Breeds
What're the differences between the breeds, as far as guides are concerned?
Lab/retriever/cross: food!!!!!!!!!!! -bowl is
suddenly, inexplicably empty-
Shepherd: it's too dry, there's too much, I'm not
ready, yet but I'll think about it.
Labs/retrievers/crosses: nylobone! let’s PLAY!
Shepherds: I am waaaaaaaay too grown up for that...-goes
to sleep-
Lab/retriever/cross: harness? we get to go
somewhere? I get to go with you? really?
really really?
Shepherd: harness? -assumes position of attention-
where to? You wanna get somewhere? I got
the safest trip on the block at no extra charge. I'll get you there with the smoothest ride,
most efficient route that's safely possible.
Lab/retriever/cross: my person! pet me? play with
me? I LOVE YOU!
Shepherds: MY
person. Pet me, ok we're done.
Lab/retriever/cross s: new people? can we go meet
them? oh yeah, we're in harness, never mind...hi person! -head turns slightly
as you walk past-
Shepherd: halt at the perimeter, there! Ok,
perimeter is secure, let me see that ID. Background check...drugs, substance
abuse, misdemeanors, felonies...no? Ok, you're cleared for approach to the edge
of the secure zone. Stop! That's far enough! Oh, Mom/Dad's talking to you? ok,
I guess you're ok for a little longer...
(Stereotypes are used here to emphasize the key differences between the
two. Imagine a line…Lab------------------------------------------------Shepherd
With most dogs falling somewhere along that line. Prada is just barely to the right of the halfway point. She’s unusually social for a shepherd and can be a little goofy in harness but when she stands at attention, she’s all business. Oh, and she eats like a shepherd.)
Shepherds tend to be more serious animals, very much one-man dogs, while the other breeds are more friendly and open-hearted. There are advantages to both groups, which breed you prefer depends on which qualities are more important to you. Their paces are different, too. Shepherds tend to prance slightly when they walk, labs are trotters, and retrievers have a nice flow. Crosses depend on which breed they favor in musculature.
Division of Labor
If dog guide school takes up to 4 weeks, obviously the handler is learning more than just when to give the commands, right? I mean--how hard is it to learn 'left' and 'rest' and 'pfui,' really? Yes, the handler has a lot more to learn, in addition to practicing with the dog to gain its respect and obedience while under the protective eye of an instructor. Better to learn with Bryan or Shannon or Denise looking over your shoulder than headed to your first date all by yourself in the dark. Below I've broken up the essentials of the labor division between dog guide and user.
Dog Guide
1. Avoid obstacles
2. Check (stop) for traffic (i.e. some idiot cuts you off at that 4-way stop)
3. Indicate doors, up-curbs, down-curbs, and stairs.
Handler:
1. DIRECT--this does NOT mean steer! You tell the dog where to go. If the dog disobeys outside of intelligent disobedience you correct and repeat the instruction with a leash-tug in the right direction using your right hand. DO NOT LEAD THE DOG (this ruins the dog by overriding its sense of ownership in the working relationship so it eventually just stops guiding you and you’re walking a pet instead of a dog guiding you)
2. Evaluate street crossings—while you're on the sidewalk, you decide what kind of crossing it is and how to handle it (4-way stop, stop-light, T-intersection), then give the appropriate command. Completing the command safely (which may include stopping for a stupid driver or circling traffic cones) is your dog's job, giving the command is yours.
3. Keep dog's attention. Dogs have short attention-spans, about like that of a 2-year-old. To maintain safety in the relationship you must correct the dog if it gets distracted. The dog's job is to pay attention, but if they lose that attention, YOU MUST REGAIN IT IMMEDIATELY.
I tell ya, it's hard to remember which situation deserves a 'hup-up!' and which deserves a 'pfui' and leash correction when you're also worried about a dog walking you into a street, holding the handle just right so the dog can feel you behind it, and forcing yourself not to steer the dog. Lots of mental gymnastics, there.
