[nagdu] crowd work

[Tracy Carcione]

Tami, I don't know where you got the idea that labs wait around to be told
what to do.  Mine certainly don't.  It's true that, when I get a new dog,
I take pains to encourage initiative, if it seems to be somewhat lacking,
but they catch on quick.
Maybe it's that I've lived in the New York City area for more than 20
years now, so I get what a friend calls "pushy urban dogs", but my labs
are great with crowds.  Darned good thing too, as midtown Manhattan has a
lot of them.  Ben does particularly well.  He's very smart, and the more
challenging the situation, the more focussed he gets.
We came into the City for the first time during class at TSE.  That very
same day, the president decided to come to town, and to have some
whooptydoo at the library, right where we were walking by, at lunchtime. 
All the office workers who'd gone out to lunch were prohibited from
returning to their offices, and were milling around everywhere.  Benny
raised the tail flag straight in the air and did his stuff like a pro, and
I realized he was the right dog for me!
Tracy