[NAGDU] General public advising me and Alec

[Julie Johnson]

Well, I disagree that Alec will never learn to lie quietly during a long 
meeting or learn to not visit random people.  Those are certainly things 
that can be taught and are reasonable expectations.  I think using job class 
as dog training class is not the best though.

I try to ask myself, what is the point of this activity? and then decide if 
it's meeting my expectation.  If I want to learn job skills, I'd go to a job 
type class.  If I wanted to work on dog training, I'd likely practice at my 
leisure, in a coffee shop, at home or perhaps in a dog class if I felt that 
was the most appropriate way to accomplish what I wanted.   Sure, you can do 
some fine tuning while engaged in other activities, but if the entire point 
is to work on getting the dog to lie quietly, it seems that using a job 
class would miss the point and possibly interfere with the others use of the 
time.

Julie
On The Go with Guide-and-Service-Dogs.com
http://www.guide-and-service-dogs.com
also find my products in the Blind Mice Mega Mall
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-----Original Message----- 
From: Andy B. via NAGDU
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2018 10:25 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Cc: Andy B.
Subject: [NAGDU] General public advising me and Alec

Hi,



I came across an interesting predicament. At this time, I am working with an
employment specialist that works for my state blind rehab agency. During our
normal mettings, he advised we attend an employment class taught by another
state agency. We agreed to attend a session or two for the general
experience. During the first session, which lasted about 1.5 hours, Alec
tended to be somewhat annoyed that people were required to get up and move
about to interact with each other during an ice breaker activity. The
conference room is small and contained about 20 people.

While everyone was sitting down during lectures, Alec whimpered every so
often. He also wanted his space and moved his back end out away from my left
side. I only assume he wanted to face the direction of the speaker. I
attempted to get him back to my left side. In most cases, it worked.
However, a few times it didn't work very well. After a point, I let him lay
where he was at the time. Besides, he wasn't bothering anyone or getting
into trouble. When the session finished, I informed the specialist that the
class probably wouldn't meet my needs, and we most likely shouldn't
continue. The employment specialist disagreed and started telling me that I
should attend the remaining 3 weeks because it is good practice for Alec to
be involved in social events such as employment class, staff meetings, job
interviews, and the like. Naturally, I agreed that Alec needed to be
involved in social events. On the other hand, seeking them out just to get
practice is not what we need right now. Alec gets enough practice in
interviews, staff meetings, and committee meetings to understand what I
expect. I attempted to explain that dogs will do what dogs do the best. The
main concern is keeping them under control at all times, not expecting them
to act like robots. He will never stay perfectly quiet during a meeting, he
will never lay down and be perfectly still like an inanimate object, and he
will most likely want to visit other people for some time. Unfortunately,
the specialist insists on the practice and doesn't understand how dog
guide/handler relationships work. What do I do to put out the burning flame
of this problem?

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