Dear Ruth
I'm a member of several animal training discussion lists and know of several
instances where disabled persons are involved in training - not only dogs
but miniature horses. In the case of the mini-horse, the trainer and the
owner (who is blind) are working together (the goal is to train the mini as
a guide). Go to
http://www.theclickercenter.com/panda/index.html for further info on the
mini-horse project.
In other situations, the training process itself is used to help empower
the disabled individual (particularly children, but works for anyone,
disabled or not)- it sets up a channel of communication, success and
accomplishment. The goal in this case is usually not to produce a service
animal, but I think could easily and usefully be applied in the scenario you
mention.
The specific training method used is known as "clicker training" which is
the use of positive reinforcement following a bridging signal (also known as
the marker). I have heard that it has also been used to help establish a
communiction channel with autistic children but have not seen anything
published on this subject.
A friend and I are planning to introduce the local RDA (Riding for the
Disabled) groups to CT here in Australia - it has already been used in the
US with success, but only in isolated cases - usually where there is a local
equine clicker trainer who is able to volunteer their services. So far there
aren't that many of us around, but numbers are now growing exponentially!
I also know a local dog trainer who uses CT to train service and therapy
dogs, I'll ask her if she involves disabled individuals in the training at
all. As a trainer myself, my guess is that it depends a lot on the
individual situation (person, dog and goal of the training) largely because
it can be confusing for the animal to be trained by more than one person at
a time (different people have slight differences in their timing of the
click and the rate they reinforce and their ability to recognise a try) -
but a lot depends on what is being trained (ie what behaviour/action). There
are also many situtions where it is beneficial for the animal to be trained
by more than one person. Of course once the training is in place it is
easier for anyone else to work with the animal - there is a difference
between training and performing a trained (learned) behaviour.
I will forward your email to the lists I'm on to see if anyone can help you
further.
In the meantime, a good source of info is anything written by Karen Pryor
(she is credited with introducing CT to marine mammal training and to wider
animal training, esp dogs, from there.)
Cheers
Lisel
Dr Lisel O'Dwyer
School of Geography, Population and Environmental Management
Flinders University
GPO Box 2100
Adelaide, South Australia 5001
http://www.ssn.flinders.edu.au/geog/staff/odwyer.htm
IAG home page: http://www.ssn.flinders.edu.au/geog/iag/
Telephone 61 8 8201 2969
Fax 61 8 8201 3521
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ruth Gelter" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, January 22, 2003 1:33 AM
Subject: Literature Review
> Greetings,
>
> I am performing a Literature Review in the process of designing a
> curriculum for teaching disabled individuals to train their own
> assistance/service/working/mobility dogs. My dilemma: I am finding
> extremely little published on the subject of disabled individuals being
> involved in the animal training process.
>
> Is anyone aware of research in this area or programs already in place
> where individuals who utilize such dogs are involved in training the dogs?
>
> Thank you in advance for any information you may be able to offer.
>
> Ruth Gelter
> Learner
> Union Institute & University
> Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
> [log in to unmask]
>
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