[nagdu] Combo dogs

[Raven Tolliver]

It's exactly what Debbie said, and what others have essentially
alluded to by mentioning the concept selective disobedience.
Dogs cut out for guide work are naturally more stubborn, whereas dogs
for other service or assistance work must be incredibly acquiescent.
In addition, these dogs must show a great level of independence. Guide
dogs have to make executive decisions without input from the handler.
For instance, we give our dogs directions, but we don't cue them to
guide us around obstacles, stop at curbs, or even stop midway cross a
street when a vehicle is suddenly coming close to crossing your path.
But they do because they have been trained to make these calls using
their own judgment. These dogs have a lot of responsibility because
our safety, and sometimes the safety of our children, is in their
paws. Every move they make while guiding us with the harness is a
judgment call, a decision they must make on their own, regardless of
what we say.
Other dogs are expected to perform assistive tasks when a cue is given period.
So of course training a combo dog is more complicated when guide work
is in the mix because it might be harder to train a guide dog to
perform certain behaviors required to mitigate other disabilities.
Things expected of other assistance dogs are no-nos for guide dogs. No
jumping up on things, no picking up inappropriate objects, no
mouthing, and no noise while working. Some dogs and handlers will not
have a problem with these behaviors, but others would rather their dog
not do those things, and others could train their dogs to do these
things, but would face great difficulty.
For instance, I recently stayed with someone for a while after
graduating. She allows her guide dog to get up on counters and such.
Whatever. That's her dog. But one time her dog did this, and the woman
tried to get my dog to jump up on the counter. Fortunately, my dog
refused to perform the behavior. And in fact, my dog is not inclined
to jump up on things. He doesn't even get on the furniture. I have put
him on my bed at times, and the only time he actually stays there is
if I'm packing or something and he knows he needs to keep out of the
way. Otherwise, he would just rather be on the floor.
I have tried to teach him to pick up things with his mouth that are
not toys. He will not have any of it, so I trained him to place his
paw on those objects instead.
Obviously, it depends on the dog whether they are willing to serve
more than one disability. But training and working with a guide dog is
not like training and working with other service dogs.
-- 
Raven
You are valuable because of your potential, not because of what you
have or what you do.

Naturally-reared guide dogs
https://groups.google.com/d/forum/nrguidedogs

On 2/27/15, Applebutter Hill via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Good points.
> Donna
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Debby Phillips
> via nagdu
> Sent: Friday, February 27, 2015 6:42 PM
> To: Buddy Brannan; NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog
> Users; carcione at access.net; nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Combo dogs
>
> This is interesting.  I remember being at a meeting once when we h a
> speaker
> who had been a trainer for guide dogs.  He went to work for CCI (Canine
> Companions for Independence).  When he first got there, he could not pick
> out dogs that were good for service dogs.  They were great for guiding but
> not for service.  Often with service dogs, there needs to be a real
> willingness, on the part of the dog, to be obedient.  There is no
> intelligent disobedience.  And many people who use service dogs do not have
> a lot of physical strength, so if you have a dog, for instance that's kind
> of a hard dog, but guides excellently, they will not make a good service
> dog.  They will work well, but they also have a stubborn quality and
> sometimes need more correction then some people who need service dogs can
> do.  So the training between the two kinds of dogs can be quite different.
> Just my 2 cents'
> worth.    Blessings,    Debby
>
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