(VICT) Re: questions from a friend about her guide dog
- From: "Mona Ramouni" <mramouni@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <vi-clicker-trainers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:22:44 -0500
Thanks so much, Karyn. These are all great suggestions, and I appreciate the
help.
Cynthia doesn't have too long to work with Peggy, but if she makes enough
progress, she intends to keep Peggy instead of getting another dog. Her dog
is such a good girl but full of energy and always wants to get home, I
think.
The hardest part is getting Cynthia to get into the clicker training. I'm so
new to this that I don't know if I'm doing a good job explaining what
Cynthia should do, and because she's had dogs for 28 years and has used the
same methods of correction for that long, she's finding it hard to change.
While I can understand that and sympathize with that, I really just want to
say, "Don't yank on the dog. It hurts!" She says it doesn't, that labs have
"asteel necks," and I disagree, but because I've never had a dog, my
disagreement doesn't mean as much.
So, what I'm really trying to do is give Cynthia some other ideas. She's
open to them, but only to a certain extent. One of the things she believes
is that the clicker training would confuse the dog. I, for one, think that's
not giving the dog enough credit.
Anyway, I really appreciate your suggestions and am hoping Cynthia is open
and invested enough to try them. I'll forward this email to her, but if you
could email her at
cvegil01@xxxxxxxxxxx
I'd be grateful. When she sees so many other people trying this kind of
training, she might try harder.
Take care.
Mona
----- Original Message -----
From: "Karyn and Thane" <bcpaws4me@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Vi-clicker" <vi-clicker-trainers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 12:55 PM
Subject: (VICT) Re: questions from a friend about her guide dog
> This is something I have dealt with in Thane. I had it to an extent in Met
> when he was younger too. With Thane it is not just about going home but
> about each place I tell him we are going. His primary issue however had to
> do with not getting enough practice when the weather changed.
> I do a few different things with Thane when it arises now which is not too
> often any more.
> 1) I have something that I call *square* it is where I reverse our
> direction
> for about two sidewalk portions and walk a small square. Often times this
> ends the hard pull and we are off.
>
> 2) is the same as what Sandy already recommended
>
> 3) is a word we began using. It is *self-correct* meaning correct
> yourself.
> This is what I do most of the time now- just a simple phrase that lets him
> know I need him to ease up so I don't lose my grip. In the beginning I
> lost
> my grip at times and as a result he would literally be correcting himself
> by
> the pull on the lead. I hated that happening as I wanted my dog clicker
> trained not yank trained Grin. So I began to use that term for this. Maybe
> it had a bad start but its terminology prevents me from losing my grip and
> thus prevents the pull on the lead before he can stop for me to get the
> handle again. I use this on occasion still if we have not been out a lot.
> I
> also find he is more apt to pull if he has not got enough work in. He
> works
> so much more smoothly on days when he has helped me go to town for
> errands.
> Keep in mind the third option happened in earlier training that he would
> correct himself like that. I worked hard to come up with a way to prevent
> that since my poor grip was not really a preventable problem.
> It was more like months before we made a real consistent impact on this,
> but
> with an already trained guide who just needs the rules redefined, it may
> go
> more quickly with consistancy.
>
> Karyn and Thane
>
>
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