Hi, is there any way I can teach my pup road sense? Just incase anything ever happend and he got onto the streets on his own. Is there a way to teach him to look out for cars or even to know not to run out? I know they teach guide dogs road sense but im not sure how. Do any of you guys have any ideas? Thanks!
Hi Isaac, a really interesting question. As far as I understand it, guide dogs are not taught road sense in the way we humans approach the problem of crossing the road. The guide dogs proceed across the road on the basis of the owner's instructions, with the proviso that the dog will not walk ahead if a moving vehicle is approaching. My hunch is that they teach the dogs that if a moving vehicle is approaching the dog, the dog should stay--that the stay exercise has not finished and the dog has not been released. If the vehicle is stationary, then they can proceed if the owner has said walk on. Consequently, I expect that the trainer says stay when a vehicle is moving towards the dog. Over time they fade the vocal cue with the moving vehicle being a sufficient cue. Perhaps one of the members knows whether this is how they teach a guide dog. It's a marvellous bit of training. The dog has to recognise, bicycles, motor bikes, scooters, trucks, cars, trams, etc. as sufficient to trigger the stay cue.
