Category: Animal House
All dogs have their goods and bads.
When you’re considering getting a guide dog, you don’t see the potential bad habits or naughty things that dogs do.
People usually speak about how great their dogs are, but they don’t inform perspective guide dog travelers of the difficulties they face when becoming a guide dog user.
So for those who have or have had a guide dog, let’s talk about their habits that we would prefer them not to have. Talk about the side of having a guide dog that isn’t really advertized.
One of my dogs was horrible about jumping up on people when out of harness. I was never able to break that habbit. In harness, he was an angel and a very good guide. Out of harness, he was hell on 4 legs. He loved to chew stuffed animals, drink out of coffee cups if they were on low tables or at the edge of counters, and on tie-down he barked constantly. He would do better in a crate but still barked allot.
He was a very sweet dog but a very challenging dog when it came to his behavior.
My dog does very well in harness. His only flaw is his strong dog distraction. Some days are better than others, but usually when he sees another dog his ears perk up, and if we walk by closely he starts wagging his tail and he gets extremely distracted.
He also loves stuffed animals, but will not get at them unless they are on the floor or at head level for him.
Smart post, Nicky. You're right, most people look at having a dog with rose-colored glasses, much in the same way they look at having children. Often people fail to realize the cons that come along with having a guide dog.
One of the cons I encountered was shedding. Dusty was a Yellow Lab, and I groomed him daily. He enjoyed it, and it was bonding time for us. But no matter how thoroughly I groomed him, there'd still be some amount of shedding that could not be helped. I always felt bac for that when riding in friends or family's cars, or being at their houses.
Dusty was also very sensitive to my mood. I had him at a very stressful period of my life, and he picked up on that. Unfortunately, sometimes his stress would show in, um, digestive issues. More than once I had embarrassing issues of him having diarrhea inside a building, never mind that I took him out frequently on a regular schedule. I think it was just stress he was getting from me.
People also don't think that there are some places it is just better not to take a dog, and when that happens, they need to make arrangements for the dog's care. For example, I would never take a dog to an NFB or ACB convention. I've seen the dogs at conventions, and it's so stressful for them! Often owners are selfish in this regard, or don't want to make arrangements to have their dog cared for in their absence. Or, I had a friend who recently had a prolonged stay in the hospital, and had to find longterm care for his dog while he was laid up. It's a responsibility, not just a right, and prospective dog owners need to be aware of that.
I just recently got my guide dog and I came in to this new life with a lot of knowledge I gathered beforehand but I still had a lot to learn once I got her.
First off, the way you talk to the dog makes a huge difference. Also, when I came home with her I had some problems that arose and she felt my unhappiness and stress. This had a huge impact on her work abilities. She walked so slow and kept messing up a lot. But after speaking with some great friends of mine about it, they suggested for me to pretend to be happy the next time I went out to see if it helped any. I did do this and let me tell you, she did not make a single mistake. It was awesome. It also showed me how much more I needed to do. Not just to take care of her, but to take care of all my needs too and not be stressed.
A problem we faced while in class is that she scavenges. We did a lot of work with this and I have to stay on top of her about it. She tries to eat things off the ground and gets excited over food a lot. I have gotten her to keep her head up and not try to snatch things but sometimes, she decides she has to. She is great about sitting and waiting for me to get her food, leaving mine alone, but I make sure I am keeping her nose away from the food at the store and on tables that food might be displayed at. If I am sitting down at a restront eating, she stays still and behaves. Sometimes though she will wiggle about and try to eat the crumbs. I sat by this lady once who kept dropping food on the ground while she ate and I got so upset. I did what I had to with my dog and just kept my mouth shut about it to her because it was a mistake on her end.
But that is a whole other story for other postings. Other people and your dog.
As for the shedding. i hate that too. That and I am always worried about if she smells. I don't want to get in a bad habbit of bathing her to often either. I don't like sprays and things. I groom her everyday so it isn't a problem, just worries I have.
