[nagdu] : harness signs

[Peter Donahue]

Good morning everyone,

    These signs are damaging to us as they get in the way of direct 
interaction between the dog's owner and members of the public. If someone 
pats my dog I'd rather speak to them myself in the hopes of educating them 
in the proper protocols to observe when meeting a guide dog team rather than 
relying on a sign to do it for me. For that reason I do not use them.

Peter Donahue

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Audrey Farnum" <atfarnum at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 13, 2009 9:58 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] harness signs


I use a sign showing a hand petting a dog with the univvversal no
symbol over it.  The sign also reads "Please don't pet working dog".
I have found that it does help.  It won't stop everybody though.
There are still plenty of people who only see the dog and nothing else
or they just don't think the no petting applies to them.   I  am
always amazed by the people who approach me and say "I know I'm not
supposed to pet your dog but..." all while they are petting my dog.
Then I explain it to them and they say "Oh I know, but (insert lame
excuse here).  So ridiculous.  Anyway, I probably wouldn't bother with
the sign except that it is also a zipper pouch and very handy for
carrying things.  The sign does stop some people so it's not totally
worthless IMO.

On 9/13/09, Linda Gwizdak <linda.gwizdak at cox.net> wrote:
> Hi all,
> I used to use a harness sign with the picture of the hand and the
> international "NO" symbol on it that GDUI used to sell.  I've even made my
> own signs.
>
> I didn't find that it worked.  People see what they want to see and do 
> what
> they want to do regardless of any signs - look hpow they treat traffic
> signs!
>
> I just treat people like a distraction I have no control of like they were 
> a
> squirrel or something (grin!).
>
> Linda and Landon
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Wayne Merritt" <wcmerritt at gmail.com>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, September 11, 2009 8:19 PM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] harness signs
>
>
>>I had a sign when I used my first guide, a yellow Lab, and I'm not
>> sure it made all that much difference. Granted, I was using a yellow
>> Lab and people tended to be drawn to the dog anyway, but still. I was
>> constantly asking people, sometimes politely and other times not so
>> much, if they read/saw the sign. Some probably did, but most that I
>> asked directly said they didn't notice it, or thought it didn't apply
>> to them. A sign is a good idea, but I'm not sure it really makes that
>> much difference in the long run. I do agree that pictures tend to get
>> the point across better than fancy or cute wording though.
>>
>> Wayne
>>
>> On 9/11/09, Meghan Whalen <meghan at n-republic.net> wrote:
>>> The one I have has an image of a hand reaching to pet a dog's head, and
>>> then
>>> the universal crossout sign for "NO!"  I figure everyone understands
>>> pictures.  I've only had it for a couple of weeks so far, so I'm not 
>>> sure
>>> how great it is or isn't.  In the past I've had:
>>> Ignore me, I am a working guide dog
>>> Do not pet me, I am working
>>>
>>> People just thought it was cute and asked my dog if she wrote it 
>>> herself.
>>> This way, there's nothing cute about it.  It simply says, 'hands off, 
>>> I'm
>>> not yours for the petting.  Stop there.  Don't touch me. NO!"
>>>
>>> I like it.
>>>
>>> If I coudl have whatever I wanted, it might say:
>>> My friends call me Kujo
>>> I'm still hungry
>>> mmm...flesh...
>>>
>>> Honestly though.  I think images are better than words...think people
>>> process them faster.
>>>
>>> Meghan
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>> --
>> My blog:
>> http://wayneism.blogspot.com
>> My websites:
>> www.wayneism.com
>> www.whitecaneday.org
>>
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>
>
>
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