[nagdu] Interesting Names Re: guide dog book about young person

Fri Feb 5 17:41:48 UTC 2010

Linda,

Well, you do know how to accessorize.  /grin/

Shortly before I moved out here, a young polish woman began bringing her GSD
puppy to the park.  He must be a really big fella by now!  I think she used
some German -- or maybe Polish -- commands. With her accent, they sounded
wonderfully exotic and very fitting to her german dog! /smile/  She and the
owner of the young yet huge Belgian shepherd were both starting early
training for that German dog sport I'm about to mangle the name of.
Schatzhund?  Something like that. I was really intrigued and began to
consider working some of that into Mitzi's training to keep her busy while
she was growing up enough to be a guide dog -- she got the commands and
guide work down so fast that there wasn't a lot to do there for awhile
except review, reinforce and let her do "work" on limited safe routes until
she grew up a bit more and was ready to expand a smidge, and so on.  I
really didn't want to her get stale before she was old enough to go to work,
so I was hard up for some way to keep that busy young mind out of trouble
and moving in the right direction as it finished developing.  I also thought
it wouldn't hurt to have her cross-trained in something in case she needed a
fall back if guide work didn't pan out for her.

Anyway, they almost had me hooked until they got to the guard dog facet of
the sport.  /smile/  Not the best choice of avocation for a guide dog!  So I
just enjoyed watching them introduce the fundamentals with their dogs while
I played with Mitzi.

I liked having Mitzi watch the shepherds learn obedience because she picks
up so much from other dogs!  Neither puppy was up to more than a quick
recall and release, with maybe a brief sit stay, in the middle of play.
That shepherd response to commands, though, is so totally opposite of
Mitzi's poodle style.  I can't see the current crop of subadult shepherds at
our new park as well, except as vague silhouettes, but I still do like to
watch them.  Poodles do seem to have very similar personality traits, much
more so than with labs or goldens, but the differences in how they express
those traits are fun to observe, too.

The Polish woman's accent wasn't strong, but it was really lovely, I
thought.  I ran into an older gentleman from Poland on the bus and was able
to recognize his accent.  We ended up having an intriguing conversation
about language, in fact, since he spoke 5 of them.

He tried Polish on Mitzi. She gave him a bored look.  Then German.  Nope.
Spanish?  She was mildly curious.  Then he spoke to her in French, and she
grinned and wagged her tale.  /lol/  Guess she really is a French poodle!
He got a big kick out of that and spent the rest of the journey talking to
my dog in French.  /lol/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Linda Gwizdak
Sent: Thursday, February 04, 2010 1:27 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Interesting Names Re: guide dog book about young person

Marion,
That is too cool to have Sarge be a Polish dog as well!  When he executes a 
German command, you can give him the Polish - now, I'll mangle the 
spelling - Dubsha (thank you)!  Or was it "genkuya" - too many years ago 
that I heard Polish from my grandparents! (grin!) I'll have to ask one of my

Soo Bahk Do instructors - he's from Poland and speaks it with his mother. 
Hearing Polish brought me back many great memories of the Polish-American 
Club my grandfather took us to on occasion.

Take care,
The little red polack! I have red hair as well!  Along with Landon with his 
matching hair! Lyn
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marion & Martin" <swampfox1833 at verizon.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 5:06 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Interesting Names Re: guide dog book about young person

> Linda,
>    another interesting tidbit about Sarge is that, even though he is a 
> German Shepherd, he is actually from Poland! Isn't that a little too 
> sychronistic!
>
> fraternally yours,
> The Big Red Polock!
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Linda Gwizdak" <linda.gwizdak at cox.net>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 1:02 PM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Interesting Names Re: guide dog book about young 
> person
>
>
>> Marion,
>> That's neat about the German commands. Did you train police dogs while 
>> blind or were you fully sighted at the time? There was an article in our 
>> paper awhile back about a local visually impaired man who trained police 
>> and guard dogs and did it well - why of course!!!
>>
>> One of the things that will help your dog to learn the German commands is

>> to be sure to use the hand signals along with the English.  Maybe as a 
>> former trainer you already know about that (grin!)!
>>
>> Good luck with the new dog and hope your trainer's wife recovers well 
>> from her surgery. I bet you can't wait!!  I'd be tired of the long, white

>> one-legged dog by now!
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Lyn and Landon
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Marion & Martin" <swampfox1833 at verizon.net>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 3:27 AM
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Interesting Names Re: guide dog book about young 
>> person
>>
>>
>>> Nicole,
>>>    I think that the dog would do just fine with a name change during or 
>>> after training. My past guide's name is Louiza. I call her Lou-Lou, 
>>> Weeza, and sometimes....well, things I won't write in email! (smile)
>>>    In fact, because my wife and I both work dogs and I was a former 
>>> police dog trainer, I am going to switch my dog to German commands by 
>>> pairing the German ones with the English for a while then only using 
>>> German. I'll let you know how that works!
>>>
>>> fraternally yours,
>>> Marion
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Nicole B. Torcolini" <ntorcolini at wavecable.com>
>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 10:04 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Interesting Names Re: guide dog book about young 
>>> person
>>>
>>>
>>>> Lol, and, indeed, that would not have worked.  I am sure that their 
>>>> personalities do not match in the least.  The reason that I do not 
>>>> recommend changing a dog's name is mainly because that is what they 
>>>> have been trained with, and they go through enough other changes, but 
>>>> the situation that you talk about is quite different; I did not mean to

>>>> generalize or anything.
>>>> Anyone else have any funny name stories?
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>>> From: "The Pawpower Pack" <pawpower4me at gmail.com>
>>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
>>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 5:45 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Interesting Names Re: guide dog book about young 
>>>> person
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> When I adopted Laveau from the humane society, her name was Marge. 
>>>>> That had to go because... it just did.  It didn't take her long to 
>>>>> switch and now when I say or sign her name she wags like crazy.  She 
>>>>> was only a year old and I don't know how long she had been stuck with 
>>>>> the horrid moniker of Marge.  No offense to anyone with that name but 
>>>>> it just wasn't for her.  Also I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and everyone

>>>>> would have called her aunt Marge.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Rox and the Kitchen Bitches
>>>>> Bristol (retired), Mill'E SD. and Laveau Guide Dog, CGC.
>>>>> "It's wildly irritating to have invented something as revolutionary as

>>>>> sarcasm, only to have it abused by amateurs." -- Christopher Moore
>>>>> pawpower4me at gmail.com
>>>>>
>>>>> Windows Live Only: Brisomania at hotmail.com
>>>>> AIM: Brissysgirl Yahoo: lillebriss
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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