Guide Dog Training Archives - Page 7 of 7

Guide Dog Training

Jun 23, 2008 By Colby 4 Comments

Everyone who reads my blog already knows that my puppy in training, Stetson went in for formal guide dog training in Sylmar, CA about a month and a half ago. During my time with Stetson the number one question everyone asked me was “Isn’t it difficult to give your dog back when it’s time for him to go to formal guide dog training?” Stetson was my first GDA puppy in training, but I knew it would be difficult giving him up…and it was.

Now the main questions I get most is “Have you heard anything about Stetson?” and “How is Stetson Doing?” Friends, family, and myself are all interested in his progress. I’ve heard from other puppy raisers that the majority of the first month is to check his physical health, so really not too much is going on.

Formal Guide Dog Training

Stetson just sent me his first postcard to inform me on how he’s doing in his formal guide dog training. I was so excited I brought the card with me everywhere I went. I wanted to show all my friends and family how he was doing (that’s why postcard looks all crinkled…it was in my pocket the last couple days). Here’s the card:

I’m not the greatest with the camera and that pictures pretty blurry. Just in case you can’t read it here’s what Stetson had to say:

Dear Dad,
How are you doing? I’m great! I’m learning how to walk with a special black and white harness on. Boy do I look handsome! Next we will be learning right and left turns. Hope you are doing well. Take Care!
Wags & Kisses,
Stetson

I’m so proud of that boy!

I’ve heard that Stetson will write postcards about once a month. I can’t wait for his next one and I hope he’s still doing well with his training.

Is your puppy in formal guide dog training? If they are I’d love to hear how they’re doing.

How To Train A Shy Timid Dog

Jun 11, 2008 By Colby 2 Comments

Last week we talked about Linus A Shy Timid Dog and his training. This week we’re going to continue updating you with the things we worked on in training class to help make Linus a more confident dog. Hopefully this will help anyone else out there who’d like to work with their shy, timid, or nervous dog.

Linus’s Week Before Training Class

A couple things I might mention that may be effecting Linus’s normal behavior is my puppy sitting duties. The past couple days I’ve been puppy sitting two dogs. A 14 week old yellow Labrador Retriever and an 11 year old Miniature Poodle. I wasn’t too concerned because in general Linus gets along with dogs in his own house.

Yellow Lab

The 14 week old yellow Lab is Ace and is a puppy in training with Guide Dogs of America. Ace came over on Monday and Linus was not immediately thrilled. I could tell Linus was not afraid, but more overwhelmed with Ace’s energy level. After about 5 minutes Linus decided it was time to play and would just knock Ace down as Ace sprinted around the house (he had the zoomies).

I can tell Linus doesn’t like it when Ace barks. I’m not too sure what it is he just kind of looks at me like: “Do we have to have another one of these little puppies?”

Miniature Poodle

Linus is afraid of Quincy the Mini Poo. Quincy only stayed over for a couple days and did not like Ace at all. Ace wanted to sniff Quincy’s butt, but Quincy wanted no part of Ace and just barked or growled at him. As soon as Quincy started growling Linus decided he would just ignore Quincy the entire time he was at our house.

Good thing for Linus Quincy pretty much just ignored him as well.

How To Train A Shy Timid Dog – Week 3

Even with all the distractions of new puppies and older dogs Linus performed quite admirably at week 3 of training. Once again our goal is to try and integrate Linus with the group. He doesn’t seem afraid of the other dogs at all. He seems more concerned with everything else around him including other dogs, basketball players, tennis players, racketball players, bikers, and families walking through the park.

After talking about how our week went we worked on our heeling to get the blood flowing. Linus and I walked at the rear of the group and followed all the way. While walking by the basketball court Linus got scared by an errant basketball and kind of shuddered. We were advised by our trainer to constantly praise and give Linus treats during our walk around the court to try and keep his mind off of all the activity happening around him.
Sit, Down, and Stay. We worked on these commands near the basketball courts. Linus and I stood further off to the side and worked our commands.
Sit, Down, and Stay in the grass with treats littered everywhere. Linus and I were part of the group during this exercise. He did a great job during these exercises.
Formal Recall. We worked on formal recall in the grass. Basically just like last week…have your dog in a Sit-Stay walk about 20 feet away from your dog and call his name. This time Linus wasn’t too enthusiastic about coming. He slowly trotted over to me and took his sweet time. He looked a little concerned with all the other dogs watching us. We did it a second time, but this time I showed him a handful of treats then ran from him. Slight improvement, but still not much enthusiasm from Linus. I need to work on this exercise with Linus with distractions.

