[NAGDU] Seeing Eye training techniques

[Vanessa Lowery]

Regardless of the school, handlers are most likely going to do what they think works best for their dogs. But in my case, I am not going to be the dogs candy machine. Praise should be sufficient for letting the dog know that it has done well. in fact, when my dog has done a great traffic check, I wait until I get across the street, and then I heat tons of praise on the dog. Also, virtue occasionally stops on his own just to get some reassuring praises and pets from me, and that seems to satisfy him. 

There is indeed the risk that if you use Clicker training to have a dog find a particular obstacle with which they become confident in locating, phasing out the treats can sometimes cause the dog to become lax. When that happens, then you need to re-introduce the treats to re-enthused the dog. For some, that would truly be irritating. So I can see How prefers to work his dog as being the best method for him. 

But some dogs really do thrive on learning stuff with the Clicker and treats, and once the clicker and treats are eliminated from the picture, the dogs continue to be enthusiastic about what they have learned. This was the case with my previous dog when I had to teach her a new way to get to my office when I was still working. The building was under major renovations, so there were occasions when we had to be moved from where we normally hung out to a new location. Each time, I used a clicker and treats (goldfish crackers), and after one or two sessions, Fiona had the new route down Pat.  I phased everything out, and she never lost interest in utilizing that route. 

I have no doubt that treats have their use when working with the dogs, but I also do not want my dog to become dependent on them even if they are given only occasionally. I expect the dog to be able to be satisfied with lots of praise and affection when a job is well done.
Vanessa and the zoo  
Sent from my iPhone

> On Jun 6, 2024, at 10:22 PM, Al Sten-Clanton via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I may misunderstand, but are you saying you use a food reward for each down curb and each up curb in your regular work with the dog?  That seems like an endless assembly line of treats just to get around, so I feel like I must be getting something wrong from what I read.
> 
> If you mean that it's a beginning aid and that the rewards are tapered off, that makes more sense to me.  Clicker training was an aoption in training with my fifth, current dog.  I seriously doubted the wisdom of bringing food rewards into the business of guidework when I heard of clicker training, but I tried it out and wish I'd practiced it more for the few things I think it's meant to help with.  I tried clicker training for finding our front door knob, and thought I'd done more or less as instructed, but it didn't take long for the absence of treats to decrease both my dog's enthusiasm and accuracy in that job.  I wish I had a recording of the long presentation that Lucas Frank gave us on the subject in my March, 2018 class, so that I'd have more complete instruction, but I so far haven't found a recording like that on the Seeing Eye website.
> 
> In any event, I still worry about setting myself up to need food rewards to keep my dog's focus on track during my regular work with him.  I've been happy to adopt some subtle and even less subtle new ways of working with my dogs as the training has evolved, but I'm inclined to think the old way of using praise and affection and no food in the usual course of business makes the most sense.
> 
> Best!
> Al
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Sean Moore via NAGDU
> Sent: Thursday, June 6, 2024 7:57 PM
> To: Elizabeth Rene via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Sean Moore <seanmoore87 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Seeing Eye training techniques
> 
> I don't  know  if  I should  chime  in  or not.  but  for me gaving gone  through  " Traditional training" with  my  first and  second dogs from  Southeastern and  now  Guide DOgs  for the Blind GDB who  uses food reward as  re-enforcement, Augie  only normally  gets  a food reward  at a  down curb and up curb  to re-enforce  that  they  are Desirable targets.  I use  food reward  for  personal  targets  I always  wnat  him  to stop  at and  I feel like he's a smarter dog with  using the  food reward   In conjunction with his great memory stuff for.
> 
> 
> the  clicker is  used  to  Teach new  targets and  then rewarded for finding it that  first  few times.
> 
> 
> yours,
> 
> Sean Moore  and  Guide Dog: Augie
> 
> 
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