[NAGDU] Guide dogs aroundthe world, current developments

Sat Apr 21 13:26:04 UTC 2018

Got what you're saying, Gabriel, and I would tend to agree about free 
run anyway...but a question about finding things, do the dogs in Europe 
learn more to find objects consistently  or not, you know curiosity 
kills the cat--smile but fortunately this is a list for people with dogs 
so I don't need to worry bout any cats here,h .

Dan

On 4/21/2018 8:56 AM, Gabriel Moloney via NAGDU wrote:
> hi all
> First of all I am a former guide dog owner from Europe and my previous dogs came from the guide dog school in Ireland.  They free run their dogs during training and encourage their students to do the same when they return with their guides, yes I will admit I was one of the guilty parties who did this, but not with my current guide.  I think it is dangerous now to have that practice in a training school, and to encourage that with their students, their answer was to give your guide a treat or two while free running your dog, that way your dog would come back every time you called it.  fI know before I left Ireland they were e in the school introducing food treats- rewards yuck I do not agree with this practice while your dog is working or free running them, yes my dog gets treats but only once week and when she is not  expecting a treat so it becomes a treat for her.  She also gets plenty of free time and playtime when we get home, after work.  Finally I have not and will continue to do this practice i do not allow her to socialise with other dogs, so there is very very little dog distraction when we are out walking or working, which is great, I feel if you allow your guide to play with other dogs this could cause problems for you as a working team or worse case your dog been attacked and having to be pulled from its working life earlier .
> Sorry if I went on a bit but I felt that I had to answer to this post, many thanks.
> regards
> Gabriel
>
>> On 21 Apr 2018, at 13:13, Dan Weiner via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> Very interesting, Bianka, now I have no answers but a comment, first of all I think our schools should work more on find commands and spend more time training the dogs on off leash recall.
>>
>> I asked several different schools about why the European dogs seem to have a lot more in their repertoire of find commands and I never got a good answer other than them saying things like "oh well the dogs there only work in familiar areas so it's more that the dogs are used to thing they find daily" I'll leave that one without comment.
>>
>> As far as off leash running around say in a forest, you know it's never that I objected to the idea but I do think it could be pretty difficult here to find a safe place. I have no idea whether there are good places for that in Europe and I imagine there is, also the requirement of an hour a day seems like it would take some doing to work in to your schedule...I'm wondering, those few Germans I've heard of who came to the US schools, or other Europeans who come to our schools, how did they deal with that in Europe, I'm interested also o for selfish reasons I'd love to live in Europe some day as it's been my desire for a long time and I'd be using a guide dog pretty much the rest of my life I suspect--smile
>>
>>
>> Anyway, I wish you will and will see what people have to say.
>>
>>
>>
>> My honest idea about off leash running around here is that it's not a good idea here in the States and better to have a fenced in area, I say that based on  the environment traffic, people, hazards in the environment generally, and of course I don't see how you would guarantee that 100 percent of the time that your dog comes back to you. I talked to a lady from Denmark who takes her dog to off leash play time in a forest but she goes with a sighted person...
>>
>>
>> Cordially from Florida,
>>
>> Dan W.
>>
>> On 4/21/2018 7:51 AM, Bianka via NAGDU wrote:
>>> Hello list,
>>>
>>> A few days back I was watching a Youtube channel about a guide dog puppy in training, I think it was a GdB puppy. The series got me thinking. When I considered first training with a guide dog I joined Buddy-l and found out that there are major cultural differences in guide dog training. For example, in Germany, you have to provide your guide dog with free running time, no leash, no harness and ideally you have to find dogs your dog can sozialize with. My school requires us to provide about one hour a day free time for the dog in which he/she does not wear  a harness and preferably some of this time should be off leash outside in a park,  or in the country or the forest. Also, we don‘t use hand signals or position to convey commands to the dog and tie downs or crates are a rarity. No prong collars are allowed, although some people use head collars like Haltis or Gentle leaders. Also, our dogs are taught to go into the street when something is blocking the curb, to go around the obstacle and then return to the curb. Slowly, schools start teaching blind handlers to pick up after their dogs. We have about 30 to 40 commands a dog is required to know when fully trained, a lot of them find commands.
>>>
>>> I was wondering, how is the policy in the U. S. Or in other countries around off leash recall these days? Did something change in the last years as clicker training and food rewards have been introduced regarding the training and handling of guide dogs?
>>>
>>> I am just currious here.
>>>
>>> Thanks for reading. ..
>>>
>>> Kind regards,
>>>
>>> Bianka
>>>
>>>
>>>
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