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

Sun May 31 11:20:09 UTC 2009

Hi Jenine,

With my first guide, Vizsla, was allowed on the bed and furniture 
immediately.  Actually, he slept on my bed while in training, but it was 
"top secret".  My second dog was allowed the same except we trained at home 
so no big deal.  When Marion and I were married, 2nd dog not with me 
anymore, the Vizsla slept on a mattress next to my side of the bed. 
However, he would sneak up in the middle of the night.

Both dogs were a hoot when at hotels.  If there were two beds, they would 
get so excited to be there and jump back and forth from each bed.  I never 
had an issue with either sleeping on the beds (both short hair).  With all 
that said, Marion and I have discussed that when we get our new guides 
things will be different.  No dogs on the furniture or the beds.  We are 
going to get new furniture and we just don't want the dogs sleeping with us. 
When I was single and the furniture was not that great, it wasn't a big 
deal.  Things change, so now we will change.

I will say, being that my daughter was a puppyraiser and even though Syd was 
allowed on the furniture, the pup was not.  I have seen puppyraisers let 
their pups on the furniture and that frustrates me because if the handler 
does not want it than they will have problems with the dog.

I am glad when I attend school for my first guide that I was told these 
rules as well as some scenarios to go with them.  They made sense to me.  I 
still do not allow anyone to pet my dog while in harness.  Marion has no 
problem letting someone pet his dog since she could care less whether 
someone is touching her.  I am sure with a new dog, Marion will not allow 
any petting until he has determined his dogs personality

I think the best thing to do is to determine what works best for handler and 
dog.  As long as the dog works and behaves well.  As a puppyraiser, I know 
the hard work that goes into conditioning the little ones and to see a well 
behaved dog turned into one that is embarrassing is heartbreaking to the 
raiser.

JMHO,
Merry

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jenine Stanley" <jeninems at wowway.com>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 30, 2009 7:42 PM
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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