[blparent] A quick guide dog question
sharon howerton
shrnhow at att.net
Fri Apr 30 19:53:24 UTC 2010
Joy, did your school teach you that leash technique or is it something you
developed on your own?
Sharon
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joy Wolf" <joy at kevinlwolf.net>
To: "'NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2010 8:09 PM
Subject: Re: [blparent] A quick guide dog question
> Sigh, finally a moment to sit down and answer your leash guiding question,
> lol. I will say that this too could be a very individual thing. Let me
> give a couple examples of when it has been very convenient and even safer
> having my dog willing and able to leash guide. Once at my mother-in-law's
> home, we were out in the back yard, just hanging out enjoying the weather.
> I like to let my guide just hang out with us, so I did not have her in
> harness. She was on leash since the yard is not fenced, and was just
> lying
> beside me. My mother-in-law went inside for something, and my son picked
> that very moment to take a nasty fall! Now, usually he gets up and runs to
> me, and since he didn't you can imagine my complete panic. I stood up,
> told
> Delia forward and find Jaden, and we were there in a second. Fortunately,
> it was not as serious as I had feared, but what if it was? My
> mother-in-law
> has an absolutely huge back yard. I wasn't going to call my kids back to
> me
> every tim e she stepped in the house, after all I could hear them. But
> navigating her yard would have been slower if I couldn't just pick up and
> go. Another example is chasing my kids at our local park, one of the few
> places that is easy to get to, not on any busy roads, and has equipment I
> feel isn't too dangerous for my daughter who has a bone condition. So
> maybe
> it's just me, but if I've already got the leash in my hand, which I
> should,
> and the kids are running and I want to be right there with them, it's just
> a
> bit of a time saver rather than stopping each time to grab the harness
> handle or keeping it in my hand, which gets uncomfortable for me due to an
> old injury. I would say the most surprising situation where I used leash
> guiding as it relates to my kids was a trip to the city. Absolutely
> nerveracking without any problems, as I had to try and hold onto and keep
> track of two kids while we visited the children's museum. I was coming
> back
> to the train station with two kids on my right and the dog on my left when
> the harness strap broke. Just broke! I was absolutely horrified! What was
> I
> going to do now and how to get my kids home safely? The answer was leash
> guiding. I had Delia take me all the way back to the train station that
> way, and we made it in 1 piece, lol. I guess I personally just like to
> have
> that option for those times when life's unexpected challenges come up. I
> really loved my experience at GDB where I got my current guide, but can
> honestly say I will be a bit torn as to what to do when Galette retires,
> which I hope won't be for many years. Let me know if I answered your
> question or totally missed, lol. Have a great weekend.
>
> Joy and family
>
>
>
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