[nagdu] speaking too soon

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Loray,

Yay!  Progress!  It may start with small steps, but it sounds like you're
doing something that is helpful to him.

Wow!  You are putting a whole lot of work into this dog.  High mantenance
indeed!  You're taking a hard road, which you shouldn't have to, and there
are no guarantees.  But it's good to see signs that your kiddo is gaining
some confidence.

Id on't know if I ever mentioned this.  One of the most useful articles I
read when I was starting to think seriously about owner-trainer was by a
trainer from the Seeing Eye -- I think it was Lukas Frank, even, but I have
long since lost the link.  It was a great article about guide dog training,
and one thing he said really stuck with me:

The difference between a fairly average dog that graduates and goes on to a
successful career and a really bright one who doesn't is precisely this:
Confidence!

Okay, so I took that so much to heart that my once shy and apparently timid
poodle pup is now convinced that the world was invented to give her a place
to play soccer.  /smile/  Guiding me around is just something she does to
keep her busy when she's not playing soccer.  In case anyone is interested,
playing soccer with a poodle is great for one's overall O&M.  If you wonder
why, get yourself a nice squeaky ball and a dog.  Try it!  /grin/  I'm going
through another phase of vision loss right now and am for no good reason
stupid as a stump and clueless as to where I am relation to the world.  This
happens every time, and it blows my adaptive skills all to bits for some
reason.  Makes me crazy, but at least I think I've learned how to work
through it so that it's not a months' long disaster.  Anyway, the physical
and neurological propcesses involved in kicking a tennis-ball sized rubber
squeaky ball you can't see are essentially those used in walking in around
when you can't see where you're going.  Why the bit where I can't see where
I'm going even matters anymore is beyond me, but there it is.  Anyway, the
kind of squeaky ball I use also makes a nice sound when it bounces, so I can
kick it around surprisingly well even in the pitch dark.  Mitiz poodle has
figured this out and is really creative about giving me sound and other
clues to help out.

Anyway, I'm still absorbing everything I learned from training Mitzi, but
I'm pretty sure that article was right.  Confidence is key.

Sounds like Trice is beginning to get some.

Okay, so I can't type, spell or use English.  Past my bedtime?  Apparently
so!

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Lora
Sent: Friday, November 06, 2009 5:52 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] speaking too soon

AnnaLisa
He is doing a little better. Sometimes he is still scared of traffic even
when he can see it. He still startles just not as badly nor as often.

On Fri, Nov 6, 2009 at 7:24 PM, AnnaLisa Anderson
<annalisa at sector14.net>wrote:

> Lora,
>
> Man, I'm sorry this keeps happening and that you got such a high
> maintenance
> dog.  How's it going with walking on the other side of the road?  Is he
> doing better with that?  I sure hope so for your sake.  Good luck trying
to
> figure out the latest thing.  My thoughts are with you.
>
> AnnaLisa and Sundance
>
>
>
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-- 
Lora and Trice
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