[nagdu] Haas anyone ever gotten lost in their own yard?

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Allison,

Oh, heck yeah!  The back yard, the house, the dog park, some strange yard
with a wrought iron fence around it I didn't even know how I got into
believing I was on the sidewalk...  /lol/  I characterize myself as a
non-panicker, but I have caught myself doing some pretty ridiculous,
panicky things like what you describe before I get it under control and
regain enough of my senses to get back on track.  I always have to giggle at
myself because I find it so scary to be lost when I can't see.  OMG!  The
horror!  When two seconds ago, I couldn't see, either, and that was just
fine.  I really do giggle out loud, which makes feel even stupider, which
makes it seem even more ridiculous, so I giggle...  Apparently, that's the
point at which most people would sensibly burst into tears from the
frustration, if from nothing else.  But me, I giggle.

I did once spend about an hour lost at the dog park, wondering why Mitzi
wasn't doing "find the gate" on leash.  Only I finally realized that she was
finding every gate all the way around several times over, only I thought I
was facing a different direction and in another part of the park, so I
didn't recognize the gate she was showing  me....  /lol/

The funniest part is that I always feel real embarrassed when I'm lost and
being stupid because I'm all in a dither.  OMG!  What if one of my friends
is just watching me doing all this and being nutty and giggling at myself
for being stupid and muttering to my dog...  How could I ever live it down?

Well, that time at the park, guess what?  One of my friends was watching the
entire time.  "I figured you wanted to figure it out for yourself," he told
me later.  "Took you long enough," he added wryly.  Was my face ever red
over that one!

I'm glad you could laugh at yourself the next day.  It's so scary at the
time!  But then you look back from the victory of having made it out of the
abyss and back to familiar ground and realize that the real problem was your
own imagination....

Also, as others have mentioned, some formal practice at leash guiding can
come in real handy.  I heard of that one after I had started using it out of
necessity, then I did some formal work on it -- which means we now have two
styles of leash guiding.  Also, a jingle guide and a squeak guide...  Just
don't ask.  My poodle is a complicated little lady, and my own sense of
adventure tends to far outweight my actual sense, so we've come up with
some, er, inventively adaptive techniques for exploring the great outdoors
together.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Allison Nastoff
Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 7:08 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] Haas anyone ever gotten lost in their own yard?

Hi List,
I had a rather frightening experience last night.  I was 
wondering if a similar experience has ever happened to any of 
you, or am I the most directionally challenged person in the 
history of humankind (grin).
Usually, I can brag that Gilbert is a perfectly behaved dog.  He 
always obeys me, and when I take him out to relieve, I take him 
to his designated spot just off the porch in the grass, he does 
his business efficiently, and we go back into the house without 
incident.  But every once in a while, and it seems to be when 
snow has just melted, and there are all kinds of new currious 
scents, he will get so preoccupied with sniffing that he leads me 
far past his relieving area, and I get lost.  It has only 
happened twice, but last night was the most frightening because 
it was midnight and I was completely alone.  On top of that, I 
forgot to put my cell phone in my coat pocket, and I didn't even 
bring his harness so he could work me home if I got lost.  Living 
in the same house for 18 of my 19 years, you would think I should 
know the way around my own yard right?
Anyway, I live in a rural suburban area with no sidewalks and a 
two acre yard.  I took Gilbert into the grass, and he peed like 
he was supposed to, but then he started walking and sniffing.  At 
first, I thought he was just sniffing out the perfect spot to 
poop, but after awhile when we started getting farther and 
farther from the house, I realized he was sniffing out of 
naughtiness, not looking for a place to poop.  I gave him a 
correction and tried to tell him firmly, "let's go home.  The 
trainer did recommend that I have Gilbert on a long leash when he 
relieves, but I prefer short leash because on long leash, it is 
harder to tell when he is squatting to poop, and harder to find 
it when he is done.
I turned in what I thought was the direction of my house, and 
used an old trick I figured out when I used to get myself off the 
school bus and walk up the driveway.  I slapped my right leg with 
my hand, and the sound echoes off the house, thus leading me in 
the right direction.  What I didn't realize until last night 
though is that this echoe can also bounce off trees, so before I 
knew it, I was walking into a clump of trees.
A huge weakness of mine is that I am a panicker, so when I 
realized that I had walked into a clump of trees, of course I 
panicked.  I ran in circles trying to pick up an echoe, and when 
I did hear one and follow it, I only went deeper into the trees.  
I tried shouting for help but no one heard me.  I tried waving my 
arms, but there was nobody outside, and even if there had been, I 
now realize they probaly wouldn't have been able to see me from 
where I was anyway.  I don't know how long I wandered in panick, 
but finally rational thinking did set in.  I realized that I 
could either camp out there all night, or calm down and retrace 
my steps.  I knew I was capable of the latter.  I told Gilbert to 
sit, took deep breaths, and realized that I could hear cars.  If 
I followed the sound of the distant cars, I would end up back at 
my driveway.  I turned around, ducked through the tree branches 
and followed the cars.  When I slapped my leg again, I heard the 
familiar echoe, and this time the echoe led me the right way.  I 
have never been so overjoyed to feel blacktop under my feet!
Last night during the ordeal, I was on the verge of tears, but 
since all ended well, I can now reflect back and laugh.  If I 
made it home alive in the worst possible circumstances, getting 
lost on my college campus will be a piece of cake now.  And I 
also learned why cell phones were invented (grin).
Allison and Gilbert

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