[nagdu] What's up with all the scavenging anyhow?

[Applebutter Hill]

Hi Vivianna,
I didn't realize that the schools were doing this. This is a major step down
IMO. I can understand the use of treats by a handler if the dog develops
some sort of aversion based on a bad experience; we recently talked about
dogs slipping when they jumped into SUV's and not wanting to go to a certain
location like work. Those incidents are far different  than training a dog
from scratch using treats. It goes against everything I was ever taught in
the past with my four guides. I'd like to know if GDF is doing this. And, I
can't imagine that this practice wouldn't lead to scavenging.
Donna & Hunter

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Vivianna via
nagdu
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2015 1:51 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Cc: Vivianna
Subject: [nagdu] What's up with all the scavenging anyhow?

ok, here goes a contraversial post.
i am reading a load of posts about folks having problems with their dogs
grabbing things off the ground.  it seems that, this is the most common
problem that folks seem to be having with the second being dog distractions.
do you think that, since many schools are using food to train the dogs that
this problem has come up?  i have had several guides and have never had a
dog try and carry things around.  i also never use food as a reward for my
dog.
i am just so totally against feeding my dog treats in order to get her to
guide me properly.
from what i read, dogs are grabbing things off the ground while actually
guiding, while lying on a bus or train, in restaurants, in stores, while
relieving, etc.
for me, and, this is just my own preference, i could not work with a dog
that did this.  i can put up with some behaviors but, this is definitely not
one of them.
folks seem to think that it's ok to treat the dog for good behavior and then
they wonder why he's so focused on food.  i have even had 3 labs and, they
didn't want to carry things around.
for a pet, yeah, maybe it's cute to see the dog carrying around toys in
public, but, a guide dog?  this should be a professionally trained dog doing
a professional job, looking out for the handler.
i think that, if the dogs were trained without the use of treats this would
be way less common.
this is all only my opinion and things that i, personally could not handle.
i have probably offended some but, maybe, i may just caused some to think
about the food-based training a bit.

Vivianna


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