We are in our dark conditions gear. So as well as the high viz bib and my high viz jacket we also have lights. Quintin has a halo light around his neck which fell off during this video. I later remove it altogether. We are stood next to a row of three elaborately decorated Halloween pumpkins. One has curly colourful pipe cleaners sticking out of the top like mad hair. Another is elaborately painted to look like a sugar skull. On meeting them Quintin immediately reacted by barking at them which is a sign that I needed to do some training with him. This involved sprinkling around some treats for him and just being in the area of the pumpkins so that he can get used to them being in his presence. Eventually he was more interested in the kibble than the pumpkins and this is how we train dogs to socialize them around things that you just wouldn't think about socializing a dog to until you experience it first hand. Imagine for example if we didn't do this and a guide dog saw a set of pumpkins like this for the first time while he's leading somebody who's blind. You can imagine in a situation like this with a really busy road how it could get out of hand very quickly and become a danger to the person they are guiding. Quintin mills about looking more to me than the pumpkins collecting kibble as I give it. He also sits nicely several times and gets treated. Quintin is a 5 month old black labrador pup in training for Irish Guide Dogs.
We are in our dark conditions gear. So as well as the high viz bib and my high viz jacket we also have lights. Quintin has a halo light around his neck which fell off during this video. I later remove it altogether. We are stood next to a row of three elaborately decorated Halloween pumpkins. One has curly colourful pipe cleaners sticking out of the top like mad hair. Another is elaborately painted to look like a sugar skull. On meeting them Quintin immediately reacted by barking at them which is a sign that I needed to do some training with him. This involved sprinkling around some treats for him and just being in the area of the pumpkins so that he can get used to them being in his presence. Eventually he was more interested in the kibble than the pumpkins and this is how we train dogs to socialize them around things that you just wouldn't think about socializing a dog to until you experience it first hand. Imagine for example if we didn't do this and a guide dog saw a set of pumpkins like this for the first time while he's leading somebody who's blind. You can imagine in a situation like this with a really busy road how it could get out of hand very quickly and become a danger to the person they are guiding. Quintin mills about looking more to me than the pumpkins collecting kibble as I give it. He also sits nicely several times and gets treated. Quintin is a 5 month old black labrador pup in training for Irish Guide Dogs.