[nagdu] Giving Commands to Canes

Fri Feb 12 15:05:01 UTC 2010

/lol/  My canes have never been obedient at all!  Nor than they be trusted
if I let them out of my hands and don't keep my attention on them while I
try to hand money to a clerk or something.  You would not believe how
disruptive they become, leaping about and clattering on the floor!  /grin/

One cane even chose to use a brief moment of freedom to leap from the secure
spot I had put it and told it say just so that it could bounce of my boss's
husband's head at the company Christmas party!  Oh, a jolly time was had by
all over that one. /lol/

I try to remember to lay the wild creatures on the floor at my feet, but
then they lure people into coming across the room to pick them up for me.
Devilish creatures, they are.  /grin/

Or could it be that I am just a natural-born klutz?

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Sherri
Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 8:57 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Giving Commands to Canes

I told my cane to "find the door" in
Washington, dc, but it did not obey! *smile.
Sherri
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joy Relton" <jrelton at verizon.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 10:05 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Giving Commands to Canes

> So Marion,
>
> I'm curios, do either of  your canes respond to those commands any better
> than mine does? I have threatened to put some sort of a sonar device on 
> the
> darn thing so that I could find it, since I occasionally forget where I 
> put
> it. Something I've never had to do with my dogs.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Marion & Martin
> Sent: Thursday, February 11, 2010 5:28 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: [nagdu] Giving Commands to Canes
>
>
> Tami,
>    I sure am glad to hear that Merry and I are not the only ones who give
> commands to our canes! (smile) Not so much now, as I have been dogless for
> about one year, but when I was working my dog and needed (or wanted) to 
> use
> my cane, I know I told it "Forward!" or "Right!" more than once!
>
> Fraternally yours,
> Marion
>
>
>
> ----- 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: Thursday, February 11, 2010 3:15 AM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Explaining to parents that guide dogs are useful
>
>
>> Julie,
>>
>> A week or so ago when Mitzi was at the groomers, I was doing some
>> shopping and stuff with my cane.  I walked into one store and stopped,
>> remembering that it is confusing in sound and in layout because of
>> counters and bins between the door and the aisles.  I simply could not
>> remember how to get past that to the aisle I wanted to find.  I was
>> with DD, who was looking for an assistance to show us where to go, but
>> I wanted to solve the problem on my own and get there with my cane.
>>
>> The solution finally hit me!  I looked at my cane and commanded it,
>> "Find the bones!"  /lol/
>>
>> Well, that is usually how I find that aisle.  Mitzi loves to find
>> things, especially when it's something for her.
>>
>> Cane not so good at find.  /grin/
>>
>> Tami Smith-Kinney
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Julie J
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 5:49 PM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Explaining to parents that guide dogs are useful
>>
>> I don't have any ideas on your college dormitory questions.  I have
>> had to deal with the ,"but you travel so well, why do you need a
>> dog?", argument. Unfortunately there is a perception that you have to
>> be perpetually lost in
>> order to benefit from a dog.   I am a very good cane traveler, but a dog
>> is
>> still my preferred means of mobility.  I like that I can teach the dog
>> all sorts of additional things that a cane simply can't do.  I can
>> teach the dog
>>
>> to find a counter, vehicle, chair and frequently used locations. I
>> definitely feel that travel is easier with a dog, at least it is after
>> the initial bumps get worked out. *smile*
>>
>> I just wanted to say that I can empathize with folks not understanding
>> why you might want a dog when you can travel without one.  It's
>> frustrating and I haven't figured out what to say that has made any
>> difference.  I'm not sure a person could understand until experiencing
>> it first hand.
>>
>> My best advice is to keep talking to your parents.  It may just take
>> them some time to warm up to the idea.  It is a big change.  Or you
>> may need to wait a couple of years until you are at a place in your
>> life where you are able to make your own decisions.
>>
>> Good luck,
>> Julie
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Mark J. Cadigan" <kramc11 at gmail.com>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 6:58 PM
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Explaining to parents that guide dogs are useful
>>
>>
>>> Thanks all of you for your suggestions. I like both the Seeing Eye,
>>> and GDB. Ware as I live in MA the Seeing Eye is a lot closer. I am a
>>> junior in
>>
>>> high school so I haven't yet decided what college I will be
>>> attending. What I do know, is I want to be in a big city with access
>>> to a good public
>>
>>> transit network such as the MBTA. I currently take the T to and from
>>> places all over Boston using my cane. Because of this independence I
>>> am having difficulty explaining to my parents that a dog would only
>>> enhance it making me a more competent, safer, and faster traveler.
>>> Have any of you
>>
>>> ever experienced complaints about your dog either shedding or
>>> smelling bad? Is this a problem with roommates in college? Like most
>>> teenagers my room is never clean for long, but it is never that
>>> messy. I always take excellent care of all my equipment, and don't
>>> see how the maintenance of a
>>
>>> dog will be a problem. My parents seem to have concerns of how I will
>>> maintain a dog in college. Any thoughts?
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>> From: "Albert J Rizzi" <albert at myblindspot.org>
>>> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'"
>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 2:29 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Explaining to parents that guide dogs are useful
>>>
>>>
>>>> First, where are you located? Maybe there is a guide program in your
>>>> area
