[nagdu] dog guides and snow

Tue Jan 6 17:16:34 UTC 2009

that's pretty much what I do too but I rarely will go into the street 
because it is a very busy highway but there is always a path where others 
have walked.  Its not wide enough for both of us so I do the same as Tracy 
where I have to.  When it comes to the curb or the corner and there is a 
snow bank, well we have to go over it.  It has always taken a little bit of 
training with each of my dogs to let them know that is what I wanted to do 
but they have always picked it up quickly.  Most of the time the problem is 
more of ice on the walk and we go around that if possible if not I slide  my 
feet across it rather than try to walk normally, works much better! 
Yesterday we hit a patch of ice all across the walk and I fell, Brewster 
just stood there and I thought he was laughing at me!  Coming home later he 
very certainly took me around it until we were past it and then went back to 
the walk.  There have been times when we have both fallen then I am laughing 
at him! He has four feet after all.
Lora it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to use your cane and show your dog 
what you want to do. because she is trained to avoid obstacles and she sees 
the snow bank as an obstacle, so you need to show her its OK to go over it.
Julie Phillipson
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 9:15 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] dog guides and snow

> Julie J, that is pretty much what I do, too, and for the same reasons.  I
> only walk in the street if the sidewalk is really icy, and then as little
> as possible.
> If the walk is only half-shovelled one person wide, I let my dog go out a
> bit in front of me.  It's a little awkward, but not so awkward as trying
> to walk where the snow is piled up from shovelling.
> Tracy
>
>> Lora,
>>
>> I'm not sure how other teams handle snow.  I'll explain how my last guide
>> and I managed it.  I owner train though and might be the exception rather
>> than the norm.
>>
>> We just trudge through where the sidewalk should be.  I'm not sure if she
>> could see a difference in how the snow lies, like if there's some ridge 
>> or
>> impression that she is following or what.  Or she might have visually
>> targeted the street corner where we want to end up.   I'm not sure how 
>> she
>> managed to keep her line, but she did it reliably.
>>
>> I'm not comfortable walking in the street when there are snow piles along
>> the curb.  I can never tell exactly how far out in the street we are. 
>> And
>> I
>> definitely don't like walking in the street when it's busy.  I don't mind
>> going into the street for a small bit and then back up onto the sidewalk
>> and
>> I don't mind walking along the curb when there is no sidewalk.  Around
>> here
>> all the sidewalkless streets are pretty wide though.
>>
>> Anyway I prefer the trudge straight through method.  So far it has worked
>> for me. Fortunately people are fairly decent about shoveling, so it's
>> usually only short stretches that we have to go through.
>>
>> HTH
>> Julie
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Lora and Myrtle" <blindhistory at gmail.com>
>> To: <guidedog-friends at yahoogroups.com>; "NAGDU Mailing List,the National
>> Association of Guide Dog Users" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Monday, January 05, 2009 4:44 PM
>> Subject: [nagdu] dog guides and snow
>>
>>
>>> What in the world are guide dogs supposed to do in the snow? My dog
>>> follows
>>> a fence if she can and if she can't she takes me out into the middle of
>>> the
>>> road where is has been plowed and follow the snow bank. If there is a
>>> sidewalk that she can see she follows it. My dog really doesn't know how
>>> to
>>> treat snow and neither do I. When I go back to school I can't have her
>>> in
>>> the middle of the road trying to follow the snowbank shoulder that is
>>> out
>>> far into the road. Is my dog doing the right thing?
>>>
>>> --
>>> Lora and Leader Dog Myrtle
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
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