[nagdu] anticipating

Mon Aug 16 14:36:52 UTC 2010

Hope-

All of us intelligent, capable, Shepherd lovin' coffee drinkin' folks gotta
stick together! /smile/
Onward and upward!

Cathryn (& Abby)

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Hope Paulos
Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 10:44 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] anticipating

mine does the same thing. Only it's with Dunkin Doughnuts.  Gotta love those

smart shepherds.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cathryn Bonnette" <cathrynisfinally at verizon.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] anticipating

> All:
>
> According to one of my closest friends, I drink my body weight in coffee
> almost daily!
> Abby's trainer at Seeing Eye had clearly shown her the Star Bucks on our
> introductory route, and she faithfully turned left there every time we
> passed it- I know I was supposed to object, but how could I?/grin/
> Now, I have had the experience of getting out of a taxi in an unfamiliar
> area for the sole purpose of getting a coffee from a different Star Bucks 
> on
> my way elsewhere. No matter. Abby always finds the right door and gets me 
> up
> to the counter /lol/ That's my girl!
>
> Cathryn (& Abby)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Tamara Smith-Kinney
> Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 1:20 PM
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] anticipating
>
> AnnaLisa,
>
> Yeah, the mind reading is pretty cool, too.  How *did* she know?
>
> I am a coffee person, so no matter where I go, even a totally strange 
> mall,
> Mitzi will always know the location of the Starbucks.  And the restroom.
> /lol/  Clearly, she knows what's important!
>
> When I go through a new big store or mall or something like that just to
> practice my orientation and both of our guiding skills, if I manage to get
> myself completely turned around and start muttering, "Where are we, I
> wonder?" She will give a little tug on the harness to let me know she's
> ready to take the wheel.  I'm afraid I sometimes let her do that just to 
> see
> what she will do.
>
> She will take me to: a) the coffee shop or b) the restroom or c) the door 
> to
> outside.  She will always show me the dog aisle along the way.  /lol/ 
> Funny
> pup.  Usually, she will have shown me these things with the little head 
> and
> body turn and slight pause, so I can then orient to them once I get myself
> turned around.  Or even if I don't but just want to practice.
>
> She can always find DD, too, and finds it a fun reward after we've done 
> our
> random solos while he shops.
>
> I discovered recently that she knows the meaning of "wrangle a human" and
> will in fact do so.  She will also point out a cash register or customer
> service desk.  Last night after dinner, Mitzi and I led the way out of the
> restaurant, because I still want to practice and reinforce doing that
> without checking out anybody's dinner or stopping to make new best friends
> to all the people who make goo goo eyes at her and...  I've lost a big
> enough whack of vision lately that I need to her to be more on target.
> Also, I'm now less likely to get caught up in the same distractions, since

> I
> can no longer really see them.  Whew!  I swear, I'm worse than she is that
> way sometimes.  /smile/
>
> Anyway, there we went, like we know what we're doing, around the dorner to
> the door...  We go to that restaurant down the stree often enough that I
> pretty much knew where we were and was confused by her sudden stop and 
> turn
> away from the door.  Huh?  Was I lost? What was going on? A woman laughed
> indulgently somewhere, echoed by DD's chuckle.  Very baffling.
>
> So I asked DD if the door wasn't on my left and he told me it was, so I
> repeated find the door and out we went, while he stayed behind to pay the
> bill...  Standing in the exact spot she had taken me to so that I could 
> stop
> and pay before leaving the restaurant.  She is a strange and funny dog.
>
> What I want to know is how she can distinguish a store employee from a
> customer when it's time for us to wrangle a human?  It's happened a couple
> of times now, and she actually seems to be catching their eye to draw them
> over to give some assistance.  Well, twice is a coincidence.  If she does 
> it
> a few more times, I'm going to really start to wonder...
>
> Anyway, it never hurts to know where Starbucks is because you always know
> where you are then, whether you drink coffee or not.  /grin/
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of AnnaLisa Anderson
> Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 6:02 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] anticipating
>
> Hi Julie and all,
>
> I think based on what everyone has said so far, anticipating from our dogs
> is a skill we all very much appreciate.  Sunny is very good about
> remembering places we go often and slightly turning as if to inquire if
> that's the way I want to go, but if I tell her no, not now and good girl,
> she will move on.  My previous dog Megan could be very stubborn about 
> that,
> especially if it was when we went a certain way almost all the time, then 
> I
> decided to change the routine and go a different way this once.  She would
> plant her feet and refuse to move without some very firm coaching.  So we
> got into some rather serious "debates" as Margo put it, on a few 
> occasions.
> <smile>
>
> When Sunny was in training, there was a Starbucks that the trainers would 
> go
> to all the time.  So when I got home, Sunny always wanted to stop at any
> coffee shop we passed.  It took her a while to realize I'm not a coffee
> person at all, so we rarely go in a coffee shop unless I'm going to get 
> hot
> chocolate or something.  But what's really funny is how they can seemingly
> read your mind at times.  Sometimes I just think about stopping somewhere,
> where we usually don't stop, and Sunny will turn her head that way as if 
> she
> somehow knows I was thinking about maybe stopping there, even though I 
> said
> nothing aloud to her.
>
> AnnaLisa and Sundance
>
>
>
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