[NAGDU] {Spam?} RE: Corrections

Sat Sep 24 11:52:25 UTC 2016

Hi in what city do you live where it not allowed to give leach correction?

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Rachel Grider via
NAGDU
Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2016 12:56 AM
To: Nimer Jaber
Cc: Rachel Grider; NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog
Users
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Corrections

Nimer, thank you for sharing. I am sorry that this has happened to you but
glad that you worked out an alternative. If you don't mind my asking, in
what city do you live where leash corrections are actually illegal? When I
travel with my dog, should I expect to find myself in places where it is
illegal to correct her, or is it not a very common practice to outlaw leash
corrections?

By the way, Demi did an amazing job on our route home tonight. I took her on
a more circuitous route than usual so that we would be able to get in more
practice, and I upped the praise as well as the corrections. I honestly
didn't have to correct her much, and I feel like we started to achieve a
deeper level of connection. I don't know how to explain this, but I think
that we are on the right track, and as long as I remain consistent and don't
allow myself to worry about what others think, we will soon be a solid team.

On 9/23/16, Nimer Jaber <nimerjaber1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have been accused of abusing my dog a few times, and where I live, I 
> was informed that giving a dog a leash correction is illegal. My dogs 
> all came from the Seeing Eye. As soon as I know that there was a 
> report filed, or that there might be one filed, I contact the school 
> and have a positive conversation with them about it, and I have never 
> had any additional problems. I don't try to handle the situation with 
> the individuals reporting me, because people have different ideas 
> about what constitutes abuse, they don't understand the working 
> partnership, and many times, they are bent on the fact that it was 
> abuse. The best thing I can do at that time is to calmly advise them 
> to contact my school for more information or to file a report.
>
> As for the city... Unfortunately, there is not much the Seeing Eye can 
> do about that, or that is what i was told. A video was taken of my 
> correction, and a Seeing Eye instructor explained to the animal 
> officer that that was in fact what I was taught to do to regain 
> control of my dog in situations that warrant it, but the city did not 
> budge. They gave me notice that leash corrections are not permitted 
> here. As a result of that, and because of this larger issue as a whole 
> that seems to come up once a year or so, i have gone to not giving any 
> physical correction, and very limited verbal corrections. I make it 
> clear to my dog through praise when she is doing good. When she is 
> doing something undesirable, I redirect the behavior to something 
> simple that I know she can do, and then I praise the hell out of her. 
> So far, so good... better than when I gave the occasional correction
actually.
>
> Thanks.
>
> On Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 7:33 PM Rachel Grider via NAGDU 
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello, Everyone:
>>
>> As many of you know, I am still a fairly new guide dog user and have 
>> had my dog for almost four months, including our time at The Seeing 
>> Eye. I feel like our partnership has solidified in so many ways since 
>> bringing her home. Having said this, I have noticed that Demi has 
>> become more easily distracted while in harness just within the last 
>> two weeks. Up until about two weeks ago, Demi was extremely solid 
>> while in harness, but I feel like she has slowly become more and more 
>> distractable in a short amount of time.
>>
>> I have had a couple of conversations with instructors at TSE about 
>> this and have done what they told me, but after a particularly 
>> frustrating experience last night, I realized a pattern in my 
>> handling that may be contributing to this problem.
>>
>> I think that my greatest weakness as a guide dog handler is giving 
>> corrections. I have no problem doing verbal corrections, but it took 
>> me awhile while at TSE to feel comfortable giving Demi a leash 
>> correction. I have gotten  over this reticence for the most part; if 
>> we are walking down the street and Demi gets distracted, I have no 
>> problem stopping and giving her a leash correction. Without thinking 
>> about it, though, I have realized that I shy away from giving 
>> anything beyond a verbal correction when I know that there are people 
>> watching. I know that this is ridiculous and that people could be 
>> watching at any time without my knowledge, but if I know that there 
>> are people around me and I feel Demi's head dip down to sniff, I give 
>> her a verbal and a sort of wimpy jerk on her leash to get her head 
>> up, and just drive her on with a hup-up. I think that the reason I do 
>> this is a fear of people thinking that I am abusing my dog, which is 
>> also silly because no one has yet accused me of such a thing.
>>
>> Now that I have become aware of this pattern in my handling, I am 
>> thinking that it may be at least partially responsible for Demi's 
>> increasing lack of focus. and am determined to change it before it is 
>> too late. I made sure I did obedience with her right befor we walked 
>> out the door this morning, and I left home early so that we would 
>> have plenty of time to stop, correct, and rework if necessary. 
>> Overall, things have been going quite well today...
>>
>> So here is my question: Have any of you actually had someone accuse 
>> you of abusing your dog? If so, what have you said to convince the 
>> accuser otherwise?
>>
>> Thank you for your support.
>>
>> Rachel
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>>
>

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