[nagdu] Growling and your guide dog school

[lindagwizdak at peoplepc.com]

Hi Jenine,
You are right in your post.  I had two dogs with that problem. The first one 
was a result of being attacked by a dog tied up near the sidewalk where I 
was taking my new dog for her first walk after returning home from the guide 
dog school.  After two years of this problem and a couple of more attacks on 
her, I retired the dog.  The second one was during training.  We were four 
days into the program when, out of the blue, the dog started to attack the 
other dogs.  I knew I was returning home to a doggy envirnment.  I had a dog 
change.

I know these things happen and we do have to responsibly deal with the 
problem.

Thanks for the post - you are absolutely correct in the reality of PR 
problems that stem from growling dogs.

Linda and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jenine Stanley" <jeninems at wowway.com>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 9:19 AM
Subject: [nagdu] Growling and your guide dog school


> OK, my 2.5 cents worth here, not as a school employee, but as a handler
> first and foremost.
>
> I completely understand behaviors like a bark or two out of surprise or at
> home at the doorbell. You can even train this as a controlled behavior.
>
> Growling, and this is just me, again really depends but is more serious. A
> startled growl at a strange object or person appearing from nowhere, once 
> in
> a while probably isn't anything to worry about, but something to be aware 
> of
> and track.
>
> Things really change depending on what you do for a living too. The 
> average
> guide dog handler, working in an office, might not think much of the
> occasional growl, until coworkers start to complain or avoid him/her 
> because
> of the dog. This is happening to someone I know now with a mostly black
> shepherd who growls and barks now and then at people in the office. People
> are terrified of the dog though he's wagging his tail all the while.
>
> If you work in an occupation where you have to deal with the public a lot,
> like sales, floor shows, things like that, the suspicion growls or barks 
> now
> and then don't help your personal image. Trust me, even before my work 
> with
> the school, I sold jewelry at conventions and a growling dog under the 
> booth
> wasn't exactly helping sales, even if she only growled once. Word spreads
> fast, especially among blind people and handlers are a pretty judgmental
> group, rightly or wrongly.
>
> I've had a growling dog who started out with small growls when dogs were
> inappropriately poking their heads under my display table at conventions.
> This quickly escalated and I never  knew exactly which dogs she'd growl at
> or why. I observed, tracked, had instructors observe, and there seemed no
> rhyme or reason to why she disliked certain dogs and not others.
>
> When this behavior began, I was on the board of directors at my school. I
> owned my dog outright. They made suggestions about considering retirement,
> only after giving me tons of help on how to stop the growling. We tried
> everything and just when I thought I had it stopped for good, something 
> else
> would spark another growl and it would escalate from there.
>
> I know people were upset, especially those whose dogs had been attacked by
> other dogs, both loose and in harness. Yes, guide dogs and service dogs do
> attack each other, sadly. I could completely understand the outright fear 
> my
> dog's innocent growl of warning sent through them. I often said though, as
> did others, that if she'd had pointy ears, people would have just chalked
> her behavior up to being a shepherd, but even shepherd handlers said that
> talking is one thing, but growling suspiciously is quite another and not
> acceptable.
>
> My dog got to the point that she was beginning to snap at other dogs. By
> this time the behavior had some predictable aspects, confinement being the
> most obvious.
>
> This is not the case for every dog of course. Some just bark or growl now
> and then. That brings up though, your job or volunteer work.
>
> Say you work at a school or volunteer with children. Those barks and 
> growls
> quickly get misinterpreted. Giant stories start about that horrible guide
> dog from School X and how it bit someone, whether it did or not.
>
> My dog was accused of biting another guide when she growled at it. I
> happened to be walking with an instructor who tried to explain to the very
> upset person that my dog was 6 feet away from hers and could not have
> possibly bitten her dog, but she would not listen and swore my dog bit 
> hers.
> I again completely understand this level of irrationality if your dog has
> been attacked before as hers had. There were probably at least 6 other 
> guide
> dogs around her, most much closer than mine,  and not one of them growled.
>
> I personally as a handler don't want to live that way, even with a
> spectacular dog like the one I had. I was tense because I didn't know when
> she'd go off and I felt an obligation to other handlers not to pose even a
> perceived threat. I wouldn't want someone just blithely working a dog who
> might be excellent at the work but very suspicious of other dogs or just a
> growler for no reason. Aren't our dogs generally supposed to be quiet in
> public, save for the odd startled response?
>
> Things changed for me when I became an employee of the school. They never
> said, "Jenine, you will retire that dog." they did say that she could not
> work with me during school events and since that was when she did most of
> her work, well, the prudent thing for all involved was to retire her.
>
> Think about this. When you see a representative of a guide dog school, you
> don't expect the dog to be perfect, but you also don't look favorably on a
> dog who growls, barks or is otherwise not under good control. Sometimes 
> it's
> the dog. Sometimes it's the handler, but what's the impression of that
> school? "Oh, that's School X. the dog I saw from there growled and lunged 
> at
> other dogs. I hope all their dogs aren't like that."
>
> This summer in the exhibit hall at NFB, a generally great place for the 
> dogs
> btw, there were a couple scraps. What was the first thing people asked?
> "Where was that dog from?" meaning which school.
>
> You have to think about this if you do volunteer work for your school as
> well. Even if your dog growls only a few times a year, if it does so at a
> school event, or if you're not sure, you're a risk to the school. That's 
> not
> meant as a slap to you or your dog. It's just the reality of PR.
>
> You have a couple choices. I did and I know my school gives these choices 
> to
> others in the same situation.
>
> 1. I continue to work my dog but do not bring her to any school events or
> times when I volunteer for the school.
> 2. I retire my dog.
>
> At that point it's up to me.
>
> The guilt, anger, frustration and yes even fear accompanying retiring a 
> dog
> for growling and barking are so huge they'd take up many other posts. I 
> have
> to say that retiring Molly really messed with my head. Was I not a good
> enough handler to stop her behavior? Why did the school put out such a 
> dog?
> She didn't start growling until about 1.5 years into our partnership btw.
> How dare they tell me to retire her? She was a perfectly good guide.
>
> I had to get past those stages and look at a bigger picture. You give
> something up when a problem like growling or barking is persistent enough
> that people know you by it. I've cringed at school events when volunteers'
> dogs have growled, when my dog growled. I know both the public 
> embarrassment
> of the school and the private frustration and embarrassment of the handler
> and instructors.
>
> None of it's easy but you really do have to think beyond yourself in some
> circumstances, your work, your volunteer activities, etc.
>
> Again, these are not the opinions of GDF or anyone on staff. I'm speaking 
> as
> a handler who happens to be an employee.
>
> Jenine Stanley
> jeninems at wowway.com
>
>
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