[nagdu] Out of the way in public

[Tracy Carcione]

Jeanine, I couldn't agree more!  It's not just at conventions that people
let dogs sprawl out any old where.  It drives me buggy.  It's dangerous
for the dog, and rude to other people.  Guess I'm getting old-farty, too.
And I'm not sure the schools emphasize it as much anymore, either.  I
remember my first class at GDB we got it hammered in to us, but in later
classes I didn't hear much about it.  Though they might have figured we
retrains already knew (not a valid assumption.)
In my class at TSE, they did talk about it.  But the technique my
instructor insisted on was putting the dog beside my chair, and I've
always preferred the under the chair method myself.
But at least they talked about it.
Tracy

> Darlene asked if anyone had ever heard of a fire martial rule about dogs
> having to be out of the walkway in restaurants.
>
> Though I've never heard of this and though I realize some dogs are large
> and
> many table and booth setups aren't exactly dog friendly, I hate to be a
> giant prude about this, but your dog shouldn't be in the walk way period.
> If
> you have to move a chair to give the dog space, do so. If you need to sit
> in
> a particular place because your dog is larger, do so. I know there are
> places where dogs just can't fit under the table, but most times there are
> ways to keep them out of the general walkway.
>
> It's dangerous not only for people walking, who are usually not looking
> down, but for your dog, who could be tripped over, have hot food or liquid
> spilled on it or be bothered by the many children I encounter more and
> more
> often, unsupervised in restaurants.
>
> Gee, I really do think I am becoming my mother here, but I don't recall
> ever
> being allowed to get up and wander around during a meal, at home or in
> public. <grin>
>
> I know that at many guide dog schools, Southeastern included, they do make
> a
> big deal about the dogs being out of the way and several schools have a
> variety of seating options in some of their lounges to practice this
> chore.
>
> I'm not yelling at anyone here or saying that the fire martial stuff is
> correct. It's probably not, but my guess too is that someone has tripped
> over a dog there and hence the warning.
>
> Sadly, I've been to my share of conventions where dogs are just sort of
> everywhere. This is due in part to hotels choosing to make tables at
> banquets and luncheons rounds of 10 with chairs packed together so you
> can't
> really make room. <grin> Not good, but even when there are a lot of dogs,
> most hotel style chairs can accommodate a dog under them.
>
> Again, showing my "Old Fartedness", does it seem as if there is less
> stress
> being put on dog awareness than in past guide dog training? I realize it's
> not politically correct, or exactly helpful, to yell at people, play
> tricks
> on them, etc. during class, but I recall during my first several classes
> at
> 2 different schools, having the fear of Instructor put into me over where
> my
> dog was and what it was doing. Sometimes, the dog just disappeared. I have
> to say proudly that this never happened to me, but certainly I got my
> share
> of public and private admonishments to pay attention to my dog's
> whereabouts. This extended to how the dog was positioned under tables.
>
> When I first went to GDF back in 1990, we had a dining room setup that
> looked very much like one of those little country restaurants. There were
> tables that sat 4 people plus a seat on either end. The tables had the
> long
> braces at the bottom in an X shape so they crossed the space under
> everyone's feet. The chairs were those little wooden country seats with
> the
> bar underneath. This made getting a dog under the table extremely
> interesting. We had a system where people sitting diagonally across from
> each other brought their dogs to meals. As you can imagine, by about the
> third week, no one could remember whose turn it was to bring his/her dog
> to
> lunch and things could get ugly. <grin>
>
> One thing it did teach though was how to get a dog under a table like that
> and keep it there while another, equally uncomfortable dog was doing the
> same across the way.
>
> Now we have round tables that seat 4 regularly but can seat up to 6.
> Chairs
> allow for dogs to go under them easily, if not readily, and all dogs come
> to
> each meal.
>
> I've had 50 pound dogs and 80 pound dogs and both were able to fit
> reasonably under things. Some did so with a lot more grace than others.
> <grin> My current guy is big. He's tall and bulky but he can curl up under
> a
> chair fairly neatly.
>
> Even when going out with both of our dogs, my husband and I try extremely
> hard to keep them out of the aisles and walkways. They are both around 75
> pounds but his Golden is a bit lankier.
>
> Sorry for the rant here but Darlene's question sparked a topic I've been
> fussing over for ages.
>
>  Jenine Stanley
> Sorry, I don't have the authority to save the world today.
> jeninems at wowway.com
>
>
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