teaching a 
task but in practice, it was always easier than in my mind.
For example with the "Bring!" command: I told Taylor to sit, then put socks 
in front of him on the floor. I pointed to them and said: "Bring!". He 
jumped to grab them and I rewarded this with a treat or just praised him. If 
I remember correctly, I then took the socks out of his mouth and praised him 
for that again. So he quickly understood if he gave me the socks, I'd be 
happy or even give him another delicious treat.
Then I made him sit again and put the socks on the floor. I went a little 
farther away, a few metres, and then said: "Bring!" I could hear he grabbed 
the socks and I just stretched my hands out in front of me and if he 
wouldn't come, I'd call him. He then came running and sometimes dropped the 
socks in front of me, then I repeated the whole task. If he didn't just drop 
the socks but put it in my hands, I gave him a treat/praise.
It sounds very theoretical in a message. It's much more fun in real life. 
;-) You'll find ways to make your dog understand what you want from them.
Oh, and of course you should repeat one step of a task several times before 
you start the next one so the dog is happy and keeps working.

Lisa

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Morgan Leland" <morganland at me.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Lisa" <dreamymarmot93 at yahoo.de>
Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2015 9:34 PM
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Tasks - New routine!


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
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