[NAGDU] Dog Distractions

Tue Feb 28 17:01:19 UTC 2017

Hi, Jordon,  My second guide dog was very dog and people distracted.  We'd 
only been together for a few months when she suddenly did a moving 180 
degree turn in harness to look at another person and their dog approaching 
from behind us.  That was just one of the many issues I had with her.

The good thing with her, at least, was that she was very obviously 
distracted once I knew the signs.  She panted, started prancing and pulling 
harder and tried veering off our line of travel.  At that point I'd stop us 
and move in front of her and do some obedience.  There's also a technique 
called calm petting that's very helpful.  I'm not sure every school uses it 
or calls it that, but GDF grads on here would be familiar with the term. 
Basically you make the dog sit at the sign of a distraction.  you position 
yourself in front of the dog so you're between it and the distraction while 
gently rubbing its chest.  There's a bit more to it, but that's the basic 
idea.

Your concerns about distractions during a street crossing are very valid. 
I'm not sure what school you attended, but every school has some kind of 
hierarchy where someone answers to someone else.  If this field rep is 
telling you there's nothing he can do or that you don't know what you're 
doing it's time to contact the school and be assertive about getting some 
follow up in your home area or a refresher at the school, if that's 
possible.

I had to resort to a refresher for my distracted dog.  It helped some, but 
she never really outgrew the distractibility and I always had to be on my 
guard.  If I caught her early enough she could be reasoned with and we could 
go on our way.  If i let it get to the point of lunging toward the direction 
of the other dog then nothing short of a two handed correction would work. 
This wasn't an aggressive lunge, but Katy was very assertive around other 
dogs and eager to socialize.  People not familiar with dog body language 
would easily misinterpret her actions.

Another temporary work-around would be in how you're holding your leash. 
The GDF had us wrap the part of the leash furthest from the collar around 
our wrist and then pick up the harness.  This gives more stability, so even 
if the dog jerks you and the harness shoots out of your hand you still have 
the leash and if your reflexes are quick you can make a fist and hold that 
loop with one hand and try holding the rest of the leash in your right hand 
for more control.  We didn't do this at GDA where I got my current dog. 
They  had us hold the top portion of the leash in our left hand and then 
hold the harness so that the pointer and ring fingers were loosely wrapped 
around the leash and harness at the same time.  I didn't feel as secure with 
this method, especially when wearing gloves, so I went back to my GDF way as 
soon as I got comfortable with Paige.

Lisa Belville
missktlab1217 at frontier.com
IF THE HOUSEWORK IS DONE - THEN THE COMPUTER IS Broken!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jordan Gallacher via NAGDU" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: "Jordan Gallacher" <jordanandbelto at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2017 8:35 AM
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Dog Distractions