It's interesting. My GF and I have had discussions about guide dogs. She doesn't want me to get one from one of the big schools because she's afraid it'll turn on me sooner or later because she's apparently seen YouTube videos where it's happened. Even if that's true though I have to wonder what those particular handlers were doing to their dogs and how long it had been going on. As it is we have two Chihuahuas, one being the daughter of the other. Jade, the om, belongs to my girlfriend Sandra herself and the baby, Addie, is supposed to be mine. And Sandra thinks we ought to try to train Addie for guidework. She figures that because she was trained by us she'll never turn on me and she'll do a better job of guiding me than a typical guide dog would. Unfortunately Sandra's daughter has some rather bad habits with regard to Addie that have made the little fuzzball a little too agressive for my taste. She's a sweet dog but she has been known to nip. And an animal that does that, even if it's a licensed service animal, can legally be barred from public places.
Umm, a chihuahua for a guide? The handler would have to be a midget.
Agreed with Imp. I don't see a chihuahua working as a guide, both because of their size and temperament.
Where is your GF getting this, Bryan? I think she's seeing a very few extreme examples, and letting fear rule her. I personally have never heard of a dog from any of the schools turning on its owner, and I've known a lot of guide dog users personally, and heard of many many more. Compared with the many guide dog handlers out there, the instances of such a thing have got to be incredibly rare. Of course, it's those rare instances that get turned sensational. Also, does your GF have the faintest idea what's involved in training your own guide? It can be done, I know of several blind people that do it. But one must be knowledgeable about what they're doing, the kind of dog that would be able to make a good guide, and be willing to put in the intense amount of work it takes. Even the friends I've known who train their own guides don't do so for fear that a dog from one of the schools will turn on them. Most of the time they do it because they feel it makes for a better bonded team, or because they disagree with the training methods used by most schools, or because they want full ownership of their dog. Many schools still retain part ownership, even after a team graduates.
I don't mean to be harsh, but I really do think your GF is being afraid of nothing here.
some of the bad dogs behaviour is also deal with the handler as well. Yes, dogs pretty much like kids, if you allow them try ones, and if they know they can get away ones, they will do it again and again. Some very bad behaviour is jumping on harness, grapping food on the table on harness, jumping on the bus driver on harness etc. Now, you get the picture. Thank God, this is not my guidedog, and its not from my school. However, cause of this negative behaviour that some certain dogs shown, it sometime, put all of the dogs in shame as well.
Shedding is a big problem,. I groom my dog everyday but everyday she shed like ever before. Thats a real problem cause, wherever we go, she'll some how, leave her furl prints behind.
I recently find this brush/comb that work very well in terms of brushing all her lose hair. She's improving with her shedding, but, oh boy oh boy, sometime i got so embarras cause of her hair.
Something funny, one of my friend's guidedog drank champaign. Her master is not a drinker, but she is! go figure. lol
Like I said O don't believe it. And again as I said even if these were in fact guide dogs who turned on their handlers I have to ask myself wat those handlers had been doing to their dogs and how long it had been going on. But Sandra seems to think we could train Addie to do guidework from a little carrying pouch I could wear on my chest and that's how we would compensate for the size thing. She figures we could train her to bark in a certain pattern to differenceate different things. But I can see where that would be a problem because every Chihuahua I've ever met has had a piercing bark.
What a load.
Wow, Bryan, that's...um different. Guide dogs aren't supposed to bark. That's highly discouraged. They're supposed to be more quiet and laid back.
Brian, your gf has a lot, and I mean a lot of research to do before she tries to give you suggestions. Obviously. I dont' mean to be rude here, but that suggestion is, in a lot of ways, quite ignorant. The purpose of a guide dog is so that it could guide you. Not sit in a friggin pouch. I've never even heard of that before--how's that supposed to be any kind of logical? And barking in order to give you directions? Um... The law that enables guide dogs to enter public places has been established on the basis that these dog's dont bark while at work. A chuwawa is by far not a compatible breed for guiding. I'm sure that if this wasn't true, the guide dog schools would be all over it by now, do to their portability. I strongly discourage your girlfriend's suggestion--strongly. lol. I'm sure your little pooch is lovely, but come on... a guide dog? really?
