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

[Shannon Dyer]

When I went to GDF in the summer of 2012, they talked about treating for certain behaviors or when teaching a new task. However, with my dog, this was an utter fail. He was so focused on the food in my hand that he paid attention to nothing else. My trainer and I decided that food rewards were not a good thing for him since he’s very, very food-focused.

Nearly three years later, he doesn’t scavenge. He no longer wears a gentle leader in restaurants. He’ll sniff sometimes, but a “leave it” from me gets him to stop.

I’ve seen some incredible things done with treat training. My first two dogs weren’t trained with it at all, but I’ve known a lot of dogs who respond well to it. I just know that my current guide is not one of them.

Shannon and the Acelet
> On Jul 1, 2015, at 10:39 AM, Vivianna via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Yes, GDF does treat train.
> 
> Vivianna
> 
>> On Jul 1, 2015, at 9:26 AM, Applebutter Hill via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> 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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>> om
>> 
>> 
>> 
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