Looking back, some of the most valuable lessons in my dog training career came not from training the dogs, but from the people and animals who needed something more than obedience. My training as an educational psychologist stood me in good stead here, because it included dealing with blind and deaf, cerebral palsy and autistic children.
In helping a lady with a blind dog, I used the dog’s strong modality, his nose. I would rub my hands together and let him use his nose to smell me in order to get to know and trust me. This ritual was repeated each time were together. There are many blind dog and deaf dog (DD) websites available to support owners of dogs with these disabilities.
One particularly interesting case was that of Angela Tiltman who fell in love with a pit-bull puppy, Zena, that they had rescued. When they took the dog to be tested for biliary the vet diagnosed that she was deaf. Angela enrolled her in my club and learning to use only sign language, easily passed the Canine Good Citizen Bronze test. The following year she passed the Silver level test and then made front page news in the local press by being awarded a Gold award. Zena has also been included in the British Deaf Dog’s special website for exceptional achievements by deaf dogs.
One Saturday, a young woman, Shereen and her friend Andy, arrived with their dogs and joined the club. I noticed that she was particularly attentive to my instructions and regularly double-checked that she understood the instructions correctly. Later I found that she would stay after class to discuss the slow progress she was experiencing with her dog. I then established that she was dealing with a touch-sensitive doggie.
The dog had a heightened physical reaction to touch of any kind. These dogs interpret even light embraces as uncomfortable or even painful. I thought back to a case I had in Welkom where a mother had this sensitivity problem and had a little girl who had the need to be cuddled by her mother who would experience the hugs as painful.
Shereen often stayed after class to discuss her progress and learn more about dog training. She enrolled in different dog training courses both overseas and in South Africa. Later she participated in my classes by “shadowing” me while I was training. After a while she was given responsibility for her own classes with great success.
Then she told me that after their wedding, she and Andy were emigrating to Ireland and that she planned to start her own dog training school as soon as they settled in their new county. I was really sad to see her go, but she promised to retain contact with me and club members.
Not long after her departure from Cape Town she wrote to me and asked if I could support with a recommendation, her application for a position in the Irish Guide Dog Association. This was the division where they train puppies until they can effectively help people with vision impairment.
Shereen certainly did not need a testimonial from me but I provided it with pleasure and was delighted to hear that she’d been accepted. She immediately demonstrated her dog training abilities and was promoted after a short while. Every visit back to South Africa to visit their family members has included a day to visit us in Simon’s Town, which has been very special for me.
