[nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time to

Tue Mar 10 12:53:36 UTC 2009

LOL!  I did things pretty much like you are with my first dog.  Belle and 
Monty have benefited from a much more organized approach, but I still find 
myself adding to their vocabulary.

This winter I have been "accidentally" working on retrieve tasks with Monty. 
I just paired the words, get, take, bring and give into our play and 
everyday life.  I made no real effort in teaching this task.   This past 
week there have been several occasions when Monty has followed my retrieve 
directions in a more formal/directed setting.  I think his grasp of the 
concepts is much more than I was giving him credit for.

And most definitely I find myself using more "rustic" terms for some of his 
tasks...for example I use "whoa" instead of stop or halt.  Serves the same 
purpose, but it is the word that comes naturally to mind when I want to 
stop.

I think Monty is on the downhill side of his adolescence.  I am so relieved 
that there seems to be maturity in sight! *smile*   Or at least hope that I 
will be able to keep up with him.

Julie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 12:39 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time 
to

> That makes sense.  And I'll have to pay more attention to figure out how 
> she
> tracks...  I laid in the foundation for a lot of that sort of thing while 
> we
> were still doing leash work and socializing, and I viewed that overall
> process as molding more than training as such.  Since my conception of the
> end goal was fairly vague, I also used the time to observe and work out 
> the
> specifics of how we would need to handle specific situations and obstacles
> as a team so that I could build those behaviors.  I did a lot of talking 
> it
> through out loud before I caught on that all that wild and crazy stuff
> people say about poodle language capacity are in fact pretty darn 
> accurate.
> /smile/  So I have some odd commands that I still find myself using 
> because
> I would describe what I wanted to do to myself (and her) before I came up
> with a command for it.  /lol/  It's interesting to come across a new but
> similar scenario and discover that she conceptualizes it completely
> differently than I thought she did.  So I might say "forward left" and get
> nothing, then explain that we want to go around away from the trafiic 
> side,
> and she does her "aha!" thing and does just that.  Strange little dog.
>
> Needless to say, I have learned to think of the command first, then use 
> that
> word for the verb in the logistical discussion.  I had a heck of a time 
> when
> we started going to the park, because part of the way we take a winding
> trail.  It's paved, but since I plan to do trail hiking in the future, I
> wanted to distinguish staying on the trail from our usual citified 
> commands.
> I began to think I would have to drag out a thesaurus to come up with a 
> verb
> for it, since the ones like follow, stay, etc. were already taken.  So we
> walk the trail now.  Or the path, since I keep using that one without
> thinking instead of generalizing any such route as a trail.  I can simply
> use the command "trail" as a reminder once we get going, but when we come
> upon a new trail/path that we need to follow to get back to a sidewalk, I
> still need to say, "Walk the trail."  Or "Okay, Mitzi!  Let's walk the
> trail!"
>
> Hm...  She also knows "sidewalk," "side of the rode," "go to the edge,"
> "find the crosswalk," and a few others I've come up with on the fly. 
> Which
> makes wonder...  My dog appears to conceptualize, generalize and 
> distinguish
> in very much the same quirky way I do.  I - and a few others who mention 
> it
> and crack up about it - have only her behavior and responses to go by, but
> it really does seem like it.  I will never know, but I am really, really
> curious what's really happening in that active, lightening-fast brain of
> hers.  And how it all looks to her.
>
> The next time I train, I am so going to do what you do and come up with a
> command/behavior list first!  /smile/
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Julie J.
> Sent: Monday, March 09, 2009 5:34 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time
> to
>
> Tracking is the same thing as shorelining or following a line of travel on
> the edge of something, like a curb, hall or change in terrain like grass 
> to
> cement.
>
> Does Mitsy have an easier time following a line of travel on the right vs.
> the left?
>
> I think the main reason that guide dogs work on the left is because most
> people are right handed.   It has been the practice to work dogs of all
> sorts on the left, show dogs, obedience competitions, hunting dogs etc.
> When I was competing in dog sports this is how it was explained to me
> anyhow.
>
> Julie
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 11:32 PM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time
> to
>
>
>> Hmm...
>>
>> This is interesting.  Being left-handed, I figured if everyone else works
>> their dog on the left, leaving their dominant right hand free, I would
>> train
>> my dog to work on the right, leaving my dominant left hand free.  Then
>> someone recently told me she had heard the reason guide dogs worked on 
>> the
>> left was so the handler would not have to drop the harness handle to 
>> shake
>> hands.  Oh!  I wonder if that's it or if people work the dog on the left
>> for
>> the same reasons they shake hands with the right...  That just works best
>> for a predominantly right-handed population.  /smile/
>>
>> Is tracking, the way you guys mean it, something to do with follow?  Or
>> with
>> patterning?  I haven't heard the word used in that context before.  Mitzi
>> knows follow, but I've realized lately she prefers to pattern, and will
>> sometimes be patterning when I think she's following...  Or is it the
>> other
>> way around?  /smile/
>>
>> Living beyond the reliable sidewalk zone, I often wish I had trained her
>> to
>> work on my left, since when we're on the side of the road facing traffic,
>> she's the one closest to it.  Scares me all to pieces.  She does know to
>> stay to the side of the road and not wander across the white line (when
>> there's so much as that between us and traffic).  I don't necessarily
>> trust
>> the oncoming drivers to do so well.  Then again, there's a long stretch
>> where we have to walk with traffic coming up behind us as we walk in the
>> pedestrian lane, which puts me on the traffic side with a whole lot of
>> tension between my shoulder blades.  It would probably be worse if she
>> were
>> on that side going that way....  I'm used to it now and don't get all
>> weirded out just walking up to the store, but every now and then I still
>> think about what we're doing and give myself the hopeless willies!
>>
>> Tami Smith-Kinney
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
>> Behalf
>> Of Ron Davidson
>> Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 10:31 AM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have 
>> time
>> to
>>
>> I never heard of a guide working on the right but I guess it is necessary
>> it
>>
>> the person don't have a good working left arm. Just like they train them
>> to
>> work with wheel chairs. But I do feel the tracking on the left is taught
>> not
>>
>> a natural thing where in the ordinary dogs life do you see them tracking
>> or
>> following specifically on the left.
>>
>>
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