Guide Dog Training Day 1
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- čas přidán 15. 03. 2020
- I started my guide dog training today 16th March 2020. My potential Guide Dog match is called Spencer. He is a Black Labrador, Golden Retriever cross, and he was born on 5th May 2018. We had planned to do a two week residential training in a hotel in Sheffield, but, due to the corona virus situation, this was cancelled. We are therefore doing the full training from home.
I am wanting to blog the training, as this is my first guide dog, and hopefully it will give some insight to anyone else who is currently on the Guide Dogs UK waiting list here in the UK.
Today was all about bonding, letting my guide dog Spencer get familiar with our home, and us spending time together, and getting used to my pet dogs
Apologies for the length of the video, and I will try make my next one shorter!
I am so so excited to start this journey with my guide dog, and look forward to the independence and confidence Spencer will bring to me.
super smart and loyal breeds
Guide dogs such lovely and friendly dogs.
thanks Stefan - yeah, they really are
Thank you terry for you’re clear and helpful video, spencer was turning round when he heard you with his lead and then again with the harness.
When you held the bell collar he didn’t turn round as Thats for your training.
He is very attentive and always ready to start working. Good boy.
Please be ware that people are stealing dogs more since covid, keep him safe.
thank you so ,much
yes, sadly, that crime is getting mo0re and more - its really very worrying.
I hope all is good with you
thanks for watching, and for your lovely comments
Will follow your journey
thanks for watching.
So lovely to see you my darling - so funny hearing you talk with your ‘posh’ voice - brilliant that Spencer wasn’t at all phased by you jangling his collar about and didn’t start jumping about like he was gonna be going for a walk xx
Haha - my god, does that sound posh? lol..its horrid!
He gets a little excited now when he sees his free run collar or leash coming out - I think thats down to his being inside so much these days :-( x stay safe my love x
Hi I just wanted to tell you welcome to the club. I live in the USA but just got my first guide in sept of 2020 and we graduated in October 2020. I have already learned how much they help us so much and I hope that you and spencer are a forever match. I have a white standard poodle (i have allergies) named Maui (yes like the dude from the movie Moana or the Hawaiian Islands.) I wish you a lot of fun and joy and mobility with your new guide!
Hi there. thanks for watching and your lovely comment. I've had Spencer for around 18 months now, qualified, due to covid in Sept 2020, and am absolutely loving life with my guide. the whole world has opened up again, just as It sounds like it has for you Maui sounds simply beautiful, and now, the world is your oyster to explore together
all the very best to you both
great video Terry
thank you Neil
Hi Terry, I enjoyed this video very much. As an American I’m quite enchanted by the way you speak haha. Interesting that you Brits count food in grams and call what we would say “doing it’s business” as “spending.” I think my favorite thing though was when he turned around to look at you and you just said “Hi Spencer!” It warmed my heart. On another note you showed everything very clearly to the camera and your descriptions were great and added a lot to my experience even as a sighted person. My whole county is under quarantine for the coronavirus starting tomorrow for 14 days so I’ll be watching all the videos.
I do have one question- have you decided on a middle name for him?
Hi there . thanks for
your lovely comment - you mad eye smile :-)
Oh, I hate my broad Yorkshire accent - its horrid lol. Haha, yes we call pee n poop spending for the guide dog :-), However, when they are spending, we repeatedly say Busy, Busy (Bizeee bizeee ) until they do - strange right? haha. I find myself whispering busy busy stood in my garden at night, thinking, what the heck will me neighbours think lol.
The training sadly only lasted 4 days, before we had to stop all face to face contact, and we are limited now to our outside antics. 1 short outdoor exercise (walk, run etc) essential travel for essential items as infrequently as possible for shopping/medication, and social distancing.
However, I was lucky enough to be able to keep Spencer with me at home, until official training recommences, so we are just doing the one walk a day on leash that we had started, to keep his straight line and kerb skills up, and lots of bonding at home, and obedience training.
Never thought of a middle name lol.. I often shorten his name to spence lol.
I hope Allis good with you and stay safe x
Interesting, I also trained from home. I wasn’t given a comb only zoom groom which is great. I was only told to shampoo every 6 months.
Jessica Watson hi there. Thank you. Yes, i love the zoom groom too. I was told that as long as i am grooming every day there wont be a need to shampoo - we shall see :-)
Hi, I’ve literally just finished my two weeks training at Knowsley in Liverpool with my fourth guide dog Mason. I am receiving for PRT (positive reinforcement training). Over the last 30 years with my previous dogs it has been very much the old way of training with A few tweaks amendments here and there. However, this new training is radically different. Mason does not have meals per se. He has 50 g in the a.m. and 50 g in the p.m. And throughout the day the food is dispensed from a special hip pouch when the dog is out working. At first I was rather cynical about this mode of training because it was so incredibly uniquely different and I thought feeding the dog wasn’t a good idea because the dog is working for the food and not you. But I have noticed with doing this new training that the dog does not scavenge or pool or sniff because the food is coming from you and the dog is more focused on its work and more focused on you as an owner/handler.My trainer is on holiday at the moment and so I’ve got another 2 1/2 weeks of training to go so I’m not fully qualified or insured to go out independently. I’m quite happy the way the training is going. My Mason is incredibly sensitive and needs a lot of attention unlike my other “Sherman tanks” guide dogs’ Dougal 86, Venice 96 and Hayley 2007. You must be well bonded with Spencer now you are 19 months into your working partnershi
Oh how wonderful to hear. Spencer has 100g in a morning and 180g in the evening, and I take a handful out of his evening meal and feed him this kibble as his rewards during our walks/work - as you say, it really does stop a lot of the sniffing and scavenging, which is great :-)
We are such a close team now, and he really is my soulmate, and life is just fantastic with him, I feel like as a team, we can d0 anything, and keep pushing the boundaries that little bit further.
I hope things are going great for you and Mason - I would imagine, you too are now a qualified team x
OMG, how did i miss this update?! I was worried covid might have delayed things for you. Spencer is a babe! His ears are just gorgeous. How's he settling in now and how did training go?
haha, her Evie. Covid has certainly had an impact - but, luckily for me, I was able to keep Spencer with me, and continue with Obedience training at homer and the one route we began learning in the week I was receiving official training. Ill be posting another update in a day or two. He has settled in beautifully. Thanks so much for your lovely comment,
Terry x