[NAGDU] how fetching.

Danielle Sykora dsykora29 at gmail.com
Fri Mar 17 14:00:17 UTC 2017


Programs stopped teaching retrieval mainly because some dogs that were
otherwise excellent guides were resistant to learning fetch. I'm not
sure exactly when... I guess they figured retrieving wasn't an
essential skill so it was better to stop teaching it rather than
dropping dogs for not performing the task reliably. It's also
typically a lot more difficult to teach retrieval using the correction
based training that was used exclusively in the past compared to more
positive methods used today.

I also wonder if breeding might play a small role. Any dog can be
taught to fetch theoretically, but it's going to be a lot easier
generally with dogs that naturally like to retrieve in the first
place--your typical Labs and Goldens. Since retrieving wasn't really
ever a priority, it seems like the desire to retrieve has not
necessarily been selectively bred for in guide dog program lines the
way other traits important to guidework have been... but I'm just
speculating.

I'm sure most guides could be trained to retrieve should the handler
want that, given enough time and effort. It's probably going to be a
little more difficult than if you were starting from scratch because
guide dog puppies are taught not to put anything other than toys in
their mouth. I definitely think it's possible though for at least some
dogs.

Danielle and Thai

On 3/17/17, Cindy Ray via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Maria, thanks for the information that in Slovakia dogs are still trained
> to
> fetch.
>
> I think that The Seeing Eye stopped teaching fetch because many of the dogs
> were resistant to it and the purpose of it was for obedience and not as
> part
> of their work. They felt that time could be better spent in teaching the
> dogs guiding and some of the nuances that go with it. I had a dog who was
> an
> amazing fetcher, but only one. I liked it, but I did see their point. I
> think you could teach it though.
> Cindy Lou Ray
> cindyray at gmail.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mária Orovcíková
> via NAGDU
> Sent: Friday, March 17, 2017 7:42 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Mária Orovčíková <maria.orovcikova at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] how fetching.
>
> Hello Dan and all,
> I am not sure if this information is useful and interesting for you, but
> just to let you know, guide dogs here in Slovakia are still trained to
> fetch/retrieve fallen objects.
> I am just wondering if it is taught in at least some guide dog schools,
> either in the U.S. or all around the world.
> Have a wonderful weekend.
> With kind regards,
> Maria
> On 17. 3. 2017 11:06, Dan Weiner via NAGDU wrote:
>> Hello, beautiful people.
>>
>> I have a question, weren't guide dogs trained at one time to fetch, or
>> to be more precise, to retrieve fallen objects. One of my best friends
>> had a guide dog I remember a long  time ago that did it, and quite
>> well actually.
>>
>> So when did the fetch command stop being used, is it still being
>> trained anywhere, and how feasible would it be to work on training a
>> current guide dog to do this?
>>
>>
>> I doubt I will actually follow through with the last part of
>> that---lol but it does sound like a useful skill to have..
>>
>>
>> Yours sincerely,
>>
>> Dan the man'
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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