Agreed. And even the most well-trained Chihuahuas I've ever met have been barkers. And as I said before any animal, service animals included, whose behavior interferes with the running of a public business can legally be barred from that business. And barking would interfere with the operation of most public businesses, the only possible exceptions I can think of being animal shelters and/or vets' offices. That and I'm not sure Sandra quite realizes how much work would go into training one's own service animal even under the best conditions.
Also, I dont' know what youtube videos your girlfriend has seen, but I haven't heard any guide dogs turning on their owners. Judging by what you said, I'm not even sure your gf knows what a guide dog really does, or what one looks like, so who knows what she was watching.
Good. I'm glad you agree. I'm sure your gf has the best of intentions and is just trying to be as helpful as possible.
I know. Sandra's usually a very smart girl. So I can't help wondering where she gets this. Yesterday I tried looking up the videos she claims she saw and I found absolutely nothing. My guess is if she did see something it was a video where someone had bought or more likely made a makeshift guide dog harness and put it on a dog with an aggressive temperament and ten goaded it into attacking. Because in order for these supposed attacks to be nearly as common as she seems to believe the are there would have to have been a serious drop in quality of the training of dogs in every guide dog school in the country. And if such a drop had actually occurred it would have been all over every blindness web site.
The other possibility, and this one would make me angry, is that it's some blind person concerned more with getting attention than with the fact that he's giving blind folks and guide dogs everywhere a bad name, who thhought it'd be funny to undermine is guide dog's training and train it to be more aggressive for the specific purpose of making this video so they could perhaps try suing their school for money. Sort of like that idiot a couple years ago who allowed! her guide dog to be placed in the trunk of a taxi and in so doing put the animal's safety in jeopardy rather than stand up for her rights. The only problem will be convincing Sandra that, as wel-intentioned as I know she is she can be extremely stubborn and it can be hard to convince her of a different view sometimes. By the same token she'd find it hard to convince me of any truth in her words given that in the 18 years I've known guide dogs and their handlers I've never heard of a guide dog turning on his or her handler, much less without provocation and a great deal of it. And I've explained to her that her idea about Addie guiding me from a carrying pouch, while a unique one, would be unlikely to work well in actuality. I've also explained to her that the barking would get her banned from public places since, as I said earlier and as RightAway also pointed out, that would disrupt the operation of most public places. Sandra herself has a service dog (or perhaps companion dog would be a more accurate term), who happens to be Addie's mom. And while she generally doesn't bark as much as Addie se does bark enough that I'm surprised she also hasn't been banned from public places.
My dog would be an angel if it weren't for one thing. Tennis balls! He can find a ball absolutely anywhere I take him.
Obviously he has his excitable moments and his protective moments, but I don't really call them bad habbits. If he does something a bit silly or cheeky, I just think that if I were a dog i'd do exactly the same thing.
Exactly. So I'm not quite sure where Sandra got her "information."
She's been smokin' some bad hash.
She doesn't smoke.
She just claims she watched some YouTube videos of it happening and read some newspaper articles about it online. I need hardly point out that I've researched both avenues quite extensively and have found absolutely nothing to support these claims. She seems to think it's quite common, yet if it were really as common as she seems to think it is even I, who never watch the news if I can help it, would probably have heard about it from more than just her. Anyway I'm sure it would have been plastered all over the Zone. And the idea of training a Chihuahua to be a guide dog, while certainly intriguing, is quite frankly a pipe dream sinceI've never met a Chihuahua that I would feel comfortable trusting my life to, even if size wasn't an issue. She's already bitten me, not to mention Sandra and her daughter, several times. And of course I'm not sure Sanndrarealizes just how much work would be required to train one's own guide dog. Even I, who have never done so myself, have at least some inkling of what it must take.
I'm about as afraid of chihuahuas as I am of teddybears.
At church once, the kids was tossing a ball and my dog tried to take off after it. It was kind of funny but wasn't. I was standing and talking with someone at the time.
I went over to some friends house yesterday and let her run free in the yard. She ate some acorns and when I went home, I googled about dogs eating them. Didn't think they were bad or anything. Nope, acorns can kill dogs. Things I wished I knew before getting a dog...
As for BryanP22
Ask your girlfriend to show you the vidios and information. I would like to see them for myself. Thanks...
