[nagdu] opinions of other blind people

denis rudic denis.rudic at xnet.hr
Fri Dec 5 14:58:47 UTC 2008


Hi Marsha.

I also had similar experience when my blind friends, who are a cane
travelers, wanted to teach me how my dog should be treated. I simply
responded, O.K. I'll recommend you for a guide dog trainer in Croatian guide
dog school, and discussion ends.
Advices which came from instructor or another GD team are accepted, but from 
someone who does not have Gd experience, no way.

About the guilt issue.
Last week I went to see my first guide dog Lavinia.
We worked as a team for nine years, and 5 months ago she retired and went to
live at place of "adopters" family. It means we have not seen each other for
that period of time. When we got to her new home Lavinia was all over me & 
my
fiancee. We played a lot, but I was so sad, because she barked almost whole
time inviting me to play. When we played we usually chase one another, play
with Lavinia's toy and I didn't want to break something in somebody else's 
apartment so we haven't played as much she would like.
 When we went home I
felt emotionally ambivalent, cause I was so happy for Vini that she found a 
warm home
and her family treats her with love, but I also felt sad 'cause I had to go
far away from her.
 Thanks god my fiancee was with me and she gave me comfort
and support.

Like you I also felt guilty, although I knew that was the best way for both
of us, emotional issue was hard to overcome, hell we were together for 9
years and more suns will have to rise and set till I could be all right. But
I can say Lavinia is always in my heart, but Tasha, my new partner streams
through my veins.

I think it is normal that you feel that way, and you as I did, may think 
that you abandoned your partner, but that is the way the life works. In my 
country we say that life consists of fist full of tears and bag full of 
smiles.
Part of those tears are for Lavinia, but she also filled that bag. Now she 
lives normal dog life, and I am grateful for that.

Take care and I'm sure you treat your new pup with love and respect, and I'm 
sure you 2 re a good team.

Denis&Tasha
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Angie Matney" <leadinglabbie at mpmail.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2008 12:44 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] opinions of other blind people


> Hi Marsha,
>
> Yes, it does make sense. I know it can be hard to get past the guilt of
> retirement. My first dog retired and 9.5, and I had to deal with guilt
> from that, since, after all, some people's dogs work untill they're 11 oar
> so.
>
> Anyway...it's hard to move past that, but you can trust your own judgment.
> If you're just not sure, try to imagine what an instructor would say. And
> even if you happen to make a mistake at any point, it's not the place of
> your friends to tell you how to
> handle the dog. Putting a dog on tiedown or in a crate is not abuse.
>
> Best,
>
> Angie
>
>
>
> On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 17:13:40 -0500, Marsha wrote:
>
>>Oh I know that SE would have told them that if the dog is working well, if
>>they are being fed and parked, and seem to be happy then whatever. It just
>>seems I have run into this much more here than any where else. I should
>>make
>>up SE cards and hand them to a person when they try to do this to me.
>
>>But I guess as a good handler, I say good because I think I am very good
>>with my puppy, that when ever people say something to me it makes me feel
>>guilty. It makes me question what I am doing, how I am doing it, and so
>>on.
>>I just do not want to be wrong, I am on my second guide, and the first was
>>retired, and yes there is a lot of guilt there. I just want to be doing
>>the
>>best. So for me it is a fine line between being right knowing what I am
>>doing right is really right for me and then defending what is right. I do
>>not know if that makes any sense?
>>Marsha
>
>
>
>
>
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