[nagdu] Behaviour in public places

Mon Nov 3 02:42:04 UTC 2014

Sheila,
Didn't know you were at Hellen Keller.  My friend, Joey just came back to 
San Diego last week.  He was there since last November.

I would have sent this to you directly but no email address for you.

Just a month away from new dog!  Not bad!  A dog for my birthday!  LOL!

Now for the subject here on public behavior in service dogs.  I just have to 
say that we all really need to be sure our dogs are well behaved and clean 
and pleasing while in public.  If we aren't doing this, we are shooting 
ourselves in the foot and encouraging discriminatory behavior directed at us 
in public places.  I'm not going to sit here and judge.  But just a gentle 
reminder to you folks who get busy and forget what your dogs are doing while 
you are out in public.  It really sucks that we all get painted by the same 
brush and not seen as individual blind people.  Just please be aware of what 
your dog is doing.  Thanks guys!

Lyn

"Asking who's the man and who's the woman in an LGBT relationship is like 
asking which chopstick is the fork" - Unknown
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sheila Leigland via nagdu" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
To: "Raven Tolliver" <ravend729 at gmail.com>; "NAGDU Mailing List,the National 
Association of Guide Dog Users" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2014 4:10 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Behaviour in public places

I'm catching up with mail and this approach works well with my sweet
golden boy known as mushface at hellen Keller national center.
On 10/19/2014 11:53 PM, Raven Tolliver via nagdu wrote:
> Lisa,
> I went through something similar during guide dog training. Whenever I
> would be sitting in lecture, at the dining table, or in the lobby, the
> Golden Guy repeatedly stood up to try to interact with other dogs or
> his trainer. The instructors' advice was to correct him or just make
> him lay back down. I would do that, but then he'd just jump back up,
> so it obviously was not an effective problem-solving technique. It was
> definitely a fight with this stubborn boy for the first few weeks, the
> worst of it being during the first full week we were together. But it
> got better, and the behavior was nonexistent by the time I returned
> home.
> What I would have done differently is reward him for staying down
> every once in a while. The purpose of this is to tackle the problem or
> undesired behavior before it happens. I always suggest a proactive
> approach to undesirable behaviors, rather than a retroactive approach.
> The proactive approach deals with the behavior before it even happens,
> whereas the retroactive only handles it after the behavior has
> occurred and could already be on the path of becoming a possible
> habit.
> The proactive approach is to reward the dog for doing good. Positive
> reinforcement trainers commonly preach that you should catch your dog
> doing something good. People hold the misconception that a dog doing
> good doesn't need a reward and that it already knows what's expected
> of it, so they don't bother to praise for the continued good behavior.
> We are always quick to notice when things are wrong and correct for
> that, but outside of giving cues and commands, we don't provide
> sufficient praise and reward for the ongoing, expected good behaviors.
> Tailor will need this from you, especially since you both are getting
> to know each other. He does not only need to know what you don't want
> him to do, but also what you want him to do. Reinforce the good
> behaviors. Reward him for staying down every so often. Rewarding can
> be as simple as attention from you, i.e. petting, verbal praise, or
> scratching. This communicates to him that he is doing a good thing,
> and motivates him to continue doing it. Don't just praise him for
> doing something when you tell him to, but also praise him for
> maintaining that good behavior. Praise him every ten, fifteen, or
> twenty minutes--whatever it takes to set him up for success.
>
> On 10/19/14, Nicole Torcolini via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Lisa,
>>
>> I think that a few different things may be happening. First, your
>> trainer is no longer there. Taylor  may be playing the game that most 
>> dogs
>> play where, as soon as the trainer leaves or you go home, the dog is
>> testing
>> you to see if you have the same expectations as the trainer. You could 
>> work
>> on this at home by doing obedience with him. Try to work on the behaviors
>> that are most problematic, such as stay. Try to add motivations for him 
>> not
>> staying, such as food on the floor or other people coming in the room. 
>> Make
>> sure that you praise and/or reward him for doing the right thing. Once he
>> has that down, try going out in public, but make a trip specifically for
>> working with him. You could go to the café or something, but not actually
>> order anything, or, if you did, still focus more on working with Taylor. 
>> As
>> soon as he gets up, tell him down, and then praise and/or reward for the
>> desired behavior. Some people also use clicker training for this type of
>> problem. Let me know if you would like information on that. As others 
>> have
>> suggested, you can also put the leash under your foot and/or try to slide
>> Taylor under your chair. You probably would want to practice the under 
>> the
>> chair thing at home if it was not something that the trainer did with
>> Taylor
>> as some dogs don't care for it at first and can kind of freak out. 
>> Finally,
>> if you can get a table beside the wall and/or in a corner, you can
>> sometimes
>> keep the dog somewhat under control and out of the way by putting him by
>> the
>> wall. If you are not using all of the chairs at a table, you can move one
>> and put Taylor where the extra chair would be.
>>
>> Nicole
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lisa via nagdu
>> Sent: Sunday, October 19, 2014 9:50 AM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: [nagdu] Behaviour in public places
>>
>> Hello everyone,
>>
>> I have a question regarding Taylor's behaviour in public places.
>> We haven't had much opportunities to practice it yet, but I already 
>> noticed
>> the following: Each time we were in a café or another place where alot of
>> other people are, Taylor won't stay quiet for a long time.
>>
>> The other day we met with some people in a café. Taylor laid down next to
>> my
>> chair but everytime the waitress walked by or the door was opened by new
>> customers, he stood up and wanted to greet them. But also when noone 
>> walked
>> by, he would get up and try to sniff around. He tried to go under nearby
>> tables and chairs and everytime I took him back, it made alot of noise
>> because the chairs were scratching on the floor and so on. It was really
>> not
>> nice at all.
>> And it's like this everytime we sit somewhere in a similar surrounding.
>> What
>> I do is telling him to lie down. Right now, I don't really know what else
>> to
>> do. Of course, I know that when I get frustrated about that, he 
>> immediately
>> notices that and then nothing gets better.... But it's not easy to stay 
>> all
>> kind and calm in such a situation.
>>
>> During training, we only practiced in a bakery that was small and quiet.
>> when we sat there and had coffee, he was perfectly still. But there were 
>> no
>> people walking by or entering the room. It was just small and quiet so I
>> think there were not many distractions for him.
>>
>> What are your suggestions? What could I do in such situations to make 
>> this
>> better? Any idea is very appreciated.
>>
>> greetings from Germany
>> Lisa
>>
>>
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>

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