I agree. Because I haven't found any of it.
I think your girlfriend is just making up stories for one reason or another. I'd love to see these videos myself. I can't stand it when people insist they're right when the rest of the world knows they're dead wrong.
Ok so anyways. to take it back to the aridgenal topic of the post...
My dog has gotten better with keeping her nose to her self while at the stores. If we are in the dog ile. I make her laydown while I am looking at the stuff. She will stick her nose up under the bottom shelf and sniff instead of actually sniffing the items on the shelf.
But she does have an issue with drive by sniffing other peoples carts, and more so if it is at the grocery store. I keep her near to me and try to keep her close as we walk by someone butI don't always know when we are going past them.
Well that's precisely the sort of behavior this dog I've been talking about engages in. Even if we could train her not to do that her barking would get her banned from public places. So I have to find a way to convince Sandra that it's just not a good idea.
interesting topic and my dog use to shed his hair a lot too and would pick things up of the ground like food and use to think he was a guard dog as well as a guide dog but understandable as he was a german sherphard and at first he was good at waiting for me to blow the whistle so he could eat but after a while he couldn't wait and would begin eating straight away.
He had a thing about me being in water, not sure why but he would begin to howl and it would echo especially when inside at the swimming pool.
Interesting topic guys.
Well, what you say about them responding to stress? Birds are hypersensitive to that also. And I don't know a lot about the dog fur but you've never cleaned up till you clean up during molting season, a time when a bird loses and re-grows its entire set of feathers.
I loved keeping birds, but don't miss the hassle, sanitizing cages, etc.
It's interesting though: what you say on here about people and their rose-colored glasses, we always said the same to prospective bird owners. Not just parrots, but even the tiny finches and canaries. I don't know how, but they pick up on everything.
Hi!
I am glad I found this topic... Jenny is a SCROUNGER!!
For the most part, she does fairly well; I am usually pretty cognisant of when she tends to scrounge (i.e. in front of the 7-eleven, etc.) I keep working on her with it, so this is encouraging that it can, and does, get better.
Kate
Sooooooo bad things.
Not too annoying, but I just stand back and resignedly wait while my dog decides she *must* pull over to the grass and pee while we're walking somewhere. I always try to make her do, ah, *everything* she needs to do before we leave the house, so at least I don't have to pick up anything. She has never had an accident inside, but I can always tell when she's gotta go. Walking does that, apparently.
Dog distractions arg
I wish people would start educating not only, "Don't pet a service dog," but "Just ignore a service dog." It's just as irritating when standing in line / shopping / asking for help, and the person speaks to my dog who responds with an enthusiastic attempt to go say hello. Yep, she got corrected. Don't you feel guilty now?
Scavenging is a big problem for some. Thankfully my dog isn't a big scrounger, but apparently bus trash cans are paradise for scroungy dogs.
Parents / friends / family / relatives.
You know, my dog isn't perfect. She's not a robot. She's going to mess up, make mistakes, and do dumb stuff. Shut the hell up, and stop saying my dog is badly trained. Just because she doesn't follow your silent footsteps through a crowded clothing store perfectly doesn't mean she doesn't know what she's doing. Here is a list of the wonderful things she does do.
Snow drifts. I hate snow drifts. They're either an obstacle that absolutely can't be crossed, or a fun thing to drag you through, depending on how your dog is feeling that day.
Also, ditto puddles.
HR,
Jenny is a dog from the wet west coast. She is VERY familiar with puddles, not so much snow drifts. Imagine my surprise last week when she quite determinedly pulled me around a HUGE puddle on the sidewalk. We had to walk 1/2 a block along a path in the snow, and then she got me back on the sidewalk... tons of praise for that one!
Kate
My dog acts like walking threw puddles is a great way to clean your feet and shoes. Its a must have to do when availible to get done. I have learned to listen for her feet hitting water then stop and make her go around it. The last time, she went around the water and I didn't . My dog doesn't eat things off the ground anymore but she still will try to sniff spots where dogs goes to the bathroom I am guessing... Its always the same spots. She also will walk really slow when we are walking away from the places she wants to go, the private dog park my apartment has, the place that has all that great smelling food coming out of it, my apartment office where the treats are... so on...
