[nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time to
Sherri
flmom2006 at gmail.com
Mon Mar 9 00:28:57 UTC 2009
My first dog Sharna was really great at the "follow" command. My X used to
say that she was not a Leader Dog, but a "follower dog".
----- Original Message -----
From: "Merry Schoch" <merrys at verizon.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 7:20 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time
to
> Hi Mardi,
>
> I loved to use "follow" especially when travelling in a crowded mall.
> With my first guide, my daughter was 12 years old. We would head to the
> mall and I would have her zig zag and then make suddens stops. We did
> this when the mall was not crowded, and also did it in a tasteful manner.
> It was fun time for the three of us. Also with this dog I would tell him
> to sit if anyone came to pet him, depending on where I was, if they
> continued I would either put him in a down or while he was in the sit I
> would remove their hand and place mine on the top of his head. If I had
> to put him in a sit or down, I would always say "No, sit/down". Usually,
> the person would apologize because they did like seeing the dog get
> corrected or told no; however, there are always those who "push the
> envelope". Anyway, I was doing a walkathon one year for the guide dog
> school and I was in the hotel's lobby. One of the staff people stated to
> me that someone was approaching my dog and he backed away from them. He
> was quite amazed to see the dog do this. I beamed with pride.
>
> Marion's dog is like your Nala, she just turns her head and could care
> less if anyone is petting her. Due to this, he is more apt to let someone
> in public giver her a pat on the head; however, whenever I had a guide
> with me he would not do this because I don't let my dog get attention
> while working. Marion has this woman at his church who "pushes the
> envelope". In the past, I have taken my old retired dog to his church (in
> harness) to get him out and let him work a bit. Well, Marion would let
> her pet Louiza and I would not let her pet Sydney. Last week he was at
> church, he had the harness off the dog, and the woman came up and
> unleashed his dog. He asked her why she did that, and she said she wanted
> to pet her. I would have lost my mind if she had done that, but Marion
> stayed calm and cool. Hopefully, before the next national convention I'll
> have another guide and Marion will have to be on his best behavior when we
> work our dogs together (smile)!
>
> Merry
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Mardi Hadfield" <wolfsinger.lakota at gmail.com>
> To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 3:33 AM
> Subject: [nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time to
>
>
>> Hi every one, I have been so busy these past few days, that I have not
>> had
>> time to read or post. Now that I have caught up on the reading, I am
>> going
>> to attempt to catch up on my posting. I have always trained my dogs to
>> find
>> and to follow. I have found it to be very helpful.I also have noticed
>> that
>> when people pet Nala when she is in harness, She will turn her head away
>> from them,as if she were tying to tell them to leave her alone,as she is
>> working. People always want to pet the cute snow dog. I wonder if people
>> will be so quick to pet Shaman, or will they refrain from petting him him
>> because he is a large shepherd,who looks like he could remove a hand or
>> two.
>> It will be interesting to see if there is any difference. When I go into
>> a
>> restaurant, I try to sit away from other people so no one will bother my
>> dog. There have been times when this was not possible and I ended up
>> sitting
>> next to kids who felt it their mission was to feed my dog french fries,
>> which thankfully, she refuses,as I have taught her never to take food
>> from
>> any one but me. I don't know which school it is but they have the rare
>> black and tan labs. I think they are very beautiful, and would not mind
>> having one of them. I like the black labs ,more than the yellow or
>> chocolate
>> ones. I don't think they are different in temperament, it's just my color
>> preference. However if I needed a dog and they were the only ones
>> available,
>> I would be happy to have any dog that could do the job.I am wondering why
>> non of the schools have tried the curly coated retrievers. They have a
>> curly
>> coat that never needs trimming and they are retrievers. I would think
>> they
>> would have a similar temperament as a lab.I also wonder why the school
>> that
>> train for wheelchair users haven't tried some huskies. I know for a fact
>> that they are very trainable and always want to work and don't know what
>> the
>> word tired means. They do mellow out with age, but still have enough
>> energy
>> to work all day and then some,with out being hyper. They always have that
>> happy go lucky attitude and are never grouchy. They have a great sense of
>> self preservation, which makes them good in traffic. They are very
>> capable
>> of thinking for them selves, and while I realize that they are not for
>> every
>> one, they do make excellent guides. I would have preferred to get another
>> husky, but I just could not find one the right age. They were either too
>> young or too old.The two husky crosses, I tried just did not work out. I
>> have reservations that Shaman will have the same energy level that my
>> huskies have , and wonder if he will be able to keep up with me. I guess
>> time will tell. Have a great day, Mardi and Nala, semi-retired and
>> Shaman, gdit
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>
>
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