[nagdu] Questions about Pilot

[S L Johnson]

    Hello Kerri:

You will find Pilot Dogs quite different from Seeing Eye.  Pilot isn't the 
big fancy school that Seeing Eye is.  It is an older building.  Student 
rooms are double occupancy.  There is a phone but, no computer access.  If 
you are an experienced guide dog user, you will probably be scheduled for 
the twelve day.  That's ten days of training and your two travel days.

Below is what my trainer did.  I do not know if all the trainers do the same 
things so, other people's experiences may be different.

You'll arrive on Sunday.  They'll show you around the school and explain the 
program to you.  The next morning they'll do a short Juno walk and show you 
where you'll be relieving your dog.  Then after lunch you will be given your 
dog.  After some time alone with your dog, the trainer will come back and 
you'll go out to relieve the dog.  Then you'll take a short walk.  Sometime 
later that day, you will give your new dog a bath.  The trainer will be with 
you to show how it is done.  They feel this is a good way to bond with your 
new dog.  They do not use tie-down chains.  There is a crate next to each 
bed.

Now for the relieving issue.  They have a rectangle shaped area in the 
courtyard.  It has a metal railing, about waist high, around this area.  You 
put the dog under the railing down into the relief area.  There are three 
spots along this railing.  Unlike other schools, everyone does not go out at 
the same time.  The word they use is "potty Potty".  They tell you to stay 
out there for about ten minutes.  That first day, you will take your dog out 
about every 40 minutes until bedtime.  They say this is to establish good 
housebreaking habits.  As class goes on, the time between relief times will 
increase.  This will depend on your particular dog.    They have radio 
speakers in the room that will blast you awake at 6:00 am.  They tell you to 
get the dogs out before breakfast.  They only had me pick up once just to 
show that I knew how to do it.

You will feed twice a day, morning and evening.  My trainer said we could 
either choose before or after breakfast.  The second feeding is after 
dinner.  You have to feed them outside in the courtyard.  You go to the feed 
room, fill the dish and go outside, hoping your new excited dog doesn't make 
you drop that full bowl of food.  The dishes are small, maybe quart size, 
hard plastic, not metal like most other schools.   You will be given two 
dishes, one for food and one for water.

Most commands are the same.  Pilot does not teach the dogs to find or 
follow.  The command to get your dog to slow down is "easy" instead of 
"steady".

Grooming is also done outside whenever you have time during your day.  They 
use a large pin brush.  Even though I got a golden, they did not give me a 
comb.

The daily training is not like other schools.  Since Pilot is located right 
in the city, you will not have to get into vans and be driven to the 
designated route for the days training.  You will relax in your room or the 
lounge until it is your turn.  The only time we used a van to take us to our 
training was for country travel and to a department store.  I can't describe 
the usual routes because due to medical issues and physical limitations my 
walks were shortened.  Pilot seems to plan walks more on an individuals 
needs.  As with all schools, you will start out in quiet areas and progress 
to downtown and riding the city bus.  If you stay for ten days, you'll have 
two test walks, one the first Friday and the second, the following 
Wednesday.  That second walk has you walk to the bus stop, ride downtown, do 
a prescribed route, including into a CVS and an office building.  On that 
walk, you'll be accompanied by a trainer you and your dog don't know.  After 
that walk you will be told whether you passed or failed.

Other things you will find that are different is the equipment.  The Pilot 
leash is much longer than what you are used to from Seeing Eye.  It will 
have some extra snaps and a buckle that form a muzzle.  The harness body is 
almost the same but, the handle is permanently attached to the body.  Also, 
I noticed the length of the handle is much shorter than some other schools 
use.  It has leather on the top and about two inches down each side, the 
rest is white venal.  On the chest strap there are two snaps where a strip 
of   plastic spikes can be inserted to stop dogs from pulling too hard.  If 
your dog doesn't need this, your harness will have a strip of plain leather 
that snaps into that place.  Personally, I don't like the leashes or the 
harness handles.  I've already replaced the leash and if I could find a 16 
inch all leather handle, I'd replace that too.

I hope this helps.  Hopefully in October, they'll have good news for you. 
Good luck.  If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

Sandra and Eva

-----Original Message----- 
From: Kerri Stovall via nagdu
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2015 8:30 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] Questions about Pilot

> Good morning listers,
> Hey there from Texas. I was just curious if any of you Pilot Dogs 
> graduates would be willing to either write me off list, or continue this 
> thread with some information about the training techniques and methods 
> that Pilot uses. What are the typical training walks like? How do they 
> differ from other schools' methods of training? Just any info possible is 
> great. I have heard conflicting things about Pilot training you to pick up 
> after your dog, and some pilot grads I have heard from say no. Things like 
> that make me curious. I'm going to be a third time guide hander, so I'm 
> not too concerned with it since I already know how, but it'll be good to 
> be aware of how other grads have experienced this particular school, since 
> this is my first time to go there. I went to Seeing Eye twice, so their 
> methods may be similar or completely different. I'd like to know what they 
> train the dogs to do other than the obvious, guiding, such as finding 
> things or certain commands. I'd also like to hear people's perspectives on 
> anything else I didn't touch on, such as what they teach in their daily 
> lectures,  crate training,  and I have heard from others that you take 
> your dog out quite a bit more than I've ever done. What do the trainers 
> recommend for certain behaviors? Ok, that's plenty of things to start 
> with, but if I missed something, please fill me in, either off here or in 
> this message.
> Thank you in advance, and I'm looking forward to October when they'll 
> possibly be done training the new litter of poodles and I get a call to 
> let me know about it. My email address is: spedangel84 at gmail.com

> Talk soon,
> Kerri

Sent from my iPhone
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