It can be frestrating when I want to get home and here she is slugging along, hoping that I will all of the sudden realize she didn't get to go play for an hour at the dog park even though it is flooded out with standing nasty water at the moment... and thats why we have not gone in a while.
She does really well. I would have to say that a dog is always the best when they try and will learn to do better verses refusing and only wants to do things there own way...
Agreed, nicky. It was so funny. Jenny guided me around another puddle a couple of days ago; she is REALLY particular about not wanting to get wet if she can help us. She tends to shake herself off if she gets a bunch of rain/snow on her coat (sometimes it seems every few yards). But I agree. All dogs will have good days and bad days...
Kate
I am going to add to Cala's post about friends/family making comments about dogs being "badly trained." My dog is by no means perfect, and she can be a bit impulsive at times. I think that's why the school paired us together (1, because I won't put up with it, and 2, I have the patience and desire to love and train her despite her impulsiveness).
Jen and I have gone through a lot of stress the past month or so... we had some emergency work done in the house that involved cutting holes in the ceiling, water damage, bad smells, dehumidifiers and loud fans 24/7; contractors in and out; furniture covered in plastic and moved around... the start of a new job... traveling for goalball tournaments (stressful on their own). Jenny just reacted to my stress as well as tried to deal with her own. She was just... not... focused. THankfully someone took me aside and asked how things were going and just made the comment that they noticed she wasn't as focused lately. No judgment, nothing. I'd rather someone make those comments rather than be bitchy because Jenny made a mistake.
Consequently, once things settled down and, like Nicky said earlier, I pretended to be happy, things got WAY better.
The irony is, if you act like you're stressed and are just looking for your dog to mess up, your dog is going to fulfill those expectations because they can feel it (especially a really sensitive, stubborn dog like Jen). If you encourage, praise, and walk out with the attitude like you can conquer the world... most of the bad stuff usually goes away!
As for dog distractions: Jen tens to do things in phases. She gets it in her head that something is exciting/scary/whatever, we work on it for a couple of weeks, andboom! She realizes that, oh yeah, she's a guide dog and will just have to deal with it. Dog distractions have taken a bit longer. Thankfully, downstairs in our office building, there's a little yappy dog who likes to bark at Jen every time we go downstairs to go outside for a pee. Jen will almost always turn around and look, and it is getting easier to turn her around, tell her to leave it, and we go about our day. Never thought I'd be thankful to see an ankle-biter. LOL
Kate
We have been getting a bit of snow here like most of the country. Blue has gotten so excited with it and plows threw it while I am fighting every step to keep up with her and not fall on my butt. Our sidewalks here at my complex are not flat at all. Up and down and up and down. She thinks it is time to go as fast as we can and oh yeah, see how much snow we can eat on the run too. LOL! I let her go out and play in it a lot but she still struggles with focusing while working but after a couple of first minutes, she gets her attention back on the job at hand.
I on the other hand have learned how to skee in my shoes going down steep hills while being dragged by an excited Labrador. I have yet to fallen. Go me!
LOL re snow drifts! Thankfully Jenny thinks snow just... well, just nis. When she's off-leash in a park she'll go play in the snow... but that's about it.
Question: The past couple of weeks I have noticed Jenny barking while in harness a couple of times. This seems to only happen when it's dark and a person is something something unusual or is intoxicated. This seems to only happen on sidewalks. Anyone ever seen this?
Kate
My dog has IBD (inflamitory bowl desese). Before she was diagnosed and treated, she would sometimes have an accident or throw up. I almost retired her before the issue was taken care of by medicine and diet change. That's not really her fault though, but it can happen. Also, despite being on a schedule, she sometimes needs to use the bathroom at times when I don't expect it, like when I'm walking to class.
One other thing I get annoyed with sometimes is that if she's really bord and doesn't think anyone is paying attention to her, she will grab something and carry it around or chew on it. She usually will give it back if I ask, but sometimes she's just annoying about it.
Aww, I'm so sorry about your dog that has IBD! That had to be scary when that was going on.
