[nagdu] Surviving the dog days

Thu Nov 5 00:11:57 UTC 2009

A really nice article!
Thanks for sharing.
Susan & Rhoda

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Ginger Kutsch
Sent: Wednesday, November 04, 2009 4:02 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: [nagdu] Surviving the dog days

Source:
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/magazine/article/844610

Surviving the dog days
Published Tuesday November 3rd, 2009
Services: Woman tells tale of navigating streets of Toronto with precocious
new guide By Michelle McQuigge THE CANADIAN PRESS TORONTO - In less than a
minute, my new dog had jumped in my lap, licked my face and flopped on her
back in hopes of a tummy rub.
She gave me a thorough once-over with her nose, danced around in an ungainly
four-step and made an abortive attempt to visit with a passing dog.

Enlarge Photo The Canadian PressMichelle McQuigge walks with her
two-year-old Labrador retriever guide dog named Reva in Toronto.
In a prospective pet, such antics would steal even the most hardened heart.
But this was Reva, my new guide dog - the animal that was supposed to lead
me through the streets of Toronto, keeping me safe from oncoming traffic and
the city's surging crowds.

Reva's carefree, puppy-like antics filled me with shock and anxiety. I
dabbed at my eyes and wondered to myself - can this really work?

Each time she corkscrewed her head around to investigate a nearby noise, I
fought to suppress unfair comparisons to McClure, the dignified golden
retriever who had walked by my side for more than eight years and who had
retired just days before due to old age.

I felt sure that Reva, a two-year-old black lab, would never equal his skill
as a guide - or fill the emotional void he had left.

But over the next three weeks, as I underwent intensive training with my new
partner, I was forced to discard my gloomy predictions and accept the fact
that I had underestimated both her innate abilities and the school that had
shaped her into a first-rate guide and companion.

I ought to have had greater faith in The Seeing Eye, the organization in
Morristown, N.J., where Reva and I were matched.
North America's first guide dog school was founded in 1929, has evolved into
an industry leader and was responsible for my own first successful pairing.

Still, when I returned to the school for my latest round of training, my
doubts persisted.

I couldn't help but wonder if the two days at the beginning of class would
be enough time in which to accurately assess my optimal walking pace,
determine the amount of pull I could handle and analyze my personality. All
of these factors come into play when matching handlers and guide dogs, and I
entertained private doubts that such a swift process could result in a
second happy partnership.

Fortunately, Reva set to work dispelling my doubts on our very first
excursion.

The very sight of her specialized harness - which signals that she's on duty
- immediately transformed the aforementioned squirming puppy into a focused,
alert adult. Once it was slipped over her head, she ceased her sniffing and
shunned other dogs.
Only her tail maintained its perpetual motion as she shifted her attention
to the work she clearly loved to do.

In our first of many walks through the streets of downtown Morristown, Reva
executed flawless turns, stopped on a dime at every street corner, kept me
clear of all oncoming traffic and finessed her way through crowds without
allowing me to so much as graze my elbow.

She never got distracted by the constant verbal and physical praise I heaped
on her and managed to suppress all her playful instincts for the duration of
our trip.

Removing the harness was like flicking a switch. Reva's frisky nature came
back to the fore immediately, but by then she had earned the chance to play.

Over the next three weeks, we logged up to five kilometres a day during our
twice-daily excursions and deliberately worked through every possible
scenario a guide dog might encounter in a bustling urban environment.

Seeing Eye staff led us through busy streets and peaceful parks, shopping
malls and drug stores, taught us to take public transit and showed us how to
handle the challenges posed by escalators and revolving doors.

On one memorable day, Reva even braved the subways and streets of downtown
Manhattan where she wove through dense crowds and hectic traffic with
unruffled aplomb.

She did it all at a pace that reacquainted me with muscles I forgot I had
and with an enthusiasm that won me over faster than I thought possible.

Between outings, my fellow students and I attended a series of exhaustive
lectures designed to teach us more about our four-legged companions.
Instructors addressed a variety of topics including the way a dog's senses
work, common canine fears and how animals interpret commands.

By helping us to understand the way our dogs' minds worked, the staff gave
us the tools to continue the training begun at the school. We were
frequently reminded that guide dogs, while exceptional in many ways, are
still creatures that operate on instinct and would revert to undisciplined
behaviour if allowed to do so.

As one seasoned instructor put it, "these dogs are as good as you make them
and as bad as you let them be."

I remembered his words a month after returning to Toronto - a time during
which both Reva and I had been forced to adjust to a bewildering variety of
changes.

She showed great patience as I tried to get her acquainted with my familiar
haunts, which sometimes felt completely foreign to me as I adapted to her
different guiding style.

The challenge came not from navigating the streets of a bustling metropolis
like Toronto, but from learning to trust a whole new set of instincts.
Placing faith in an animal Seeing Eye says has the average intelligence of a
three-year-old human is inherently difficult, and the myriad distractions in
the hectic streets gave me ample opportunity to question both Reva's
judgment and my own.

It was hard, for instance, to determine whether she was swerving on a
sidewalk to avoid an oncoming baby carriage or to investigate an abandoned
pizza crust. But eventually it became abundantly clear that Reva was doing
nothing but rising to the occasion.

She put up with my repetitive efforts to get her comfortable on my common
routes and submitted cheerfully to the litany of rules I put in place to
help ease her adjustment to her new home.

Reva never flinched and scarcely seemed to pay attention; she simply sidled
closer to me and pressed her head against my knee.

Sure, she licked my hand when I reached down to pet her, but this time I
didn't mind. I knew it was going to work.

- Michelle McQuigge is a reporter-editor with The Canadian Press in Toronto

Ginger Bennett Kutsch
Morristown, NJ

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