[nagdu] Do's and Don't's

Pickrell, Rebecca M (IS) REBECCA.PICKRELL at ngc.com
Wed Jun 17 20:08:44 UTC 2009


The below post is a good one. 
Do people knowingly break the rules nce they get home in that do they do
so knowing what will happen with an outo f cntrol and what that will
mean for their use of said dog? 
I ask because I can understand someone breaking rules in a creeping
fashion i.e. I'm sad tonight, it's cold, come on Fido, get up on the
bed, and not realize that over time that *may* affect the dog's work,
but what boggles my mind are people who break rules knowing full well
what will happen. Do they do that? If so, why? 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Jenine Stanley
Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 7:42 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Do's and Don't's

I'd like to address Tammy's point about the guide dog schools being so
strict and quoting a lot of rules at people. There's a reason we do
that.
It's like high school. There were a lot of rules for different
situations in high school and though the teachers knew that some kids
would just never break the rules, understood them and why they were
enforced, there were just as many kids who would disregard the rules at
every chance. 

I think most people who go to established guide dog schools, who are
mature adults and know how they want an animal to behave in their homes
and in public, listen to the lectures and admonishments and know that
they are not meant to view everyone as incapable. They are meant to
catch the folks who maybe don't have dog experience, having never owned
a pet dog or in some cases never even been around dogs much, or the
people who think the rules don't apply to them anyway. 

The point about children is well taken too. Some people allow their
children a lot more freedom, or don't curb the tendencies to misbehave
and that's fine in one's own home, but if you've ever had a brat in your
house for a time, you'll become the strictest parent ever in your own
mind. <grin> 

Back to guide dogs and other service animals though. We have the rights
we do to work our dogs in public places because we have stated that the
dogs are well behaved, not disruptive and under good control. Just as
some people don't want dogs on furniture in their homes, some hotels
don't want dogs on beds in their establishments. Other hotels provide
you with dog sheets to put on the bed if your dog is going to sleep
there. I often toss an old sheet into my suitcase, or did when I had a
dog who loved lying on the bed.
I wrote DOG SHEET all over it in permanent marker so the cleaning staff
will just leave it there. 

Given all of the things that can be on hotel sheets, blankets and
bedspreads, one would think a little dog fur shouldn't be a big deal.
There's more to it than that though. There are dog nails that can
scratch the spread. I was mortified one year when at a convention where
they used wood chips in the relief area. My dog, a big, long haired
Golden, had tracked in not only small bits of wood chips but other
things from the relief area. There he lay, on the bed. Yuck! That's when
I started bringing the dog sheet. <grin> 

I suppose guide dog work is kind of like driver's education class too in
that we tell you all the "correct" ways to do things and we all know
that once home, people will modify things to fit their own lifestyles. 

The sad calls come from people who knowingly tossed out the rules once
home but now have an uncontrollable dog on their hands. That's when some
school staff do get a bit paternalistic. <grin> 

Do some of us take our own notions of good conduct and rules beyond the
school level too seriously and stray into harsh criticism of others? Oh
sure. There are people who do that to other parents though. We all, or
at least most of us, do it to pet owners when we see some of the
boneheaded things they do and allow their dogs to do. 

As for the rules around our house with 2 dogs, I'm fine with beds but it
has to be at my invitation, not the dog's will. I will not abide
jumping, on me or other people. My husband's dog is really bad about
this one too, not so much jumping but getting totally out of control and
fetching everything that isn't tied down. I love that dog but gees.
<grin> 

I also don't like my dogs to go crazy when seeing people they know. They
can get happy, wag and such but the totally out of control displays are
not allowed. This does translate in public into a dog who can usually
stay calm when someone comes up to us. 

Oh, and don't think that just because I work for a guide dog school, I
do everything by the book perfect. <grin> I break all kinds of rules
myself, none of which I can think of at the moment, but trust me, I do.
<grin> 

Will you bring down the saintly name of guide dogs if you allow your dog
on a hotel bed? Of course not, but the next handler who comes in there
gets to hear all about the last guide dog and how terrible it was, even
if the infraction is minor. I don't subscribe to the principle that my
actions represent and thus affect every single person using a guide dog,
but sadly they often do whether I like it or not. People will compare us
to each other and frankly, if I put in the time to have my dog maintain
good house and working behavior, I really resent being compared to
someone who has other views and actions. 

Just my own thoughts though, nothing more.


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