I was not neglecting my blog updates… the past several days have been good with Bethany. She stops at curbs well, me, sometimes not so much. She seems to have a bit of a heightened interest in birds, but did well working past a pack of little rat dogs. She has been really great at working past food, clearly a big deal!
Since I was here last, the school has really turned to operant conditioning, which is great. So, what this means is that the dogs are learning behaviors through their receiving of positive reinforcements in the form of food. The instructors more commonly refer to this training tool as positive reward, or food reward but, I, as a former student of Dr. Clark will never use the word reward in the description of behaviorism. :)
Yesterday, Graham took us on a couple of longer and more challenging trips, while the rest of the class did a trip with lots of left hand turns. The day before , we did less difficult trips. The dogs are gaining confidence and new skills needed for us to travel well with them and vice versa. They are truly great and the dog trainers/people instructors are fantastic!
So, a little training description goes as such. Each trainer is given a new string of dogs about twice every year. Too reach that point the dogs must pass an In For Training test. This test consists of strangers approaching them, them not jumping back when an umbrella is opened in their faces and other distractions that they must remain calm through. So, after that hurtle has been cleared the dogs are assigned to their trainers. The dogs then begin formal training. The trainers begin slowly, making them sit at changes of elevation and making sure that they heal well. They then learn country work, walking along the left side of a street without sidewalks. This is when they learn to pull out against a harness. It is very cool how they teach it. It involves a lot of sweet talking with your voice and today most likely food. I say that because the training of guide work used to involve much more stick an less carrot. (speaking figuratively of course… These dogs are treated like kings and queens.) Today, it is all about the positive reinforcement, along with the physical contact and voice inflections, which remain a crucial element of training. The training picks up a lot from there, but I will talk about that later.
Bethany is doing great and I am very impressed. Her trainer Megan is a sweetie too... She has a degree in animal behavior and new about Guiding Eyes through her best friend in college, who is from York Town. Crazy… Our other class instructor is Chrissie, who had a high paying position in the city, but was not in love with corporate America. So now she trains dogs, trains people, and picks up poop. Basically she lives the dream. They are both wonderful and have endless patients and the sarcastic sides to their personalities, which I enjoy. I also saw ,my two favorites, Krissy and Woody... I have known them both for almost ten years... The school is really like an extended family. You can develop quite a strong relationship when you spend a month with some people. Since I’ve been here I have seen a lot of old instructors. They are all good people and make this place feel like home.
The class is a lot of fun. My new friend Meka cracks me up, the Spanish guys are great, and their interpreter and dog trainer from Spain is very cool. The older guys Joe and Larry are fun and really this group of people is all around good. I may go watch the Colts game later with this woman named Stacey. I got some Corona too, so, the afternoon should be good. Sundays are a day of play and rest for the dogs, so I am doing laundry and such.
More to come in the future. See many of you in a week. – Later -- V
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