[nagdu] what is a good guide dog handler?

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Julie,

Oh, my heavens!  My guide dog taught the other dog about the joys of toilet
bowl drinking.  /lol/  We keep the toilets clean, and everybody flushes
twice to keep the dogs' drinking water clean.  We also give them clean fresh
water in their very nice clean drinking bowl in their proper eating and
drinking area.  Every now and then, one of them will actually drink out of
it.  The best, though, is when they find muddy rain water!  Yum!  They
prefer it a bit on the stagnant side, but we police the yard to make sure
that doesn't happen.  There's gotta be a line somewhere.

I feed high quality food that the dogs do very well on, both in health,
energy and coat quality.  I give them dental treats and get Mitzi's teeth
brushed every few groomings with the spa treatment.  When her coat is short,
I go over her with a damp washcloth before we go out to work to be sure
there's no visible dirt on her or anything like that.  When her curls start
to grow, I'm lucky if I brush her half as much as I'm supposed to.  /smile/
Why I keep doing this, I don't know, because then the curls get ahead of me
and can start to tangle, so I have to use three brushes to gradually work
the layers of beginning snarls out of her coat without having to just yank
on her.  Poor kid.  Sometimes I use a grooming spray or some approximation
thereof to keep tangles at bay and to make a good full comb out easier on
both of us.  /smile/

During the muddy season, I threaten to give her a bath between groomings,
and sometimes I even get around to that.  With brushing, her curls stay
pretty clean, and poodles tend to smell pretty neutral or even pleasant
(when you bury your nose in the curls), so I don't have to worry a whole lot
there.  I tend to break down and give her a bath if her coat starts to feel
less smooth and the tangles start building up because dust or dirt is
sticking to the hair.

Off leash play?  You bet?  The ground in the fenced in dog park here is
hard, holey, etc., etc., so I prefer a place where she can run safely -- and
I can walk safely -- without getting fined.  I do try to avoid areas near
traffic, and have been mostly able to find them.  Her off leash obedience
and boundary training have finally settled in enough that I don't fret much,
but I still don't go out of my way to put her in a position to get herself
done in.

What else do I do wrong?  My goodness, the list gets long.  /lol/  Well, I
did take time out to learn "the rules" -- several sets, actually -- and even
the reasons for them when I could, so that I could make good decisions about
which ones to stick to like glue and which ones I could vary from as my dog
matured and settled into life and work.  With a different dog, there are any
number of things I would do differently.  The important thing is the quality
of work -- safety first! Then appropriate public behavior close behind --
and health and happiness.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Julie J
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 9:37 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] what is a good guide dog handler?

I think everyone here knows that sometimes I think too much! *smile*  this
mornings ponderings are about just exactly what makes up a *good* guide dog
handler or dog owner in general.

I don't know that I have any really great answers.  I know for certain that
we all have our own ideas of what is *good* and what isn't.

Sometimes my dogs drink out of the toilet.  Sometimes they eat poop in the
yard.  I let Monty run off leash.  this year I used cedar bug repellant
instead of a more toxic flea treatment from the vet. I only clean ears maybe
twice a year.  I give them baths whenever I feel like it, not on a regular
schedule.  I never use a tie down.  rarely do I use a crate anymore.  I play
rough tug games with the dogs.  I let them wrestle and chew on each other to
their hearts content.  Belle enjoys eating grasshoppers and I let her. I
don't brush my dogs every day.  There's probably more but I'll stop.

It feels really cathartic to get all of that off my mind.  I used to get way
more caught up in doing everything the *right* way.  I used to give the dogs
baths every week.   I didn't used to let Monty run off leash.  I used to
brush them every day.  I gave it up and decided to do what works for me.  I
think we are all a lot happier with the new arrangement.

I no longer buy into what everyone else thinks is good or right or whatever.
I think we all have to decide individually what works for us, our particular
dog and the situation we are in.  I'm sure that in another 5 years I will
have an entirely different set of rules.

I still don't know what is good or right.  I only know what works for me.

Julie
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