From: William.Wilson@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (William Wilson)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: DOG GUIDE RULES
Date: 13 Apr 92 21:14:13 GMT
Reply-To: William.Wilson@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA

Index Number: 21081

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 CC>  pretty much understood one another well enough that I do not
 CC>  question him on street crossings, and he does not question me
 CC>  on basic commands like "sit."

Carla,
    I know that Dan got his first dog or two from Seeing Eye, and
indeed, they do suggest a daily obedience session with your partner.  Frankly
though, I sort of assume they take for granted that in many cases these
daily sessions will become weekly sessions, and then monthly sessions,
or in fact, often totally unnecessary in time!  This, of course,
was never told me while I was in training with Strider or LeeRoy, but
I'm assuming the Willie Wilson philosophy that if you want something to
occur at a given rate, you multiply that rate by a factor of about 10,
and if you're lucky, it'll happen!

 CC> As with everything doggie, your mileage may vary according to
 CC> the individuals involved!

Yes, in fact, again, the obedience sessions with Strider were about as
meaningful to him as the dates on the yogurt cartons in the
refrigerator!  Yeah, even if it had been months since our last obedience
session, he did all the little stunts right on cue, got mildly amused
when I reinforced him for his performance, then back to normal, thinking
I am sure, "God, what a ridiculous waste of time!"
     With LeeRoy, on the other hand, although I don't do the prescribed
obedience thing with him at all, I always do a variant when I take him
out back on leash to do his thing.  That is, I make him sit at the first
flight of steps, I make him rest at the top of the final three steps
till I tell him to come, and he still feels so proud of himself after
performing this miraculous task, his large labrador butt wiggles all
over the place just keeping up with his tail!
     About the only other part of the obedience routine taught us at
Seeing Eye not covered here is the fetch bit, and that one I give him
several times a day, just cause I'm a clumsy kind of guy and drop things
alot!  This, without a doubt, is LeeRoy's favorite part of the routine,
and the one that gives both of us the most joy!  Literally, I knocked an
empty tumbler off the coffee table just a half hour ago with one of my
flailing hand gestures when talking to a friend, and before either of us
could rise to get it, a black beast came galloping from the kitchen
where he had been getting a drink, snatched it up, and was pushing it at
me while his tail did a 90 mph spin that caused a stiff breeze
throughout the whole apartment!

     No, I guess what I do with LeeRoy doesn't actually qualify as an
"obedience session", but I do see some value in performing some sort of
regular tasks outside of the harness with my pooch, if just for the
entertainment value and the fun LeeRoy has doing it!
                                         Willie

... Have you smooched your pooch today?

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