[nagdu] Guide work and hiking

Tue Aug 17 19:57:01 UTC 2010

Gary,

Yup!  Bogart's a poodle!  /grin/  Mitzi also regards the Halti as a medieval
torture device.  /lol/  I doesn't help that I can't laughing at the sheer
melodrama of it all.  She has been known to get in a mood and pull on the
Halti like a Clydesdale or something.  Stubborn little twit!

The past three years of seeing her grow mentally by leaps and bounds has
been fun, even while I constantly delude myself that this is it and now
she's grown up oh please let her be grown up for a change...  /lol/  Now
that the gtrowth curve is starting to flatten out, I try to remember to
treasure every improvement I see, knowing I will miss that part, then forget
the trauma to me all the rest of the time and start saving money to have
Mitzi cloned so I can put myself through it all again.  /lol/  Kidding!
Mostly.  I'm a sci-fi nut after all, so I really do find myself considering
cloning when I review my list of considerations for a few years down the
road.  I have caught my mind pulling out the list and scratching that one
off when I'm having an "anything but another poodle" moment.  /lol/  even
those are getting pretty few and far between.  Oh, but I'll always have the
memories...  /grin/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of GARY STEEVES
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 4:48 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Guide work and hiking

HiTamara:

Ah, your posts about maturity give me reason for hope.  chcuckle. Actually,
Bogart  has really improved just in the past 2.5 months. My girlfriend was
complimenting me on how good my work has been with him. She seriously
wondered if he had what was needed to be a guide dog when we first got home.
He is already mellowing. Now just have to work on his biggest flaw which is
heeling on leash or harness with sighted guide. Got sick of batttling with
him in the town yesterday and pulled out the  halty. Now that is how a dog
should feel on my leash, basically me not feeling him on my leash. He does
make one think that I have almost killed him by using the halty and when I
take it off he must show how horrible it has been by rubbing his nose on
everything, well usually everybody, in sight. :)

I will hope for the day I can sit in a restaurant and not be worrying about
what my dog is doing. We actually go out for dinner in the hood from time to
time without Bogart so I am part of the conversation and not focused on my
silly dog. :)

fingers crossed.

Gary

----- Original Message -----
From: Tamara Smith-Kinney <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
Date: Monday, August 16, 2010 4:40 pm
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Guide work and hiking
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'"
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>

> Lora,
> 
> Now *that* is what it's all about!  /smile/  Then they 
> learn how to do all
> that tricky hiking terrain stuff, and you learn how to follow 
> them, and
> that's when you start to have *real* fun.  /smile/
> 
> I love hiking with my girl, too.  I also love the fact that 
> she has
> somewhere along the line turned into a young lady who go out in 
> the wood and
> get down and dirty, then tidy up a bit for an evening of 
> downtown elegance
> with her fine etiquette and comportment.  /smile/  I 
> spent a long, long time
> wondering if she would ever settle down enough to have the 
> manners she would
> need to be a fully realized guide dog...  And now I can eat 
> an entire
> restaurant meal -- *and* dessert -- without suddenly panicky 
> when I realize
> nothing is pulling on the leash tied around my leg.  
> /lol/  In fact, last
> time I noticed and paused, my first thought was that, of course, 
> she was
> just resting while I ate and chatted.  So I gave her a pat 
> of praise,
> because sure enough that's what she was doing.  It took 
> awhile to get over
> the habit of thinking frantically, "OMG!  Where has she 
> gone, and what is
> she doing?"  /lol/  She never did do any of the crimes 
> I would imagine in my
> worst fear, or even just wander off in a restaurant or grocery 
> store or...
> She sure wan't a big fan of lying quietly without trying to 
> stick her nose
> in stuff, though.  /grin/
> 
> See?  They do learn and grow up!
> 
> Tami Smith-Kinney
> 
> -----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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