[nagdu] a couple questions

[Julie J]

My point isn't about fleas or rabies.  It's about making judgments. 
Deciding who is worthy of having a guide dog smacks of Big Brother to me.

this deciding who should and who shouldn't have a guide dog is the same 
thing as judging one another's skills.  It isn't helpful and is usually 
hurtful.

I happen to be a fairly good traveler with either cane or dog.  My Braille 
skills are pitiful.  and if you want to see me break out in a cold sweat 
just ask me to make fried chicken. I'm okay with all of those things.  It is 
who I am.

I did attend an excellent training center.  I worked in blindness rehab and 
am still very involved with my state agency.  Back in the day I did have a 
much more stringent view of what blind people *should* and *shouldn't* do or 
be.  Yes, I looked down on and criticized blind people who went sighted 
guide all the time.  there was even a time that I thought guide dog use was 
a cop out.  I thought it perfectly reasonable that any blind person should 
be able to cook anything from the Julia Childs cookbook.  I was wrong, what 
can I say. Blind people are just people.

All I am saying is that I think we should live and let live.

Julie


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jordan Gallacher" <jgallacher1987 at gmail.com>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 8:19 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] a couple questions


> Actually, if you do things properly, you won't have those issues.  The 
> only
> reason you might is if you have a dog that has a lot of allergies like my
> first dog did.  Flea treatments lasted two weeks tops on him, and if you
> fail to notice problems like rabies or fleas you should take a hard look a
> if a dog is right for you.  Where I live is flea heaven most of the year,
> and with the exception of my first dog, which I did what my vet told me to
> do and resolved the flea issue, you will not have a flea problem is you do
> things correctly.  You have to prevent the problem from occurring in the
> first place.
> Jordan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Julie J
> Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 7:05 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] a couple questions
>
> *> Then they shouldn't have a dog because they aren't taking care of it. *
>
> This seems rather judgmental. Sometimes we can do everything that is
> possible for our dogs and still, stuff happens.  What if I stay in a pet
> friendly hotel the night before my flight to Hawaii and there are fleas in
> the room from a previous guest?  Am I a bad guide dog handler?  What if I
> live in a rural environment, Like I actually do, and I decide to take a 
> nice
>
> walk in the park that borders a creek and wildlife area.  What if during
> that walk I have an encounter with an animal that has rabies?  See the 
> thing
>
> about animals with rabies is that they don't act normal.  You can't
> anticipate what in the world they are going to do.  Would this freak
> accident make me a bad guide dog handler?
>
> Sure some folks with guide dogs don't take care of them in a way that I
> would consider appropriate, but who am I to judge?  I know loads more 
> people
>
> who don't take care of their kids appropriately.  I do my best to help 
> them,
>
> but in the end it is their life and their choice.  I can't take their dog 
> or
>
> kid away and I can't tell them what is right for them.
>
> JMHO
> Julie
>
>
>
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