# . I have been reading around in



## khawk (Dec 26, 2008)

Hi, this is khawk. I have been reading around in this forum and I thought a story about early training might be interesting to people. A long time ago, before I went into the wheelchair, I used to raise and train guide dog puppies through the 4-h program. The lady who co-led the project with me trained 7 guide dogs, but in the 1970s when she began, guide dogs in training were not allowed in many places and certainly not in restaurants or grocery stores. So her puppy went back to San Rafael and was trained out and given to a blind person without ever being in one. The first time he took the dog to the restaurant, the dog snatched a steak off another diner's plate as he walked his person by the table without even a hesitation or a mis-step. The poor person had no idea that his guide dog was walking through the tables after the hostess with a steak hanging out of his mouth! So I am always grateful to be able to train in places now and take considerable effort to make certain we patronize and recommend dog-friendly restaurants and stores. Khawk


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## sitstay (Jan 20, 2003)

I can see that happening! What a great story. I saw a Lab in harness the other day in Boise and noticed that it was really WAY interested in a flock of Canada Geese that were bedding down on a lawn. The dog was locked on and just starting to kind of tug slightly in the birds direction. I wondered at the time if it was a training exercise since there seemed to be some correction going on.
I was lucky enough to visit the Guide Dogs For The Blind in San Rafael way back in the mid-70's. I wanted so badly to be a puppy raiser, but never got the chance.
Sheilah


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## IliamnasQuest (Aug 24, 2005)

There's so much training we can do outside of the stores and restaurants, but in all reality we just can't imitate those scenarios until the dog can get into them.

I self-trained my young chow as my Service Dog. This is allowed, but in the state of Alaska you can't just take your SD in training into a business unless you have their approval. However, you CAN take your SD in once the dog is actually a working SD. Khana had tons of obedience training (has her RN, RA, RE and CD) plus tons of socialization training (registered as a therapy dog) and then I did the specific task training with her. She is a beautifully calm, well-trained dog who is a Godsend to me. However, when we took the step into actually going into the stores, I found that there were things we still needed to work on as we'd never had the opportunity to actually be in the situation (like going through the bakery area and having fresh bread low enough for her to sniff at .. going through aisles that are very narrow and having to keep her behind the cart so that people could go by .. going through the dog food aisle where food has scattered on the floor from a broken bag .. keeping people from coming over to pet her). We'd done our best to train in situations that involved food, etc. but it just wasn't the same. And I had to learn how to manage her while still being able to shop! It was not as easy as I thought it would be.

I think that the stores here would have been okay with me bringing an SDIT in, now that I've had some access to them. I don't have any problems with Khana - she is calm and walks beside me completely controlled - but there ARE things that I had to figure out to manage her so that everything remained kosher, so to speak. I haven't taken her to a restaurant yet and that will be an interesting experience, I am sure. She is very good at laying quietly at my feet but there will certainly be temptations.

Melanie and the gang in Alaska


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## BJDimock (Sep 14, 2008)

My second Fidelco Foster, Seda, had a horrible pick pocketing problem!
She would snatch bags right from people walking by, also without missing a step! She thought it was great fun! (It left me very embaressed when I had to explain to people why my SDIT was stealing bags. Seda once scammed a purse while working on the street, and I had to chase down the woman that she took it from. The lady informed me that I had a very smart dog! She had over a thousand dollars from a check she had cashed, and she said that she would have never suspected the dog!)
Seda found it even more enjoyable when I caught on to her and could remove a bag from her mouth, without missing a beat, and hand it back to its owner. ONLY then did I become her equal!


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## mjbgsd (Jun 29, 2004)

That is too funny BJDimock!


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