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

[Jenine Stanley]

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.