[nagdu] An Introduction

[Sean Robertson]

Hi there Valerie, First of all it's very nice to meet you. And welcome to 
the list. I liked your email very much, And I want to say congrads on 
training your dog. Sounds like your coming a long way. I'm a long time dog 
lover I've had two guide dogs. And I lost them for un fair reasons. But I'm 
going to go for muy third one I hope soon. But it will be after I moov.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Valerie Gibson via nagdu" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2014 3:06 AM
Subject: [nagdu] An Introduction


> Hi,
> My name is Valerie Gibson.
>
> I subscribed to this list about a week ago and have been silently 
> observing the topics discussed lately.
>
> I am totally blind and am in college.
>
> I posted an email to the students list that I will post here because it 
> was recommended that I do so, and I think you guys might find it pretty 
> cool.
>
> A few years back, I brought up a debatable topic--dog training.
>
> I tried to apply      for a dog training school and was denied on the 
> basis of blindness.  This sparked a debate of sorts: Can a blind person 
> train a dog?
> I responded to a discussion post about guide dogs and training, and with 
> that in mind, I'd like to reintroduce this topic, and give you a peek into 
> what I've been doing and my accomplishments.  I'd also like to hear your 
> thoughts on the matter, and maybe some of you might have questions, 
> criticisms, or words of caution, all of which are fine.
> I'm also going to talk about why i decided to do what I've been doing. 
> Understand though that just because I do this does not mean that everyone 
> should. I just thought I'd take this on, and it's working. I pray it stays 
> that way.
> So, dog truing...
> I've always loved it since I was a kid.  I love learning how animals think 
> and learn.  I love studying animal behavior through written observations 
> and applying ecology, sociology and psychology of animals to this.
> My outlook on dogs is this: Dogs are not people. They are not furry 
> children. They are beings who speak a different language, share a 
> different culture and have a different mindset that we do.  Dogs don't 
> just need a leader, they want one, and some more than others.  Even a soft 
> tempered dog will try to take over leadership position if it feels there 
> is no one to guide it. Hard tempered dogs will try more forcefully to take 
> over this spot, because their mothers or other "leaders" were made of 
> sterner stuff.
> I don't want to bore you with a dog training guide, but that's just the 
> tip of the ice burg for my philosophy.
> Last december, I purchased a seven and a half week old akita puppy in the 
> hopes that I could train it as a guide dog.  I have my reasons for wanting 
> the akita.
> The easiest way to get a guide dog would obviously be going to a school.
> Let me say first that I am, in no way, opposed to guide dog schools. 
> Having never been to one, I can not make a judgement call on their 
> training methods, but given that there are many schools, there are 
> probably just as many training methods for their dogs.
> I didn't, not, go with a school because I wanted to go rogue and didn't 
> want to follow their rules, though I think some of the rules (from what 
> i've heard) are unnecessary.  Again, having never been to a school, I 
> would like to add that that that can be taken with a grain of sault.
> I think guide dog schools are great for people who are taking on a dog for 
> the first time or for people who just don't want to put in the time and 
> effort in training their dogs to guide, or for people who simply don't 
> know how.  I applaud guide dog trainers for their work in training tens of 
> dogs at a time to go with handlers who have various life styles.
> So if training a guide dog would be harder, take up more time, and cost 
> more money than just getting one from a school, why not get one from a 
> school?
> First I understand dog psychology and how to train a dog.  Every trainer 
> has their own philosophy, so mine might be different from your's for 
> example.  I also wanted to see if I could do it. If Zion did not become a 
> guide dog, no big deal. At least he would be a very well behaved house 
> pet.  So I wasn't hell bent on this dog becoming a guide dog.
> So a week before christmas, I brought home this akita puppy.  I made sure 
> that the breeder gave me one with the temperament that I was wanting 
> rather than it's appearance.
> Zion's training began the moment I brought him home with crate training 
> and overall good house manners.  He never got any extra privileges until 
> he'd proven to respond favorable to the ones he had.  For example, he 
> stayed in his crate unless he was playing or training. Never did he get to 
> run around the house.  Every three hours, even if he was sleeping, he was 
> made to take a potty break.  This often meant me setting an alarm to make 
> sure that I got up.  It's a good thing I was on christmas break from 
> school. :)
> Once he let me know when he had to go out, and as he grew, his potty 
> breaks were at longer intervals.  Once he could entertain himself in his 
> kennel, he was allowed to entertain himself in one room of my house, and 
> for only half an hour.
> Slowly he got more and more privileges.  When he was a puppy and hardly 
> had any rights in the home, I would let anyone pet him when we were in 
> public.
> What you have to understand is that akitas are very hard to train. They an 
> be trained, and yes, labs and goldens and german shepherds are easier, but 
> I knew what I was dealing with when I took on an akita.  I believe in 
> trainability, they rank number 48. They learn slower than a lab or 
> retriever, and if not handled correctly, they can be aggressive to other 
> dogs and people. They have a natural instinct to guard and protect and 
> often times, they have a mind of their own. Training an akita is very 
> different than training a lab or retriever.  I do not believe in the 
> training method that one size fits all, so the way I'd train an akita is 
> probably not the way I'd train a lab, retriever, brittany, etc.
> Akitas also reach physical and psychological maturation a year or so later 
> than a lab or retriever.  Akitas are not for the novic dog owner also. 
> You, HAVE, to know what you're doing when you work with these dogs. 
> Again, if trained incorrrectly, or if they don't see you as the leader, it 
> won't go well for you.  Akitas are also prone to health conditions if you 
> don't breed responsibly or purchase from a reputable breeder.
