[nagdu] Good days and bad days...

Thu Feb 20 00:24:12 UTC 2014

Hi Daryl,
I'm Raven, a college chick from West Michigan working my first guide
dog, a big teddy bear of a golden.
So with dogs that scavenge, I find that you have to stop the dog with
intent rather than scolding for the crime. What I mean is you must
stop the scavenging from happening. Every time your dog finds
something delightfully stinky and gets a hold of it, the naughty
behavior is being rewarded. That's not what you want, but that's what
happens.
For scavengers, I always recommend the Halti or a head halter. And
yes, it is a Halti, not a gentle leader! What's the difference? Haltis
have more straps, a ring under the dog's nose for the leash, and a
strap that hangs down with a clip on the end to clip onto the
companion collar. Gentle leaders only have 2 straps, and a ring on the
actual collar that goes around the dog's neck. Hopefully, that wasn't
too confusing.
Now, the benefit of a Halti is that you have complete awareness of
where your dog's head is at all times. Because of this, you can stop
your dog's head from even touching the ground. Trust me, you feel
every dip and turn of your dog's head with the head halter. And it's
called a halter for good reason, because if you hold the leash
stationary, you halt that head. This is a good way to stop the crime
before it's committed and to keep a dog from scavenging while you're
teaching her not to.
Some people are very against these collars, which is fine. This collar
is not for the heavy-handed, and is not meant for dulling out leash
corrections. I am very anti-leash correction, especially hard leash
corrections or high collar corrections. Frankly, such physical force
is not necessary.
In the meantime, I find the best way to curve a behavior is with
training sessions. Your dog has been handsomely rewarded for
scavenging, so now, she considers scavenging a wonderful thing.
However, you don't share in her delight, and you must teach Jenny to
refrain from scavenging, and that it is is not desirable.
How do you do this? Go back to basics. Seriously. Does your dog know
the "leave it" cue? And when I say know, I mean does she understand
and obey the cue consistently. If she doesn't, it's time to teach her
to leave it, and that ignoring food on the ground yields rewards.
If you want me to go into great detail on how to do this, I would be
more than happy to. Just say the word. I am not a longtime dog
trainer, only a dog trainer's assistant. But I've learned a great
deal, and helped many people teach their pet dogs or their guide dogs
basic obedience, leash manners, and house manners.
Many people feel like their dogs should just know or somehow pick up
on what's desirable and what's not. Sometimes, that works out, and
with highly distracted dogs of one kind or another, that doesn't work.
It's important to put in the extra leg work to ensure that your dog
can control herself. This is not something that will just go away.
This is something that needs personal attention, and quickly.
--
Raven

On 2/19/14, Larry D. Keeler <lkeeler at comcast.net> wrote:
> Oh, you'll have more days like that! I've had a few. I expect that soon,
> I'll have some more. We are having a minor thaw here. I consider it a
> prelude to mud season. Mud season is the one in which our noses, "dogs" have
>
> the most fun and are distracted the most. Oh boy! The squirrels, birds other
>
> dogs who will also be nosing and mud and water! And, all that garbage that
> was hidden in the snow! But continuing to be firm and somewhat understanding
>
> goes a long way! Scrounging is really hard to get out of the dog. The only
> thing that would concern me are those cigarette butts! To many of those and
>
> they could cause serious issues!
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Daryl Marie" <crazymusician at shaw.ca>
> To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2014 4:15 PM
> Subject: [nagdu] Good days and bad days...
>
>
>> Hi, all!
>>
>> Just wanted to share a little bit about this past week.  Jenny and I have
>>
>> both been REALLY stressed the past month or so.  At home, we've had water
>>
>> damage, so contractors have been coming in and out of the house with fans,
>>
>> dehumidifiers, taking them away, cutting holes in the ceiling,
>> re-insulating the attic... needless to say it's been stressful.
>> Add to that the stress of my starting a new job and the strain of two
>> recent trips away from home, and I have been frazzled and Jenny has not at
>>
>> ALL been focused.
>>
>> On Saturday, things went really really well!  We had our first ever
>> traffic check, and Jenny behaved herself really well when in the presence
>>
>> of another guide dog (she has a moderate dog distraction problem), even
>> when that guide dog stuck his head under her harness handle to give her a
>>
>> sniff.
>> Sunday... it all went to hell!  Jenny seems to think that scrounging is a
>>
>> badge of honour, so it seemed like every ten feet I was correcting her for
>>
>> that.  Then she went absolutely ballistic when my husband came to get me
>> from the bus... getting her to lay down and stay there was moderately
>> successful, but then when we walked to the car she picked up and ate a
>> cigarette but, while excitedly running and wagging her tail.  I gave her
>> the hardest leash correction I have given in my life, we went into the
>> car, came home...
>> And then I took her for a pee, where she refused to go pee and scrounged
>> something else off the ground.  I took her inside, where she excitedly
>> wanted to say hi to my husband.  I very firmly told her no, to go to her
>> bed and to stay there.  Perhaps I should insert here that my trainer told
>>
>> me that being firm and consistent with Jenny is something I need to work
>> on (particularly making my voice sound like "I mean business")... so each
>>
>> time Jenny got up off her bed, I firmly told her to stay there.
>> She wasn't there long - maybe ten minutes in total - and I don't know what
>>
>> I did, really...
>> But for the most part over the past three days she has been the most
>> angelic guide dog ever!  The scrounging has decreased exponentially, she
>> is walking steadily with me, something we have always needed to work on in
>>
>> the slush, and I hope to God I never have another day like Sunday again.
>> I have Mommy guilt, quite likely unwarranted... but I feel a HUGE shift!
>>
>> Just thought I would share.
>>
>> Daryl and Jenny (the stinky sleepy dog)
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nagdu:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/lkeeler%40comcast.net
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/ravend729%40gmail.com
>


-- 
Raven