[nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time to

Mon Mar 9 04:41:29 UTC 2009

Ann,

We still have that problem, too.  Mitzi will start out well with the follow,
but if the person leading slows down for us (or is just naturally slow), her
boredom gets the best of her and she starts sniffing everything we go by
(with me muttering at her and nudging her nose back into line with the halti
all the way).  So she will try to go around the person.  In general, we
manage somewhat smoothly, but there's always the assistant who hovers around
trying to help you and checking back every step to make sure we haven't
gotten lost yet...  And worry so much about us, they inevitably
discombobulate themselves so we never end up finding what we were looking
for anyway.  /lol/

She automatically follows DD now, but he's a super slow walker (who insists
that Mitzi is a jet racer), so Mitzi will lose focus and run me into his
back...  I don't think any of us even notice anymore, we just sort of bounce
off each other and go on.  /lol/  When she's really bored, she starts doing
the halti rub against his leg, and I have to remind him not to scratch her
ears for it.  /smile/   

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Ann Chiappetta
Sent: Sunday, March 08, 2009 9:49 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time
to

Hi;
I'm a new handler and find it hard to walk and follow someone unless they 
are faster than me and my dog. If, for instance, the person is slow, Verona 
always tries to hup left around them. If I steady her, she paces to and fro 
as if to say, let's go!

So, when I'm with a slow walker who may need to provide directions, I will 
go ahead anyway &  stop and ask the other person who is now behind us  if I 
am doing okay.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nicole B. Torcolini" <ntorcolini at wavecable.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 11:43 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Things I wanted to discuss, but just didn't have time 
to

> It took Lexia a little while to get the hang of following people.  She did
> not always stop when they did, so, although zigzagging was not a problem, 
> we
> had to do walk then stop exercises with her to teach her not to bump into
> the person whom she was following.  On another note, when the person whom
> your dog is following is walking on the right side, have any of your dogs
> tried to go around the person because they try to track left?  Is the 
> track
> left training a standard for all of the schools?
>
> ----- 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 3:20 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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