Monday 15 August 2011

Schools

Blog 9 August 15, 2011

Schools & Training  

As I receive different applications in the mail from a few guide dog schools they all ask the basic information.  Ophthalmologist report [to see if you are “legally” blind], mobility training, doctors report [to see if you can take the physical requirements of training], personal information about you and your activities to ensures that the dog will be worked; it is kind of a waste if you get a dog and you don’t go anywhere.  Some schools ask for a video and some ask for references.  It is no doubt a mountain of paper work to go through, taking time and effort, and all necessary if you want a guide dog.
Each school has a different training program and each one offers different things.  What all these schools have in common is that you are required to go to there for a 4 week training program.  This means you stay overnight, you are there for the whole 4week duration.  You can have your family visit and you can speak with them on the phone however it makes it hard.  The first school I was at, they came and trained you at home.  Now some people think this is easier, in some cases it is, yet in most respects, it’s almost as hard or harder.
The things we did not know the first time around is that nobody but the handler for the first 24-48hours can pet the dog or touch the dog this is the bonding time between the handler and the dog.  The dog is on the leash for the same amount of time and they go everywhere with the handler and I mean everywhere.  You are confined to the house for at least a week and at the end of the day you still cannot go out with the dog.  This means you stay home for 24-48hours this is bonding time.  Thankfully we had a back garden that I could sit with the dog and have coffee.  As you start your street work, you are eventually outside. It should be noted that for the entire training time you are taking care of the dog.  Your spouse may help if you have one but the whole point is that you take care of the dog because you are bonding.  Now, in my case we have an autistic son at home which made it harder.  At the end of each training day you have homework to do.  In essence you have to forget what is going on around you at home and focus on what is taking place (try that with an autistic son who loves animals!).  At the end of your training day you are tired and want to rest but you also know that things need to be taken care of with your family.  In my case, my spouse took care of a lot and it was hard on both of us.  The other distraction we had was the people in the neighborhood coming up and distracting me by wanting to talk and ask questions.
The good thing about training at home, is when you are done you can hit the ground running. You know the area; you know the routes and how to travel.  There is one thing that people don’t expect to hear.  Just because you trained in the area with a trainer, that once the trainer is gone, you know what to expect with your dog.
I can tell you from my experience although I had an exceptional dog, I still had problems, not that we did not know the routes or how to work together but we were still getting to know each other.  We were still building confidence in each other; the dog had to build confidence in me as a handler, to give the right commands.  Myself as the handler to have confidence in the dog to do what I wanted and needed him to do.
This is where I think building a team comes from the level of uncertainty in the beginning to a level of trust and respect in each other.  Once the trainer is not there to help you anymore it is up to you, the handler. Think back through all the training to take all the tips you learned and start putting it together, start taking control of your dog.  I remember the trainer telling me if your dog is not doing what you want him to do, take control, stop go back to basic obedience sit, stand a couple of times, this will bring the dog back under control.  Once this happens you can start again.  If you crossed a street and the dog did not bring you to the corner correctly do it again.  I was told something very important from the trainer, if you want your dog always to perform great and listen well, then take 5 minutes  a day to do obedience.  I did that 5minutes everyday with Jags and trust me, when I tell you that it paid in dividends, his obedience was excellent.       
As I think about having to go to a school to train, I think it might be easier, having no other distraction except to train.  To learn what needs to be done with the dog, bond, and practice the commands that the school uses.  Knowing the commands, how the dog works and getting a dog on a schedule is very important in developing a good guide dog team.  The thing I learned about training in my very early stages of life is to take every moment that you have and use it as a training time.  The other thing I learned is that when I take a course and even if I have done it before, I approach each course as if it was my first time.  I learned that each instructor has something different to offer, they bring different insights to the table.
The adventure will start to begin when all the paper work is done and submitted and accepted to a new school, this can take many months, and this will be the biggest hurdle.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

1 comment:

  1. Your perspective on training is what we have heard from handlers that have trained both ways. They all agree that going away to school, they learned life long skills, and so much more. They also said that the best of both worlds, is going away,-then having in-home training,-just to get oriented. It was a great blog, John-and as usual,-we stand in your corner, cheering you forward!!

    Ron, Gini and T-Bone!!

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