> The thing I worry about the most is what would happen if we had another 
> dog
> show up on the sidewalk we were headed toward while crossing a street.  I
> need to figure out a game plan for that scenario since the problem is
> already bad enough at times that if I did not have someone else such as my
> girlfriend with me who can get two extra hands on the leash and get him 
> out
> of the situation, we would have a problem.
> Not to confuse the situation that I described in my very first e-mail of
> this subject, but today was the exact opposite of what often happens.  All
> it took this morning while on my way to breakfast was one correction, and
> Belto snapped right back to what he was supposed to be doing.
> Jordan
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Danielle Ledet
> via NAGDU
> Sent: Monday, February 27, 2017 9:26 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Cc: Danielle Ledet
> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Dog Distractions
>
> You could also try stopping and doing obedience once you know another dog 
> is
> present. I think it was my fagie boy who got excited around other dogs and 
> I
> would have him do a few doggie pushups. This is a series of sit and down,
> sit and down. Only had to do it every so often.
>
>
> On 2/27/17, Dan Weiner via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> My god, if this is the case, you need to make a very hard decision...I
>> hate this, but it happened to me twice, I had to say to myself "If the
>> situation doesn't improve can I live with it or not" if the answer is 
>> "No,
> I can't"
>> then you might really start thinking of retirement. It's so
>> heart-wrenching I know, but I had to do it and the next dog after that
>> was brilliant, so sometimes it can be for the best.
>> Sorry you are going through this situation, and if it were me,
>> (remember not telling you to do it, just saying what' I'd do) I'd be
>> shopping around for another program.
>>
>> Best wishes to you.
>>
>> Dan
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jordan
>> Gallacher via NAGDU
>> Sent: Monday, February 27, 2017 3:01 PM
>> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
>> Cc: Jordan Gallacher
>> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Dog Distractions
>>
>> Belto behaves the same way around my aunts dogs unfortunately.  Belto
>> has managed to escape from me three times already when he comes near
>> other dogs, and my field rep's response to that is oh well, that is
>> your problem.  It gets worse.  He also has said to me you do not have
>> a clue what you are doing.  Belto happens to be my third dog, and he
>> is the only dog that I have ever had a major problem like this.  Both
>> of my previous dogs I could fix most of the problems I had without
>> needing help from the school.  September only became an issue after
>> she was attacked, and when I finally got the school I received her
>> from to get their act together and they took her in for evaluation,
>> they saw all the same problems I was seeing.  I have a letter ready to
>> go out to the school where I received Belto from, and if I have to, I
>> will send it.
>> Jordan
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Alysha via
>> NAGDU
>> Sent: Monday, February 27, 2017 1:44 PM
>> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
>> Cc: Alysha
>> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Dog Distractions
>>
>> Hi Jordan,
>> I have dealt with this problem as well, although it started a few
>> months after class for me. First, I tried a clicker approach as
>> recommended by an instructor from my school. I taught my dog the word
>> "look" meant he should turn to look at me. As soon as he did, I
>> clicked and gave him a treat. We first practiced this while walking
>> with no dogs around and then worked up to doing it when a dog was
>> nearby. This helped redirect his attention back to me during the
>> distraction. If the dog was far enough away, this method really seemed
>> to help, but we still had problems when dogs came close enough to pass
>> us on the sidewalk.
>>
>> I called the school again after it became clear that the clicker alone
>> wouldn't solve our problems, and they recommended using a prong
>> collar. I was pretty against this because I thought it was cruel, but
>> I really wanted to preserve our partnership since everything else
>> about my dog's work was great. So I sucked it up and gave it a try. It
>> really helped a lot. I just had to give him a few corrections with the
>> prong collar, and he got the idea that going after dogs was not OK. I
>> know the prong collar would not have worked on my first dog since he
>> was very sensitive, but my current guide is a lot more confident. He
>> doesn't like it when I put on the prongs, but he still wags his tail
>> and enjoys working even when he is wearing it.
>>
>> Today, I still use a combination of the word "look" rewarded by
>> click/treat to redirect his attention and the prong collar to correct
>> him if he lunges or barks at another dog. I won't say that his dog
>> distractions are completely gone. I think it's something we will
>> always have to work on. But he has gotten so much better now with the
>> combination of those 2 tools. The key for us was intense and
>> consistent practice. Our neighborhood has tons of dogs, so it was easy
>> to go out every day and work on the distractions.
>>
>> How does your dog interact with other dogs he knows? I was worried my
>> dog was aggressive when he lunged and barked/growled at other dogs,
>> but after getting to know him and observing him interact with other
>> dogs, I truly don't believe he would actually start fighting with
>> another dog. If you believe your dog would bite another dog, that
>> could be a very serious problem. I would seriously demand the school
>> send someone to observe and help you with this.
>>
>> I really hope you're able to find a solution that works for you. It's
>> a shame that your dog was exhibiting this behavior in class, and the
>> instructors didn't do anything about it. I think this is one of the
>> toughest behaviors to manage in a guide dog. I know many handlers that
>> have this problem, and I think the schools need to really step up
>> their game when it comes to working on this.
>>
>> Best,
>> Alysha
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jordan
>> Gallacher via NAGDU
>> Sent: Monday, February 27, 2017 2:22 PM
>> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> Cc: Jordan Gallacher <jordanandbelto at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [NAGDU] Dog Distractions
>>
>> I am having a bit of a problem with Belto that even the school cannot
>> figure out how to solve.  I received Belto last February, and even
>> during training, he would lunge at and/or try to chase other dogs
>> possibly trying to attack them.  My instructor during class did
>> nothing to work on this behavior nor did he give me any suggestions on
>> how to solve the issue or at least calm it down a bit.  Everytime I
>> have contacted the school about the issue, I get a different answer,
>> and since my instructor I had in class is also my field rep, I am not
>> getting anywhere when it comes to solving Belto's behavior around
>> other dogs.  Anyone have any suggestions on what I can try to calm
>> this problem a bit?  I have tried the gentle leader, but that does not
>> seem to be solving the problem other than being able to tell what he
>> is doing sooner.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Jordan and Belto
>>
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>
>
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