Progress Report
How are Prada and I doing with all of this? Not too bad! Bryan brought us an even shorter handle, the smallest one they have, and it fits us perfectly--the difference in my left arm position is amazing and Prada and I finally are getting a good feel for each other now that my ridiculously long forearm isn't flailing all over the place. We also decided that Prada's neck is strong enough--dogs' 2nd strongest muscle is in the neck--that I need to use a two-handed leash correction and just skip one-handed 'cause she doesn't really notice it. This is great for me 'cause I instinctively try to do leash corrections with my right hand anyway, instead of my left. Prada already knows what she's supposed to do and if Shannon took her out she'd behave perfectly. But I'm new so Prada wants to test my limits, see what she can and can't get away with. Under Bryan's watchful eye she's not getting away with too much. On walks our greatest difficulties continue to be down-curbs into streets and dog-marked landscapes. My greatest difficulty is distinguishing between 'hup-up' and 'pfui -snap-' situations, and not using my right hand to line Prada up with a crosswalk.
What's a 'hup-up' or 'pfui' situation? Hup-up is a mild distraction (sniffing, slowing down, looking elsewhere) and 'pfui' is a traffic/directional error, major distraction situation (another dog, another person, a squirrel or bird, et cetera). "hup-up' is not a correction, it's an encouragement for her to return her attention to me and to her work, like a tap on the shoulder to get someone’s attention. “Pfui” is a disciplinary word.
Occlusion
One of the solutions to me learning to feel and follow Prada instead of steering and hand-directing her is occlusion glasses. These are dark sunglasses taped over with black electrical tape so that even if I had peripheral vision I couldn't use it. We use these every other block or so, so that I continue to learn how to use my vision to help Prada, but when we have it on I focus on following her and feeling her rhythm, then trying to reproduce that sensation when I don't wear them by altering my arm and head position. That's my other struggle, I always want to look down at her and see what she's doing. That's a no-no for me because it alters my shoulder angle. Keeping my shoulders squared straight ahead helps remind her which direction she's supposed to be going.
Traffic Check
"Ok, we're gonna do a traffic check on this run. I'll tell you on which block of our route it'll be on but not where on the block. Act normally and try to let the dog do what it does, I won't let Shannon actually hit you, I promise." This is what Bryan said when he drove us to the Down Town Training Center (more on that on a later date, even if they cram all this and more down our throats you guys don't need to get all this down in one day).
In the first few lessons traffic checks are synthesized by a trainer pulling into a driveway right in front of a working team. As the student and dog start working together better, falling into a rhythm on a regular basis, traffic checks become more complicated, and then not synthesized as the trainers take us to known driver-error spots in town like blind hills and corners, and weird intersections. This morning we had a lecture on traffic checks via blindman's powerpoint presentation (the trainers read off powerpoints like a script, so Bryan would do all the titles, Caylyn would do subtitles or bullets, and Shannon would do the text, for example. These can get really funny as the trainers experiment with different inflections and accents, make 'speak-o's,' or forget that they're supposed to read.)
And on this afternoon's route we had our first traffic check. Of course...Bryan figured I would probably analyze the entire block and figure out which driveway Shannon was most likely to pick to cut us off in as we crossed it so he conveniently forgot to warn me on which block we were doing the traffic check. He also managed to have that occur on a block where I wore the occlusion glasses so I couldn't see it coming. And whaddya know? Prada is a pro at traffic checks! She halted and backed up a pace just like she was supposed to when Shannon came flying into that driveway! Prada has impressed Bryan and the other trainers by continuing to do mobile obstacle avoidances (like people or other students on lessons) like a graduate, we made fantastic progress today!
In summary of these lengthy and many posts Prada and I are in the process of developing our rhythm, gaining trust and respect for each other's jobs, and finding our places in our relationship and we made a great leap forward today. Bryan says we'll be ready for our first solo on Saturday. No, a solo doesn't mean they drop us off somewhere in Morristown. That's where the instructor takes a student or pair of students to a known route and then follows them about 30 feet back to observe from a distance and catch some 'need work' areas that are harder to see close up. It's for confidence building between dog and user, but mostly for the instructor to do a lesson-planning assessment. They emphasize strongly that it is NOT a test of the dog and handler but I'm still going to have to tell myself that just about every step. It's not a test, just like reading the eye chart isn't!
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