[nagdu] Intelligent disobedience

[Tami Jarvis]

Hm... I've been having some success explaining to people about how the 
guide dog commands are actually suggestions and why that is necessary... 
So then they seem more able to wrap their heads around "intelligent 
disobedience" or "selective disobedience." I think I end up tossing up 
semi-humorous lines like, "If she did what I tell her to do just because 
I tell her to, I'd be in trouble," and such nonsense as that. /lol/ But 
then the other person does seem to grasp that by refusing to do what I 
just told her to do -- like go forward into a hole -- she is doing what 
she is trained to do. So then it is all understandable and agreed that 
Mitzi is a *good dog*! Whew!

I do like the notion of coming up with a better term for what she's 
doing when she flatly refuses to run me into a brick wall or just takes 
me around something I am sure is not there or something like that... 
"Intelligent obedience" does carry better connotations and is more 
descriptive of what is actually going on there. She *is* doing what I've 
asked her to do by taking me in the direction I want to go even if she 
chooses a different -- and safer! -- route. Or if she responds to 
"forward" with "just wait a sec!" because of a quiet car of whatever. 
Or, in the case of Mitzi, "no, you *really* don't want to go there! 
Let's go way another way around." /lol/

The real concept I've been coming to in my thinking about the 
relationship with my guide is that we are far more a team than a 
hierarchy. We've grown into a two-way communication through the harness, 
voice, and other little body language that I don't even notice any 
more... Until for some silly reason I decide to be in charge and all, 
thus ignoring communication coming my way. /lol/

Tami




On 02/08/2013 05:50 AM, Julie J. wrote:
> Exactly.  I think it should be called intelligent obedience because the
> dog has to intelligently choose  which behavior takes precedence in a
> particular situation.  They are being obedient, just at a much higher
> level than the traditional rote obedience exercises like sit and down.
>
> Maybe it's just me, but I think the word disobedience is a descriptive
> disservice to what a guide dog actually does.
>
> Julie
>
>
> On 2/7/2013 10:19 AM, Meghan Whalen wrote:
> I agree with you Julie. The dog is actually doing a trained behavior.
> They have been taught "forward" means go into the street...but, they
> have also been taught that "forward" means do not move, if there is a
> car or something else unsafe approaching etc. They are obeying, but they
> are having to dig deeper in their memory banks to recall less frequently
> used tasks. Just like the fact that Dayton recalls exactly how to work a
> fully blocked sidewalk, even if we haven't had to do that in well over a
> year. He remembers the expected behavior. I am rambling now, but I hope
> my point is in here somewhere.
>>
>> Meghan
>>
>>
>> On 2/7/2013 7:06 AM, Julie J. wrote:
>>> You know, it's always kind of bothered me that the most important
>>> thing a guide does is called disobedient.
>>>
>>> Why couldn't we call it intelligent obedience?  Because seriously the
>>> dog is trained to avoid traffic.  It is being obedient.  Or what
>>> about hierarchical obedience?  Or priority obedience?
>>>
>>> Or maybe this is just me thinking too hard again? *smile*
>>>
>>> Julie
>>>
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>
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