[nagdu] Guide work and hiking

Tue Aug 17 18:01:36 UTC 2010

Hi Gary, I am Bob, and my wife and I are the owners of Pawpower Creations. 
You can check out our products at www.pawpowercreations.com.  The only 
harness that I do not yet have a description of on my site is the Laveau 
style which is named after Rox'E'S dog Laveau.  It is basically the same as 
the sport style, except that it has the stabilizer loops for the handle, and 
the clips are a bit farther forward which allows the handler to feel the 
movements of the dog much more.
It is rapidly becoming our most popular harness.  People say that you can 
feel everything the dog does through the handle.  Anyway, feel free to 
contact  me using any of the information in my signature, or the email links 
on my site.
And thank you Tami for the plug.
I hope everyone is doing well and that you and your furry friends are 
staying cool.  *smiles*

Best wishes from the Pawpower pack!
Bristol, Mill'E, Rudy, and Laveau

Pawpower Creations, Products designed with you and your Canine in mind
Bob Blackner/Rox'E Homstad
504-312-2609
pawpower at cox.net
www.pawpowercreations.com
Custom made guide dog harnesses, leashes, collars, and relieving harnesses.
Pawpower Creations is constantly growing and expanding as we strive to 
provide quality products for you and your canine companions. Soon we will be 
offering
herb classes taught by a certified Herbalist, dog training classes, a 
training tips section, and other useful information for a nominal charge.

We will also be selling hand crafted soaps, bath salts, and other fragrant 
products designed to relax the mind, cleanse the body, and soothe, calm and 
uplift
your spirit.

With eye upraised his master's look to scan,
The joy, the solace, and the aid of man:
The rich man's guardian and the poor man's friend,
The only creature faithful to the end.

George Crabbe

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2010 11:58 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Guide work and hiking

> Gary,
>
> You can order one of the harnesses through Pawpower Creations.  And I'm 
> sure
> by now, Rox or Bob has posted the link.  /smile/
>
> The sport harness is great for hiking!  It gives a whole lot of freedom of
> movement on uneven terrain while providing tons of communication both 
> ways.
> Also, I like the way it fits the poodle, since it doesn't interfere with 
> her
> shoulder action, and the intersection of the "Y" is down low enough to put
> the pressure on her sternum instead of her trachea...
>
> I did what you did with Bogart and just let Mitzi run wild run free on our
> first couple of hikes.  She was just a year old and ran and bounced
> everywhere, with that fun combination of whimsy and intense investigation.
> /smile/  That natural poodle yo-yo tendency makes letting her off leash to
> run and bounce and explore pretty relaxing and easy, because she runs out 
> so
> far and bounces back.  /smile/  Now that she's older, she's less airborn,
> but she still loves to run and explore, then check back, then run and
> explore.  Or go up ahead and "jingle guide" or even "squeak guide" if she
> has her ball with her.  One of the trails where we sometimes do that is
> familiar enough that she knows exactly where to dash across the trail in
> front of me and squeak the ball as she crosses so I remember to turn and
> don't walk off the thing and get lost.  Very funny.
>
> She is also a *very* good guide on hikes and likes to take the lead!  This
> was scary at first and I really had to concentrate to buck up my 
> confidence
> in her because I wasn't too sure about what would happen on those narrow,
> twisty spots with drop-offs.  I would usually have a sighted friend 
> huffing
> along behind us who would let us know we were coming to one by calling
> frantically about how I was going to die...  /smile/  Or just calling to 
> me
> calmly to stop and let them go ahead for a ways.
>
> Now it's old hat, and she does very well, and I can just hike along with 
> her
> in harness and chat or daydream or take in the smells and what nature 
> scenes
> I still see.  It is very cool.
>
> My cane did drag me off the trail this one time into a tree...  /lol/ 
> Long
> story, and since we were in deep shade after coming out of the sun, I was
> completely lost when my cane caught some brush or something, then I 
> couldn't
> get it out at first.  Mitzi was scouting ahead off leash, and my friend, 
> who
> was still awaiting her guide, is deafblind so just kept going without me,
> and since I was distracted and pretty much totally blind in that light, I
> didn't see or hear where she went...  Anyway, I finally decided to call 
> Mitz
> instead of whispering my mostly deaf friends' name -- why that clever move
> came to mind first, I have no idea -- so Mitzi heard me and doubled back,
> picking up my friend along the way so we were all reunited safe and sound
> and had some fun making up jokes on me about the tree that grabbed me...
> /lol/
>
> Yup!  Hiking with poodles is way fun.  Gotta say my friend's GSD was a 
> good
> hiking guide from the time she got home almost.  It was pretty fun the 
> time
> we went hiking right after she got her dog so that I could see them 
> learning
> together.  I will admit, it was also nice for a change to be the old hand
> with the guide dog.  /grin/
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Gary
> Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 10:25 AM
> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Guide work and hiking
>
> 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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