(VICT) Where We Have Been
- From: "Karyn and Thane" <bcpaws4me@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Vi-clicker" <vi-clicker-trainers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:26:49 -0700
Can you say Training over and over really fast... LOL
I have been doing a ton of training since receiving the offset handle from
Julie. She worked with me so it could detox the way I needed it to which was
awesome. I just covered the handle myself once I knew it was detoxed enough
that I could handle it. Let me tell ya, she does not charge enough for the
work she does! That is not as easy as it sounds to cover those offset
handles. Smile
My only wish is that I had tried this when Met was in my life. Wow! The
difference between working Met or even Thane in a flexible guide handle and
working Thane in this rigid guide handle is unbelievable. I do have to
remove Thane's when we are not doing actual guide work. We still work on
loose leash walking in areas along with my guide cane. Its very important to
me that he be comfortable doing it in al lsituations. This way if there is a
situation where its safer for him to follow me and I use my guide cane, he
is well trained to do just that... no surprises. Smile
Last week: Friday through Sunday, we had a sneak peak of summer. It was
absolutely fantastic weather. You know the kind of weather definitely
designed for training. Thane and I had been training a lot on the back
streets here. It was what I was comfortable with. In training we do have to
look at the entire picture for our and our trainee's safety- especially when
we don't have a sighted person's assistance. It can backfire a bit with a
breed with sound sensitivity issues due to their heightened hearing though.
We began in the last two weeks to start including the noisy main road with
all of its hustle and bustle into our training walks. There is one street
here that I have never been comfortable with. The curbcut is an
after-thought which they have yet to put in a legal one. Its fine going up
it, but coming down it is pretty precarious. There are no sidewalks the
entire street for us to use and the complex has limited parking lot space so
the street is often lined with all of their cars. It is also a narrow road
where the width we take to pass these vehicles is a bit nerve-wracking when
traffic is on that street. Lets face it there are a lot of rotten drivers in
our area that I frankly don't trust Smile
We have done that street a few times with loose leash walking but its a
workout needless to say.
We do work the half circle on the other end of town- often in very good
fashion. Thane can do this entire portion of town in harness other than the
two road crossings that I do not feel we are ready to handle without my
cane. They do not have signal lights or crosswalks there... its a small down
but the street can get rather busy at times.
One of the stores I use a lot here in town has a parking lot where there is
no real pedestrian safe walkway- you just have to walk through the parking
lot and figure your way to the door. I never liked the lot with Met, but he
had a lot of experience with odd parking lots by the time we were going
there. If I can get Thane accustomed to this lot, he can go with me to pick
up my prescriptions at the outdoor pickup window.
Since last Sunday was a beautiful day and they don't open until 10, I opted
to go up there to work with Thane after our run on flexi at the park. We
always start out before training with that run as it gets out some of that
pent up energy Smile
It was good to get there when no one was around. I know the routes Met had
taken with me so could work the paths with Thane. Lots of back and forth,
back and forth until he got it that I wanted him doing loose leash not
yanking my arm from its socket. Every new situation is one where he tries to
revert to a bit of that at first. Its all about training in enough
locations. This store has a tricky entrance for getting all the way into the
store though. It has a door I have to physically open, then a gate they
have to buzz me into and not with a wide enough area for real guide work. I
always sent Met in ahead of me so he would not get trapped with the door
hitting him if they were being slow buzzing the gate as he could walk under
the gate if needed, but I do not have the strength to hold that big door
until they get undistracted and buzz us in. Needless to say, it will be a
while before we are ready to do access in there. I've tried to figure a way
that I can set that up here at home to train. I have a wooden pet gate and
its pressure mounted so if anyone has any ideas how we could set a scenario
like this up at home, I'd really appreciate some feedback.
We will do our first access with Safeway. Everyone there is all on board. I
figured since we do not have access to pet stores together that I would opt
for entering the store down near their pet aisle at first. Using this aisle
to work on the desire to sniff etc. I hope with al lthe work I have been
doing with him, that during a quiet time in the morning that this will be
helpful. If anyone has other ideas please do share them with me. I am not
wanting to just take the plunge. Many like to but with all my multiple
disabilities and my country dog I want to be sure everything we do has the
best probability for a successful experience. If I keep working hard the
rest of this month with him, I can see us beginning this by early June at
the latest. A lot depends on my health and stamina along with his giardia
staying gone. Living with the feral cats who began this in Met in the first
place, there is a high probability for re-infection unfortunately but i do a
lot to prevent it. I will admit I drained myself so bad this weekend that I
have not done anything other than loose leash to the park and running him
this week, but I have plans for today if I get off this computer soon Smile
For those who do have the ability to see pictures, there are two new pages
of photos of thane and I on my website under the graphic site area. I got a
lot of help from an online friend to get this updated. Smile
My website address is in my signature line
I am working on thane's text page, but want it to be just right before it
gets uploaded. Smile
Karyn and Thane (GDIT, HDIT)
http://www.pawsitively-k9.com
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