All in all I think it was a successful week. Linus has met some new friends (Ace and Quincy) and hasn’t acted aggressive with either of them (although he is just ignoring Quincy). And during class he’s becoming more a part of the group.

If you have a shy, timid, or nervous dog let me know what actions your taking to try and build your dogs confidence.

Linus A Shy Timid Dog

May 30, 2008 By Colby 6 Comments

Linus is a shy timid dog…quite the opposite of my guide dog puppy in training, Stetson. Now that Stetson is gone we plan on taking Linus to the same guide dog training classes Stetson attended.

Stetson attended six guide dog training classes (each classs was 6 weeks long) during his time with me. It was my goal to get him as much training as possible before we took him in for formal training. The Guide Dog’s of America requirement is that we take our puppy’s to a minimum of two classes: 1 puppy class and 1 basic obedience class. Stetson was an over achiever and attended every scheduled Orange County GDA class while he was a puppy in training.

Linus is not training to be a guide dog…he’s just attending class with the other guide dog puppies in training.

A Shy Timid Dog

Linus has taken a total of three training classes: 1 puppy class and 2 basic obedience classes. Recently, I have noticed that he will do several things when he see’s other dogs that he doesn’t know.

Sometimes he would shy away/hide behind my legs
Sometimes he would bark and lunge
Sometimes he would just go up and sniff the other dog

More recently he’s been barking and lunging at dogs he doesn’t know and I do not like this behavior. I’m not positive what the best steps are for Linus, but I knew that I needed to get him back into training class where he’d have the chance to interact with well behaved dogs and puppies.

<– Linus is on the right. Stetson has the bandaged foot.

Several months ago we worked on Linus’s behavior and it was told to us that shyness is a hereditary problem and that Linus most likely inherited this from his mother or father. Linus is a shelter dog and we never knew too much about his mother or father, just that his mother was an Australian Shepherd mix, his sister was almost twice as big as Linus, and she was tri-color. I’m not positive, but Linus may have been the runt of the litter…does being the runt have anything to do with being shy and timid? I’m not sure.

Guide Dog Training Classes

Linus started guide dog training class a little over a week ago and has already attended two sessions. Most of the dogs are Labrador Retrievers and are either a guide dog puppy in training or a career changed guide dog. My main goal with this class is to get Linus used to being around other friendly, well-behaved dogs. He already knows his basic obedience.

Week 1

During the first week of class we mainly stayed along the outside of the class and did all the same training exercises that the other dogs and puppies performed. We (our trainer and me) wanted Linus to be somewhat close to the group, but not to the point where he was uncomfortable. As we progress through the weeks we will move Linus closer and closer to the other dogs in class.

I was advised to constantly praise Linus and give him treats when he wasn’t showing any fear during our class sessions. Basically, I’m constantly giving Linus treats which seems to serve two purposes: It’s a reward for not being afraid and it keeps his mind off things going on around him. A dog or puppy will not accept treats or food in a scary situation.
All the dogs went for a walk and worked on their heeling. Linus just stayed off to the side while each dog walked past him.
The dogs did a weaving exercise where all the dogs sit in a line while one dog weaves in and out of the stationary dogs. During this exercise Linus first just watched from the sideline and then we just walked along the sideline rather than weave.

Week 2

The goal during week 2 was to try and move Linus a little closer to the other dogs and let him get more involved in the exercises.

During the walk Linus and I worked on our healing at the end of the pack.
We stopped near the basketball court and worked on our sit-stays and down-stays. Linus and I kept a little bit of distance from the basketball courts and the group, but we worked on the same commands.
We left the basketball courts and worked on the command “Leave It”. While our dogs were in either a sit or down our trainer, Ramona dropped french fries right in front of their noses. When the french fries fell to the ground we gave our dogs the command “Leave it” and the dogs are supposed to leave the french fries. Linus and I just observed as the other dogs worked on this command.
Finally, we worked on the command: “Come”. We attached a line to our dogs, put them in a “Sit-Stay”, walked twenty feet away, and gave the command “Linus, Come!” or just plain “Linus!”. Linus did well with this command and just came straight to me while the other dogs watched.

