[nagdu] Guide work and hiking

[Lora]

Where did yo get bogart? From which school? Kori is horrible at coming
when called. I would never let him off leash in the wilderness.

On 8/16/10, Gary <rainshadowmusic at shaw.ca> wrote:
> Hello Laura:
>
> Thanks for sharing your experience. I know that sometimes we have things to
> work out with our dogs but they usually have things they do really good at.
>
> Bogart, who I've had at home since June, is doing pretty good. One of the
> neatest things we did was go on several hikes during our holidays. It was
> our chance to see how he was off leash in an area with a fair bit of wild
> life and challenging terrain. So our first hike was about 4 kilometers of
> fairly rugged terrain. In poodle style, he never went very far ahead and
> always came back to walk by Susan. He would always come back and check on me
> as well, or wait for me to catch up. Seemed to handl the terrain pretty well
> although a few times he wanted to see susan go down the rocky steep path to
> show that this was the way we really wanted to go.
>
> The next day was about 7 km of pretty flat walking on dyke paths and such by
> the ocean where it meets the mountains. The third day of our holidays we
> planned a four lake walk. This is about 7 km with a good bit of climbing.
> Since dogs have to be on leash in this area we thought we would see how
> Bogart would guide on such a trail. So he was in harness and I used a
> trekking pole in my right hand to help with balance and identify issues like
> I would with a cane. He did great. For most of the hike we were actually
> leadinng. Susan would have to get us to move over left or right when she
> wasn't sure that bogart would leave enough room for me when there were drop
> offs but besides that it was great. It was so neat to be leading the walks
> to the point where I had to let susan go in front because she wanted to go a
> bit slower as we got towards the end of the hike. I will have to look at
> getting one of those sports harnesses I've read about on here since I worry
> about the leather one being heavy and possibly chaiffing him. If the fellow
> who makes those harnesses monitors the list please feel free to contact me
> off list to tell me about your products.
>
> Anyway, as a new guide dog user I do experience moments of frustration where
> I miss my cane but then there are other times that the dog totally amazes me
> with his abilities. Certainly adds to our life now that bogart is part of
> it.
>
> Gary
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Lora
> Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 9:13 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: [nagdu] Guide work and hiking
>
> Hello everyone
> I wanted to share something positive about Kori so you didn't think
> that my whole guide dog experience is bad. :) I went hiking yesterday
> in a conplex terrain area. There were lots of rocks and sticks etc.
> Kori did amazingly. If there wasn't a way he could get around the
> rocks he would stop and then proceed slowly. There was one section
> where he couldn't go around all the rocks. He stopped and after a
> little encouragement procedded very slowly stopping at larger rocks.
> We curved alot back and forth on the path created by other animals and
> humans (ie not paved) and he took the path of least resistance. It was
> alot ot ask for since there wasn't really a clear path and we've only
> been home for two months. I am very proud of my boy. :)
> --
> Lora
>
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-- 
Lora