And, to the poster that asked about the dog barking while working that is interesting I have no clue why they'd be doing that. Hope someone answers your question!
Thank you, Unique1. It was aweful. The vet thought she might have cancer. They found out for sure that it was IBD when they did surgery.
Kate
Perhaps Jenny is feeling protective, that's the only thing I can think of.
Kate the drunk thing may be part of the problem. I had an odd experience with this once.
Now I am not an unpleasant drunk, not that different than I am sober. But someone's service dog growled at me when I was outside a bar once. The lady apologized and asked if I'd been drinking, I said 'yeah kinda, been in there all afternoon.' Which was true. Well she said she was training hers to be ok with someone who smelled like alcohol because for some reason the dog would react just to the smell. She asked me to help her, which I didn't really know anything about this. Had I been sober I would not have, not with a growling dog, but I guess lowered inhibitions meaning lowered fears, I agreed to it. She took my hand and put it on the dog's head with her hand on top of mine. She did assure me it wouldn't bite, so I went along. Anyway she talked to it and gave it instructions till it settled down. I can't remember anything she said to it, wasn't in really any shape for that anyway.
But if you know someone who indulges that way, and you trust them, well, you could do something similar after they have had a few. Apparently she had known of me enough to know I wasn't going to do anything untoward. This was a long time ago though.
Anyway I don't know if that was one incident or if she used multiple people or what, but after the dog had settled to her satisfaction she let go my hand and thanked me. Funny thing is, I would have not agreed to it if I'd been sober, since a growling dog is something I would typically go out of my way to avoid.
My dog is distracted by people he knows really well. He walks faster and doesn't pay as much attention if he sees someone he likes, but if I correct him and rework something he's missed he shapes up. It's just when he first sees them, and then he's fine. He also is dog distracted, which will be interesting since we're going to a goalball tournament in Michigan this weekend. I'm going to make him wear his gentle leader while working though, so that should help. He has fantastic house manners, except for destroying dirty cleanexs, which he only does if the trashcan doesn't have a lid, and all of mine do.
Have fun in Michigan! Jenny did better than I expected during a goalball tournament with the dog distraction. Once she gets settled down she does even better
Kate
My girl barks if my fellow university students party too loud. It is almost as if she is telling them to be quiet. It is one short, sharp bark and then she's quiet. Usually they quiet down after they hear Faith's bark. It's kind of funny, though I don't like it if she barks repeatedly.
He did get distracted, but overall he did fine at the goalball tournament. at least he wasn't one of the dogs that barked during the tournament, or got in a fight, (not bad), with another dog. Don't ask what happened I just heard barking. *Sigh* dogs. Can't live with em can't (well, don't want too), live without them.
oh wow... :)
don't think every day is going to be sunshine and rainbows. I know they stress that at training, but there are days when I think I'd sell my girl to the highest bidder if they made me a good enough offer of Indian food and alcohol. I know the screaming children out in the parking lot are bothering you, but just lay there, sunbathe, and quit whimpering so I can tutor this girl. No, you can't get up and try to escape just because you saw a dog. Actually, it would be nice if you'd pay attention and actually take the right I wanted you to take. There are going to be horrible terrible days when they're just not on point, for whatever reason. But no matter how annoyed I am, when she does her routine correctly, it washes everything else away.
YES!
Jenny wanted to see Mr. Crazy yesterday when he came to work to drop something off. She handled it particularly well, but for the rest of the day she was just off-point... but every day is new. Let go of frustrations from moment to moment or day to day, and doggies will do whatever they can to please. She found EVERYTHING I wanted her to this morning, didn't scrounge in the bus stop, took a little detour because she had to, er, relieve (can't blame her for that one) but still found me the bus stop when I asked and THEN let me take her to do her stuff... listened to EVERYTHING the rest of the day.
Days like today are made much better when you consider the days like Cala and I have had recently where selling to the highest bidder seems like a viable option.
Kate
Sounds like days with a teenager or a toddler.
Hahaha... I joke with people that I have a canine toddler, and they smile and nod, and don't mind her mistakes as much because she's so cuuuuuuuuute!
Kate