[NAGDU] Guide dogs aroundthe world, current developments

[Lisa]

Hi everyone,


that's a very interesting topic!

I'm from Germany, too, so with my guide, everything's very similar to 
what Bianka wrote.

Where I live, I know some nice places to free run my dog. My boyfriend 
lives in Berlin and when we're there, we go to a big, fenced-in area, I 
think you could call it an off-leash park, to free run the dogs there. 
We've both been taught that free running the dog is very important 
because working in harness is exhausting and requires a lot of 
concentration, so the dog needs leisure time as well. For us, it's very 
relaxing and a nice way to spend our free time to go for long walks in 
the forest or country with our dogs. We also use food rewards and I'm 
totally okay with that. In the beginning, it was an efficient way to 
recall the dog when off leash. Nowadays, I take them with me but don't 
use them all the time. Just every now and then.


Obviously, no one in their right mind would let the dog off leash near a 
busy street or in another dangerous area.

A lot of guide dog programs over here make sure the new handler has a 
good place to free run the dog in their neighborhood, too. Sometimes, 
they practice a route to a good free run area in training.

Well, I hope it's obvious that European guide dogs don't work in 
familiar areas only. The find commands aren't taught for that purpose, 
but for being independent in unfamiliar areas, too. You can tell your 
dog to find stairs, a lift, a counter, door and so on in an unfamiliar 
area. Of course no dog can always be 100% accurate and find everything. 
But these commands are very, very helpful, especially when you _don't_ 
know the area.

Lisa
Am 21.04.2018 um 16:19 schrieb Gabriel Moloney via NAGDU:
> hi thats great that your current dog has great recall, and that it has your husband’s dog to play with, and for food rewards and clipper training I know, that it was and maybe is getting bigger in Europe now  I know it was in Ireland.  And again I suppose that it is up to us as individuals on if free runs is something that we want to do for our dogs and again it is great that your dog has very good recall, I know that my last dog was just ok with recall and the one before her was not  so his free running days ended, as i was not willing to give him food treats to bring him back to me while free running.
> cheers and kind regards
> gabriel
>
>> On 21 Apr 2018, at 14:56, Bianka Brankovic via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> Hi gabriel and all,
>>
>> as for the free runs, my current dog has a very good recall when she is off leash and of course you wouldn’t want to let your dog run free near a street. My view on food rewards has drastically changed throughout the years. At first, I did not like them at all, now I use them on a regular basis. As for socializing, of course this is only encouraged during free runs. On leash contact may be allowed if your dog feels comfortable with it. When working, it is strongly discouraged, there might be some allowance if the other dog is sniffing your dog annyways. My current guide could care less for other dogs, she has my husband’s dog to play with and that’s mainly enough for her. My husband’s dog likes other dogs in general.
>>
>> As for the dog distraction issue, I personally believe dogs who have well socialized dogs to play with on a regular basis are better around other dogs. I have had two dogs with severe dog distractions, with one of them I could continue working for a while, the other had to be retired.
>>
>> Hope that clarifies it a bit.
>>
>> Kind regards,
>>
>> Bianka
>>
>>
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