[nagdu] Welcome and Halti use

[Mardi Hadfield]

Hi every one,   Welcome  Doug and Lisa.Interesting to hear your input. I
live in Arizona. I have researched all of the guide dog schools that I have
found on the Internet, but I have never heard of Occupaws.  I suppose there
must be several small agencies that train guide dogs,but they are not widely
known out side there area.There is a school that trains service dogs and
guide dogs in Phoenix Arizona,called AZ Power Paws, but again they don't
train guide dogs for wheelchair users and I would have to go there and
stay.I tried to apply at the Eye Dog Foundation,hoping that they would train
a dog for me,but they are not training at all now and I don't know what will
become of that situation.Not being able to travel and be away for any time
and the fact that I am a wheelchair user,is the problem.I don't feel that it
is any harder to train a dog to guide from a wheelchair as I have trained
2,with the help of a trainer so far.  My trainer mainly trains search and
rescue dogs. I don't mind having to train my own dogs, but It is expensive
and time consuming, and finding the right dog to train has not been easy
this time around.But when all is said and done, my dogs are customized to my
needs, and if I have a problem, My trainer lives in the same town and is
just a phone call away. I just wish it was not so time consuming.  Nicole, a
Halti is a head colar.It is similar to a gentle leader except I prefer the
Halti as it is not tight around the dogs face. My dogs walk on a loose leash
and don't really need the halti, as it's main use is to prevent the dog from
pulling and it gives the handler more control of the dog by  controlling the
head rather than pulling on the dogs neck collar. I am deaf in my right
ear,and even though I can still hear, I can not tell what direction the
sound is coming from. By using the Halti, I can feel my dog move her head in
the direction of the sound of traffic, and that tells me where the sound is
comming from. It is easire to feel the leash in my hand move when the dog
moves her head with the halti than it is from just using a neck collar.To me
,it is a very important piece of my dogs equipment. Yes I do use a regular
guide dog harness,from LDS leather. I use a combination vest/harness on my
trainees,and when the dog is ready to train with a harness, I attach a
handle on it.I got the handle from Julie's  ON THE GO. The training
vest/harness has a patch on bothe sides that says ,Guide Dog In Trainging,
Do Not Pet. I like to give most of my dogs Lakota names,because I am half
Lakota, and I want to keep the language alive. Too many Native Americans are
no longer able to speak there own language, and the language of some tribes
has been  lost forever. It is a part of my heritage.  Have a great day,
Mardi and Nala,semi-retired, and Shaman, Gdit.