> When I started training Zion, i got a lot of frowns (and I'm sure some eye 
> rolling) from both blind and sighted people.
> I stopped going to a puppy obedience class for personal reasons on my part 
> and medical reasons on the part of the dog By the time I stopped going to 
> a puppy socialization class, I'd gotten down the basics and was going to 
> teach my dog on my own.
> Zion went with me almost everywhere, and he hung out almost entirely with 
> guide dogs.  I used a dog that I'd previously trained to teach him 
> commands, because it was a very quick way for him to learn.  He learned a 
> lot from the guide dogs too.  When he was three months, he was potty 
> trained, and he could lie under tables at restaurants and not be a bother 
> (though I'm sure the fellow dogs under the table with him would 
> disagree.).
> Allow me to take a quick detour in the writing.
> There's a lot of hype about people taking their pets, buying a "service 
> dog in training" patch and some "documentation", and claiming their dog's 
> a service dog.  This royally ticks me off, probably more than i t would 
> for you who has a guide dog.
> It gives people like me a bad name because I've got about just as much 
> resource to back it up as they do, with the addition that my dog speaks 
> for himself.  For another, I've put a lot of time into this dog's 
> training. For another, this dog has cost me roughly 3 thousand dollars 
> right now, and he's only mine months, and that's not including the medical 
> issues we've been battling.  I completely understand and agree with 
> service dog trainer's feelings when it comes to this issue because I know 
> they're putting more money and work into the dogs than I am.
> I've heard that soon businesses will have a legal right to see 
> documentation on service animals, and I agree with this. If it were 
> possible to provide documentation to show that my dog is indeed a service 
> dog in training, you'd better believe I'd jump on that immediately.
> Now that that is said, I took zion almost everywhere with me.  As his 
> restrictions got less and less at home, they got stricter in public.  Now, 
> people had to ask me to pet him, and they could only do so if he sat down 
> politely.
> When he was about seven months, he began to wear a harness with "service 
> dog in training" patches on each side of it.  By this time, he was used to 
> going places with me, and he knew what I expected out of him.  Did that 
> mean that he did not test me? Absolutely not!
> He wore the harness at first to get used to the feel of it, but he was 
> still walked on leash.  At night, when no one was around, i walked him up 
> and down the corridors of my apartment to teach him what it would feel 
> like for someone to be holding onto the harness.  Luckily the apartment 
> has pretty distinct left and right turns, and even at nine months, we're 
> still working on those.
> The first break through for me came on August second.  I'd let him guide 
> me before to the train station or to the front office, but I always had my 
> cane out.  This time, I was not going to use my cane at all.
> Dangerous? sure, but if i didn't give him, and myself, a test, how would I 
> know what he'd learned.
> Apart from getting distracted a few times, he led me to the train, guiding 
> me around planters and pausing at stairs.
> I knew that this didn't mean that he could guide me anywhere. It just 
> meant he had the idea of what he was supposed to do.
> If things are too distracting for him, I'd never let him do that, but if I 
> feel that he can work and there are not too many distractions, I will 
> trust him to guide me.  I will never put him in a situation where he would 
> fail as a guide because he is still in the learning and correcting phase.
> That's another thing. Having never had a guide dog before, it was my 
> responsibility to have trust in my training and in him, and that was a big 
> step for me too.
> Since then, zion has guided me to the front office of my apartment, to the 
> train, to walmart, to petco and back to my apartment.  These are places 
> that I know really well, so it's easy for me to correct him when I know 
> he's made a wrong turn or is distracted.  Zion can find petco better than 
> I can with a cane. Imagine that. :)
> At some point soon, I am hoping to get certified with the association of 
> professional dog Trainers so that I can train other people dogs and maybe 
> see if the NFB can't have a national association of blind dog trainers. :)
> This certification would also give me some credibility in the work that he 
> will be doing.  Right now, it's very difficult to find a trainer who will 
> back you if you're a blind person training your own dog.  Throw on a 
> "service dog" title, and it's almost impossible.The only thing that I 
> would not train when it comes to dogs is dogs with aggression issues.  I 
> think that this is where a blind person must draw the line.  Dogs 
> communicate through body language, and it's easy to tell what body 
> language the dog is giving off but with aggression, you need to know, and 
> you can't afford to make a wrong move.  One could argue that a growl is a 
> sign of aggression, but that's not always the case, and if it is, the dog 
> has given off a few body signals before the growl that a trainer must 
> notice.  You never want to get to a point where your dog feels the need to 
> growl because that's usually the last signal it will give before snapping.
> I'd be interested to hear any feedback from dog lovers.  If anyone has any 
> questions, I'd be eager to try and answer them, but I i do not have all 
> the answers.  Zion's training is no where near finished, but even sighted 
> people tell me: "he's come a long way as a puppy."  I once was told by 
> someone that they had reservations that I was really training him as a 
> guide dog, but they can see thahaht he would make a good guide dog.
> If anyone has trained their own guide dog, please email me. I'd love to 
> hear of your experiences, and throw around some ideas on how best to 
> train.  If there are any sighted dog trainers who'd be willing to think 
> outside the box in regards to a blind person training their own dog, I'd 
> be honored to hear from you.
>
> Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I hope it was enlightening 
> and not too boring. :)
>
> If you want me to keep you posted on Zion's training, I can do that.
>
> Everyone have a good rest of the day and good luck in school next 
> semester. :)
>
> Thank you for reading my Not so brief introduction. :)
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