[nagdu] Dogs misbehaving in Public

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Julie,

I like the way you explain it.  It's a matter of courtesy and being
responsible for our dogs' behaviors.  It came up more for me with Mitzi when
she was younger because I was stsill doing training in early sittings in
restaurants, which mostly involved dealing with all the added distractions
in there.  /smile/  So I was prepared to take her out if it got the best of
her.  Mostly it was smooth sailing because she really was ready, and I was
able to just do a lot of nagging and clicking and all to keep the wiggles in
bounds.  /smile/  And the nose when walking through.  I still can get too
uptight worrying about the nose in restaurants, because I think it's habit.
She's really good now, so things go better if I let her do her job and just
use the halti to keep track.  People making goo goo eyes at her and inviting
her to their tables along the way do not help!  Since I have no idea what's
going on there, I don't know how to interpret the cues I'm getting from her,
so...  I end up arriving at our table feeling fairly ruffled!  When we go
out during off hours where there aren't tons of people to go all ga-ga over
her ultimate adorableness, things seem to be so very easy.  /grin/

She now just goes under and stays in bounds and is quiet and professional,
and she is really getting good at ignoring people distractions.  Whew!  Now
I just need to cope with having a grown up experienced professional as a
guide. /lol/  For the past year or so, when we mess up it is always handler
error.  Those are getting smaller and less frequent, but I still manage
every now and then to make life more challenging for the two of us.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Julie J
Sent: Sunday, August 01, 2010 7:43 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Dogs misbehaving in Public

I'm still catching up, please forgive the lateness.

I don't see removing a misbehaving dog from a public place as having much of

anything to do with training.   I mean I can see how you could rework or do 
some training to fix the problem.  Mostly I view removing the dog as a 
responsibility of courtesy to the other patrons.  The law states that we can

be asked to remove our service animals if they disrupt the normal flow of 
business.  I think we should be proactive by removing the dog before it gets

to the point of being asked to leave.

Of course there is a huge gray area between what we might perceive as 
misbehaving and what is really disrupting the normal flow of business. 
Example, recently I went out to eat with family.  On the way to our table 
there was a service dog, I hope, standing in the middle of the aisle.  I'm 
not even sure the handler noticed.  Anyway we had to wait until the dog 
moved a bit so we could get by.  Me personally, would not allow my dog to 
stand in the aisle like that. However, is it an offense worthy of being 
asked to leave over?  I don't think so.

Anyway I'm not sure any of this has any sort of point.  I'm rambling and 
I'll stop. *smile*

Julie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Meghan Whalen" <mewhalen at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 9:17 AM
Subject: [nagdu] Dogs misbehaving in Public


>I am currently raising a guide dog puppy.  He is about four and a half 
>months old, and he needs to learn.  He is wearing a vest that says "guide 
>dog in training".  Since he is in training, I think folks expect him to be 
>learning.  His only disgression is occasionally barking when he sees other 
>dogs.  I met a friend at a restaurant a couple of weeks ago.  She also has 
>a dog.  He barked when he saw her guide, was corrected and taken from the 
>restaurant.  We reentered, he did not bark when he saw my friend's guide, 
>and we sat down.
>
> Removing a badly behaving dog from a situation does not solve the problem,

> unless you're going to promptly readdress it.  My puppy has downgraded his

> barks when he sees other dogs to quiet little huffs under his breath most 
> of the time.  I think that in a matter of weeks, he'll no longer react to 
> other dogs.
>
> The reason for reentering the restaurant was that he could demonstrate to 
> me if he knew what he had done wrong, and he certainly did.
>
> What I got from the new service animal laws recently posted here is that a

> service animal can be told to be removed by its handler if the handler 
> does not appear to be correcting the bad behavior, not that they can tell 
> the team to leave the moment the dog does something wrong.
>
> I understand that my puppy in training is not a finished working dog, but 
> at least in Wisconsin, he has access rights, and it is my responsibility 
> to correct and shape the appropriate behavior.
>
> Hope my rambling makes some sense.  Take care all.
>
> Meghan
>
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