[nagdu] Tall vs Short dogs / and the color of Belgians

[lindagwizdak at peoplepc.com]

Mardi,
Shaman sounds like a great dog - hope he works out as a guide for you.  I've 
never seen the light color Tervurans.  I had a childhood friend I saw later 
as an adult and she had a Tervuran as a guide from Seeing Eye. Yeah, they're 
good looking dogs!

Good luck and happy training (grin!)

Regards,

Linda and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mardi Hadfield" <wolfsinger.lakota at gmail.com>
To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 2:20 PM
Subject: [nagdu] Tall vs Short dogs / and the color of Belgians


> Hi every one,  My current guide, Nala is just 23 inches and I have had no
> problems with balance as I am sitting in a wheelchair,and balance is not 
> an
> issue. However, I have noticed that when trying out several dogs,as 
> possible
> guide candidates, the smaller ones felt like they pulling down as well as
> forward. I think some one mentioned that in an earlier post here? When I
> tried out Tokala,who is only about 20 inches, My hand was being pulled 
> down
> as well as forward and her little legs could not keep up with the pace of
> the wheelchair for any length of time. I did teach her to guide me around 
> my
> yard,just to give her a job, so she would not be so destructive and that 
> has
> helped. I definitely could not use her as a regular guide as I feel she is
> too small for me. If I were walking , that might be different.  At this
> time,Shaman is 24 inches tall, but he is a young dog so he might grow a
> little taller. Wanagi is 24 inches tall and when I started working her in
> harness, I felt more comfortable as my hand was only being pulled forward
> and not down. With Nala , it is slightly down and forward, but not as
> uncomfortable as when I tried out smaller dogs. Lily was 23 and 1/2 
> inches,
> so I really did not notice much difference between her and Nala. I think 
> if
> I used a dog that was taller than 25 inches, I would not be as comfortable
> as my hand would would be puled up  as well as forward and that might 
> cause
> problems with my wrist. I also have a shoulder problem from using a manual
> wheelchair for many years that is affected by the height of my dog, and 
> the
> degree of pulling into the harness she does.        Ann , I thought the 
> same
> as you about the color of the Belgian Tervuren. I had only seen the black
> and tan ones and did not know there were any other colors. I had seen many
> of the black Belgian Sheep Dogs, and the fawn Belgian Maninois. Shaman is
> even lighter than a Malinois, but has the same black nose  and dark points
> on his ears and tail.  He has the long coat of the Tervuren. The Malinois 
> is
> a short coated dog. Shaman is the color of a very light golden retreiver,
> almost a gold/cream color.Evidently, the Tervuren also comes in a redish
> color, with the black points, as well as the black and tan and Shaman's
> color is pretty rare according to the breeder that told me what he was. 
> She
> also said that they darken with age so he may be darker when he  gets 
> older.
> Any way, I learned a lot more about the breed than I knew before and he is 
> a
> beautiful dog. We are working on obedience for now, as he has had no
> training at all. He has learned sit and down, but he is better at down 
> than
> sit. He likes to go for walks and runs with the wheelchair and keeps up 
> with
> me very well and stays in the proper position for guiding and this is very
> important with me. He also follows me from room to room in the house. He 
> has
> a very out going personality and gets along with all the dogs here and the
> cats. He likes people, but is not over friendly. When Nick or I speak to
> him, heturns his head  looks at us. Some of my other dogs ignore me. I 
> think
> he will be an easy dog to train as he wants to please me. He did learn sit
> and down in in 10 minutes, and is remembering it.  He is easily distracted
> though. PUPPY BRAIN!!.  I think he is younger than 1 year as he still has 
> a
> puppy coat. The breeder thought he was about 8 months . We will see what 
> the
> vet has to say tomorrow.  Have a great day,   Mardi and Nala,semi-retired
> and Shaman, gdit.
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