Intelligent Disobedience by Ira Chaleff

Author:Ira Chaleff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
Published: 2015-09-19T04:00:00+00:00

The Leader Sets the Direction

All guide dog training starts with a basic principle: the leader sets the direction and the guide dog finds a safe way to get there.

The day Jim and Dave and I met, the temperature was touching a hundred degrees. It was too hot to ask the dog to work on the street where the pavement would burn the pads of her feet. Dave described what we would have seen if he worked the dog at the crossing.

The dog is trained to stop at every intersection and wait for the next command, which may be “forward” or “left” or “right.” Both the leader and the dog maintain situational awareness through the senses available to them. The dog can see but does not see colors the way we do; it cannot tell when a light has turned from red to green. The human listens to the environment and knows from the sounds of people and cars, or low audibles built into the system, when the light has changed and it is apparently safe to cross. At that point the leader gives the forward command. The dog must decide if it is safe to obey it. At just that moment, a fast-moving messenger bike may be turning sharply around the corner! The dog disregards, or actually overrides the command, and stays put. It may be another cycle of the light before it is safe to cross the street.

Now here’s where we who are interested in Intelligent Disobedience need to pay close attention. How does Dave train his dogs in this faculty, which one observer called “the higher mathematics of dog training”? Which aspects of that training are transferrable to human training and education? What are the precise points that make it successful?

The first thing to know is that there is a great emphasis on praise. When the dog successfully executes any new skill it is learning, or applies that skill deftly, it is given hearty praise, verbally and at times physically. This is the foundation of building confidence and trust: praise when well deserved.

But praise alone is an incomplete tool kit for teaching the full range of behaviors needed to safely serve as a human’s eyes. There is no margin for error. If guide dogs occasionally stepped in front of an oncoming car, there would be no Seeing Eye—the risks would be too great. A complementary set of tools must be used to ensure that the training is completely effective. That is a higher bar of effectiveness than most of us ever have to meet.

In addition to the harness and rigid handle that permit clear communication in both directions between the guide dog and the human handler (note the derivation), there is also a leash. The leash can be utilized to correct the dog when it makes an error. The trainer or the blind handler can yank firmly on the leash to correct the dog, while using the expression “phooey” (phooey is an expression of displeasure used for its distinctiveness—“no” is used too frequently in human interaction and can confuse the dog).

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