[NAGDU] Trip journal

[S L Johnson]

Hello:

I kept a journal when my previous dog, Tara suffered a lack of confidence 
after we had been working together for two years.  A week with her trainer 
back at the school made us think retirement might be possible.  When I 
returned home with her I was determined to try and help her to see if I 
would be able to keep her.  We never figured out why she lost confidence but 
my careful notes kept me aware of what was happening and what I had done to 
try and solve the problems.  As I worked through the problems the journal 
helped me as well as the school to track our progress and to make decisions 
of what to do next.  Fortunately the journal helped me see that although the 
progress was very slow, Tara was definitely making progress.  After six 
months her trainer and I decided that she was once again back to her high 
level of work and there was no need to retire a young dog I had only had for 
two years. .  Tara went on to work another four years until hip dysplasia 
and cataracts made retirement necessary.  The journal also helped her vet, 
trainers and I keep track of how the stiffness and pain in her hips and the 
growing cataracts were effecting her work.  As I reviewed my notes I was 
able to know without a doubt That her medical issues had progress to the 
point that retirement was necessary.  All in all I found keeping a journal 
to be very helpful.  Tracy I wish you luck with Krokus and hopefully you and 
he will solve the problems so you can continue working together.

Sandra and Eva

-----Original Message----- 
From: Julie J. via NAGDU
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2016 9:06 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Cc: Julie J.
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Trip journal

I did this when I was having issues with Jetta.  Looking back, I notice that
her behavior gets better, but my ratings don't.  I think my expectations
changed throughout the process.  In the beginning it was just if we could go
somewhere without her losing her grip on sanity over another dog.   Then as
that improved, I'd make more notes about her sniffing or whatever.  She was
probably doing the same amount of sniffing earlier, it just wasn't a
priority then.  So I stopped looking at my rating as a reflection of her
actual performance, but more about my feelings about working with her.  My
notes did help me to see patterns in her behavior and to be able to help her
work through those issues.  and the ratings helped me to realize that a part
of the equation was my feelings toward her work.

The whole process did help a lot.  Sometimes it would be the act of writing
it out that helped me to logically see there was improvement.  When I'd be
out with her and she'd go off over some barking dog, I would be so
frustrated and I'm sure that contributed to her and her behavior two blocks
down at the next barking dog.  Keeping track in a more scientific way helped
me to see that last week she reacted X amount of times and this week on the
same route we only had Y number of issues.  I'm generally a logic based
thinker and this helped me a lot.

Julie
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-----Original Message----- 
From: Tracy Carcione via NAGDU
Sent: Wednesday, October 26, 2016 7:37 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Cc: Tracy Carcione
Subject: [NAGDU] Trip journal

I was grumbling to a friend about my problems with Krokus, and she suggested
I keep a trip journal.  I write down the trip, some of the highlights and
lowlights, and give it a rating.

It seems kinda useful, so I mention it to the list.  I can look back at the
last few days and see any patterns, and record what's working and what's
not.

I'm not sure about the rating, though.  Krokus tends to be a slow starter.
He screws around when we're starting out, then he gets in a groove and is
good.  So the first part of a trip could be a 2 or 3, then the rest could be
a 7.

Then I ask myself, what's my scale?  Really, my expectation is that a guide
dog would attend to guiding most of the time, only sniffing or getting
distracted a little bit.  So is that a 5, average, or a 9, with 10 being for
outstanding behavior, like a traffic check?  When Krokus actually goes a
whole trip without balking or sniffing, I'm so amazed I give him a high
rating, but I think I'm inflating his grades a bit.

Anyway, there it is, for whatever it's worth.

Tracy



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