I’m very pleased with Linus’s progress. During his two training classes he hasn’t shown any aggression towards the other dogs. However, he doesn’t seem completely comfortable. He has definitely shown improvement from week 1 to week 2.

Do you have a shy or timid dog? What do you do to help improve their behavior?

Stetson Took The Canine Good Citizen Test And He…

Feb 6, 2008 By Colby 3 Comments

Not too long ago I mentioned that Stetson was going to start training towards his Canine Good Citizens test. If you haven’t read my article that goes over all 10 tests in the AKC’s Canine Good Citizens Program then click on the CGC link. Here’s a short breakdown of the 10 tests and how Stetson did on each one. The cost of the CGC Test is normally $11, but we got to take the test for $5 because our evaluator didn’t have the CGC tags for our dogs.

AKC’s Canine Good Citizen Program – as completed by Stetson

Test 1 – Accepting a friendly stranger
- He did great during this part of the test.
Test 2 – Sitting politely for petting
- He seemed a bit distracted when our evaluator was petting him. He usually gets at least mildy excited when getting petted, but did great during the test and just sat in position.
Test 3 – Appearance and grooming
- Stetson’s always been pretty good during grooming. We brought his brush and she brushed a couple strokes, looked in his ears, then checked both his paws. Stetson was in a sit position most of the time and then popped up when she picked up his second paw, but kept position.
Test 4 – Out for a walk (walking on a loose lead)
- During the walk you have to make a left and right turn, at least two stops, and an about face. This is where I was almost sure we would fail because Stetson saw a moth slowly fly by his face and was tracking it while we walked. I was almost positive he was going to pull towards the bug. I told him to “leave it” a couple times and eventually he lost track of it. Besides the bug he did great!
Test 5 – Walking through a crowd
- This one was pretty easy we just navigated through a three or four people walking around. Stetson barely noticed.
Test 6 – Sit and down on command and Staying in place
- Stetson did his sit and down perfectly…much better than he often does in class. He’s always been pretty good with stay and remained in place while I walked out 20 feet and then returned to him.
Test 7 – Coming when called
- When we were training for the test a couple times Stetson came then sprinted right past me. I made sure I caught him when he came at me. Sometimes he seems like he doesn’t know where his head is and plows it straight into your knees.
Test 8 – Reacting to another dog
- This was the one thing we worked on the most. We worked on this part with 4 other dogs (thanks Charlie, Benny, Dustin, and Linus) leading up to the test. I’m happy to say all Stetson did was stick his nose out towards the other dog (Clover a Chocolate Lab) then retracted when I said “leave it”
Test 9 – Reaction to distraction
- Our evaluator had a bag full of dog training equipment and through it on the ground several feet from Stetson and also dragged her roller cabinet nearby Stetson. He wasn’t scared just mildy interested in the things going on around him.
Test 10 – Supervised Separation
- Another puppy raiser watched Stetson and said he was just fine for 4 1/2 minutes. He only had to stay in place for 3 minutes.

Where Did I Think He Went Wrong

The only areas I thought he might have had problems was when he was sniffing at Clover and when he was walking and tracking the moth with his eyes. The leash may have tightened a tiny bit during his walk, but I was pretty confident he was doing fine.

The Results Are In

STETSON PASSED HIS TEST!

We need to send in his paperwork along with $5 and the AKC will send us his certificate of completion.

Congratulations to Dustin!

DUSTIN ALSO PASSED HIS CGC TEST!

Great job Dustin! I’m sure you’ll do great when you move on to your formal training in Sylmar on February 16th 2008. We’ll see you next week at class.

Dustin already wrote about his experience on his blog. The only time I got worried for Dustin was on come when called…he nearly detoured towards Clover, but Anne got Dustin to straighten out and he reached her successfully. Take a look at Dustin’s blog.

My Hints For the CGC Test

Go over all of 10 tests and make sure your dog is prepared for each one.
As the handler be confident and relax. Your dog will notice if you’re tense.
Review everything several times the day of the test.
Make sure your dog gets ample exercise the day of the test before he/she is tested.
Arrive early to get your dog used to the environment and the smells at the test site.
We met up with another dog, Dustin and his handler Anne to review all parts of the CGC exam about an hour before test time.