>>>> which would allow you to sort of host a dog for sometime until the 
>>>> guide
>>>> is
>>>> matched up with a handler. This would help to introduce your parents to
>>>> the
>>>> concepts  and strength having a guide could and would lend to your 
>>>> life.
>>>> You
>>>> could also let them know that their role in your life is to make you as
>>>> completely independent as possible and that the introduction of a guide
>>>> dog
>>>> into your life would do just that. you could also play on their
>>>> sympathies
>>>> by letting them know you are looking to be able to walk independently
>>>> with
>>>> friends and thereby depend less on their eyes and more so on your own
>>>> senses
>>>> coupled with the security and independence a guide would lend to your
>>>> life.
>>>> Where are you intending on going to college? If you are hoping to go
>>>> away,
>>>> your parents would need to understand  that a guide would help you to
>>>> move
>>>> swiftly and securely through a campus ensuring your timely attendance 
>>>> to
>>>> all
>>>> your classes. Again, maybe a talk with a teacher/principal  might help
>>>> advance your crusade.
>>>>
>>>> Albert J. Rizzi, M.Ed.
>>>> CEO/Founder
>>>> My Blind Spot, Inc.
>>>> 90 Broad Street - 18th Fl.
>>>> New York, New York  10004
>>>> www.myblindspot.org
>>>> PH: 917-553-0347
>>>> Fax: 212-858-5759
>>>> "The person who says it cannot be done, shouldn't interrupt the one
>>>> who is doing it."
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Visit us on Facebook LinkedIn
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>>>> Behalf Of Mark J. Cadigan
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 2:11 PM
>>>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Explaining to parents that guide dogs are useful
>>>>
>>>> Dan W,
>>>>
>>>> My mom claims to be terrified of dogs, but yet we have a pet dog.
>>>> My parents claim that a guide dog will smell, then I point out that
>>>> if you take
>>>>
>>>> care of it properly it won't. Then I point out people we know with
>>>> guide dogs that don't smell. My dad's response to this is to tell
>>>> this story of his friend's son's roommate's friend had a roommate
>>>> with a smelly guide dog.
>>>>
>>>> This happened so long ago, and is so far removed from the situation
>>>> that I can't see how it possibly has any bearing on the current
>>>> situation. Also that story is so convoluted that is impossible to
>>>> verify. And the argument
>>>> goes on and on Ad nauseam. It is getting to the point that I think they
>>>> are
>>>> just attempting to exorcize there ability to make arbitrary decisions.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "Dan Weiner" <dcwein at dcwein.cnc.net>
>>>> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'"
>>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 1:33 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Explaining to parents that guide dogs are useful
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Well, first question is "Is the reason your parents don't support
>>>>> your idea of getting a dog that they don't like dogs?"--smile.
>>>>> Second of all, what is your parents objection, I mean presumably 
>>>>> you're
>>>>> the
>>>>> one who's blind so maybe you might know a little better than they do
>>>>> whether
>>>>> a dog would enhance your lifestyle or not.
>>>>> I'm fortunate that by the time I wanted a dog, my parents had figured
>>>>> out
>>>>> I'd pretty much do what I wanted without permission, so my Dad just
>>>>> asked
>>>>> one or two feeble questions and then left it alone.
>>>>> He asked "Are you sure a dog will be worth the trouble, how do you 
>>>>> know
>>>>> it'll work out."
>>>>> I explained that, never having a dog, a guide dog, that is,  I'd need
>>>>> to
>>>>> find it out for myself and I really wanted to take care of the dog and
>>>>> was
>>>>> ready.
>>>>> When I got home, he admired the dog enormously. But he asked the 
>>>>> second
>>>>> day
>>>>> back home if the dog really had to go out with us to breakfast. I said
>>>>> it
>>>>> did, when he seemed to balk I said "I love you Dad, and enjoy going
>>>>> out,
>>>>> but
>>>>> this is important to me and if you don't want my guide dog than I'm
>>>>> afraid
>>>>
>>>>> I
>>>>> won't be going".
>>>>> Dead silence ensued, and the issue never came up again.  As a
>>>>> matter of fact, my Dad adopted my first hound after he retired and
>>>>> loved him. The dog, Grant, even went to my Dad's funeral's
>>>>> The only thing I wasn't really ready for was the access issues. Being
>>>>> the
>>>>> brilliant young man I was--smile--it never occurred to me that people
>>>>> would
>>>>> have issues with a dog, I mean access issues to public places.
>>>>>
>>>>> So, tell us more what the problem is and we'll be happy to talk
>>>>> about it. There are some folks on this list who can be very good
>>>>> role models and mentors, I wish there had been such a list when I
>>>>> started out.  But, then
>>>>> I
>>>>> don't think there were such things as computer lists--smile.
>>>>>
>>>>> Good luck
>>>>>
>>>>> Dan W. and the Carter Dog
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>>>>> Behalf Of Mark J. Cadigan
>>>>> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 1:17 PM
>>>>> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>>>> Subject: [nagdu] Explaining to parents that guide dogs are useful
>>>>>
>>>>> Hello list,
>>>>>
>>>>> I am new to this list, and I am thinking of getting a guide dog for
>>>>> when
>>
>>>>> I
>>>>> go to college. The only problem I am having is convincing my
>>>>> parents that a
>>>>> guide dog is a useful mobility tool.  As you can probably guess, that
>>>>> is
>>
>>>>> a
>>>>> large obstacle. I am currently in high school, so I have to abide
>>>>> by my parent's wishes, or at least for now. What I am asking for is
>>>>> how best to explain to them, that guide dogs are useful mobility
>>>>> tools, that will enhance my independence rather than detract from
>>>>> it. I have given them literature, DVDs and have attempted to talk
>>>>> to them. Any instructional materiel finds its way into the circular
>>>>> file, and they change the subject
>>>>> when I talk to them. Any and all suggestions are welcome.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks
>>>>> Mark
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>> et
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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