[Home-on-the-range] getting around in the snow

[Cindy Ray]

Hmmm! With a dog it is pretty easy. They can find the house again. Of course, they may decide if they are outside to do their duties they might like to play and sniff and twirl you around. In ballet I learned that when you do turns you turn your head at the last minute in order to keep your orientation. That's true, isn't it, Diann? Anyway, so I do try to do that if the dog is twirling me around. As for sounds, my furnace has a sound that it makes on the outside, and I listen for that if I have become disoriented. Also, I can tell here by the lay of the land. Our back yard is on a hill. If I was walking, I would attempt to keep my orientation, but the dog will move pretty freely through the snow.

Cindy Lou
p.s. How much snow do you have so far?

On Feb 21, 2013, at 9:16 AM, Dianne Hemphill wrote:

> Hi federationists- most of us find ourselves in a blanket of snow today (and likely for a few more days to come!). I've been listening to tips on getting around in the white, cold stuff on the Matilda Ziegler  and wonder if you have your own techniques for getting about safely? I'm particularly interested in hearing how guide dog users accomplish the  multiple outings they must do for the dog's needs. One of the teaching/training techniques used during travel classes in Iowa, was to use a radio, for example, at the house entrance to mark that return point when one went to the mailbox or corner, for example and the snow had not yet been shoveled ...I recall more than one experience of slipping and sliding down a steep driveway when I wrongly thought I could "carefully" walk somewhere. I have since purchased rubber grips that slip over the bottom of my shoes and sometimes use my cane as a ski pole...what tips do you have out there? Dianne
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