That’s about it. If you’re dog is taking the CGC test anytime soon and you have questions please email me or leave a comment.

Thanks to everyone who helped us prepare Stetson for his CGC training including Ramona, Dustin, Anne, Jim, Virginia, Julia, Bennie, My Mom, Linus, Erin, Charlie, and the Loara freshman basketball team. We couldn’t have done it without your help.

What do you think? Are you ready to pass your Canine Good Citizen Exam?

Guide Dog Training – How To Become A Guide Dog Puppy Raiser

Dec 13, 2007 By Colby 11 Comments

Are you interested in Guide Dog Training? You should try getting a taste of guide dog training by starting off as a guide dog puppy raiser. About two years ago I decided I wanted to raise a guide dog puppy, but thought…where do I start? Here’s my journey to becoming a Guide Dogs of America Puppy Raiser.

My Rescue Dog Linus

I’ve always had a love for dogs and about three years ago rescued an Australian Shepherd Black Lab mix from the Carson shelter. If you want to read more about my rescue dog Linus take a look at this article: Dedicated to My Dog Linus. We always had family dog when I was growing up, but Linus was MY first dog, MY responsibility. Raising Linus was a real joy for me and really stoked my interest in dogs. I started researching rescues, shelters, and service dogs.

The Pet Expo

A couple years ago I attended the Pet Expo in Costa Mesa, CA. It’s a great event located on the OC fairgrounds with tons of dog and animal products, exhibitions, booths, rescue groups, and food (for people). After visiting and seeing the many dedicated volunteers at the Pet Expo I decided that I should dedicate some of my free time to helping these non-profit organizations.

Cuddly Canines

Several months after the Pet Expo I contacted one of our local Puppy/Dog Rescues named Cuddly Canines. Cuddly Canines is a wonderful rescue group that saves mostly litters of puppies from the Riverside Animal Shelter in Southern California. I sent them my information and told them I’d be interested in fostering a litter of puppies and what do you know a couple days later I brought home 7 German Shepherd puppies from the Riverside Shelter.

The puppies were adorable, a little malnurished, but absolutely adorable. Take a look at my article on Puppy Adoption and Fostering to see a picture of the Shepherd mixed puppies I fostered.

Poopies

Sorry to get off subject, but one thing I learned about puppies (or maybe it’s just shepherds) is that when one goes poop they all go poop. Kind of like BackDraft (if you saw the movie: “You go, We go”. I learned this first hand on the ride home from Riverside. Almost immediately after we left the shelter one of the puppies pooped in the crate. Of course, this was a sign for the others to poop (7 poops + 1 crate = lots of poop in the fur) …ehhhhh…disgusting!!! To make matters worse it was one of the hottest days of summer and even though we wanted to run the air conditioner we had to open the windows to breathe. Cleaning poop off of puppy fur is not a fun job.

Guide Dogs Organizations

I loved raising the Shepherd puppies. It was a lot of work, but well worth the effort. I next set my sights on becoming a Guide Dog Puppy Raiser. I researched the internet to find as much information as possible and found three Guide Dog Organizations in California:

Guide Dogs of the Desert International – Palm Springs, CA
Guide Dogs for the Blind – Campus’s in San Rafael, CA and Boring, OR
Guide Dogs of America – Sylmar, CA

I was unable to find a puppy raiser application on the Guide Dogs of the Desert International website, but did send an email to the puppy department. Unfortunately I never heard back from their organization.

While flipping through the OC Register Pet Section I came across a short classified ad on Guide Dog Puppy Raising with a contact phone number. I called the number and spoke with the Orange County Guide Dogs For the Blind group leader. This group was comprised of mostly young adults in a 4-H group. I did get the chance to attend meetings, but ended up not joining the group.

When I first started my search to become a puppy raiser I sent a puppy raiser application to Guide Dogs of America. After about four months I was contacted by the Orange County GDA group leader. It seemed like a perfect fit. The puppy raiser meetings and puppy training were held 5 minutes from my house. Our group leader came to the house, interviewed me, and inspected my house to make sure it was puppy safe. Finally, I received my a manual on how to raise a GDA puppy. One month later I picked up Stetson from Sylmar.

Becoming A GDA Puppy Raiser

My step-by-step process to become a GDA puppy raiser:

Go to the website and fill out an application.
- I’d also read through the website and try to absorb as much information as possible.
Wait until a GDA group leader contacts you
- I contacted the puppy raising department twice by email to try and speed up the process – I had nearly given up hope…BE PATIENT!
Have meeting with GDA group leader for interview and house inspection.
Attend group meetings and be sure to sign in.
- I was told that people who attend meetings regularly have priority on getting their puppies

You can probably speed up this process if you know someone (ME) who is currently raising a puppy or working with Guide Dogs of America.

Are you interested in Guide Dog Training or Puppy Raising? Do you want to train Guide Dog Puppies? Let me know what you think.

What Commands Do You Teach a Guide Dog?

Nov 19, 2007 By Colby 14 Comments

What do you teach a guide dog puppy in training?

One question I often get concerning Stetson (my guide dog puppy in training) is does he know any tricks. As a puppy raiser we are not supposed to teach our Guide Dog puppies any tricks. We have a specific list of commands that we must adhere to.

There are actually only nine primary commands on our list and almost all nine commands are something you may have already taught your own dog. For those of you who were wondering what commands we teach our puppies…here’s the list (this list comes directly from a printout I have from Guide Dogs of America).

Did You Know: that raising a service dog is different then raising a guide dog? One of the biggest differences is service dog puppy raisers teach 30+ commands compared to only 9 for guide dog puppies.

What Commands Do You Teach A Guide Dog Puppy?

SIT: The proper positioning would be for the puppy to be on the handlers left side facing the same direction. Place the puppy’s rump on the ground. The puppy must remain in a sitting position with the aid of the STAY command until told to do otherwise by the handler. The ultimate goal should be for 3 minutes.
DOWN: The proper positioning would be for the puppy to be on the handler’s left side facing the same direction. The puppy must lie down on the ground with his elbows hitting the floor. The puppy then must remain in a down position with the aid of the STAY command until told to do otherwise by the handler. The ultimate goal should be 5 minutes.
STAND: The proper positioning would be for the puppy to be on the handler’s left side facing the same direction. The puppy must be up on all four feet and remain in a standing position with the aid of the STAY command until told to do otherwise by the handler.
STAY: (remain in exact place) When used this command serves to help aid the puppy in extending the time of the SIT, DOWN, and STAND commands.
COME: When the dog hearshis name and the command “come” he should immediately respond and come to you.
FORMAL COME: From any position relative to the handler, the puppy returns to the handler, coming to the handlers left side and turning into the handler and ending up facing forward in a sit position at the left side of the handler. ie…the puppy should not become engaged in any distractions when on his return to the handler.
GET BUSY: Tells the puppy to urinate and defecate on lead. The puppy should be able to relieve himself on a variety of surfaces (grass, rocks, cement, dirt, etc..) The dog should be commanded to GET BUSY and the handler should not allow the puppy to do it on its own free will when out on a walk.
LEAVE IT: Verbal corrections for stopping unwanted behaviors from the puppy. It should be used for such behaviors as excessive smelling, jumping up, excitable greetings, growling or barking etc.
O.K.: Releases the puppy from any command that had previously been given by the handler.

Those are the 9 commands on our primary commands list. Of course there are a few others I can think of off the top of my head including NO _____, WAIT, and HERE.

NO ____: I use NO pretty much the same way I use LEAVE IT. It’s used to discourage an unwanted behavior and often used in conjunction with another word such as NO DOG or NO SNIFF.
WAIT: This command should not be confused with STAY. WAIT is like putting up a barrier that your dogs should not cross. When your dog is in a WAIT command they can be sitting, standing, or down and moving between positions as long as they don’t cross the barrier. However, when a dog is in a STAY the dog should not leave their position. For instance, if the STAY command is given while the dog is sitting then the dog should not leave the sit position until released with the O.K. command by the handler.
HERE: This is the same as the regular COME command (not to be confused with the FORMAL COME command).

That’s about all I can remember right now. If there are any GDA puppy raisers out there reading this article let me know if I’m missing any important commands on this list.

If your puppy already knows these 9 commands you might want to check out our list of the 30+ commands we teach our service dog puppies in training.