[nagdu] Mitzi's Age

Tamara Smith-Kinney tamara.8024 at comcast.net
Mon Feb 22 18:10:03 UTC 2010


Gary,

Sorry for the delay in answering this questions.  I wrote a really, really
long detailed reply then didn't have time to proof it, then...  Well, that's
me.  /grin/

Anyway, Mitzi poodle is 3-1/2 going on 4 in June.  She still has tons of
energy but has some sense and maturity to manage it with.  /smile/  When I
get busy and go to long without taking her out to run off the excess, she
gets a little crazy at the park, but in a funny way.  She may also get a
little bouncier in harness than I like, at least on short errands, but she
can settle down with some gentle reminders that she's working.  Of course,
that energy and enthusiasm is great on full working gigs because she just
does not wear out.  If I'm taking the bus/train to a meeting or something, I
do like to walk to the bus stop down the road just to give her a chance to
use up some of the overexuberance and to get us both warmed up.  Our lives
don't include enough to that sort of thing these days, so we both need that
to remember what we've been training for!

I have too much fun entertaining myself -- and I hope others -- with funny
tales of our adventures on the wild side, especially at play, because my dog
simply cracks me up most of the time.  But she's also had an innate sense of
how to keep us both safe that impressed me even before I got a harness and
committed to the final phase of guide dog training.  Training her in the
finer points of guide dog etiquette while I was learning it myself was a
constant hair-raising adventure because of all that energy and movement, but
a lot of that was because I was working to such a high level of expectation
for both of us.  /smile/  There were a couple of points on which I thought
she might not make the grade after all, but we seem to have overcome them.
Well, the ones on her side.  Me, we still wonder about.  /grin/

Mitzi was a few days shy of 7 months when she arrived on the doorstep of my
tiny apartment, a blank slate when it came to training or individualized
human contact.  She was pack raised on a small acreage with a acouple of
generations of human family around, so had a good foundation in overall
socialization, so had the guide dog gig not worked out, I would have had an
awesome companion pet.  She was far enough past the impressionable stage of
maturity, however, that her natural independence has been something for me
to work with on the obedience side of her training.  /smile/  She's a good
dog, but her approach to deciding whether or not to humor my silly whims
does not mesh with my concept of the word "obedience."  Then again, I think
of that in relationship to competition obedience, and also dressage -- a
super formal level of horsemanship -- which is not what I would want in a
guide dog anyway.  As everyone has been discussing, a guide dog needs to
show initiative and make good decisions.

So your new poodle guide will have been carefully raised from infancy to
meet the high expectations of etiquette and obedience a guide dog needs, and
it will have been trained by an experienced expert for the guide work.  I'm
not saying I'm not a good trainer, per se, or that my own prior experience
has counted for nothing.  But Mitzi is my first guide, my first guide dog
training effort, and my first poodle.  I have learned more from her than she
has from me, trust me.  /smile/  The fact that she has turned into a guide
dog anyway is still pretty amazing to me.  I am awfully proud of her for
that, despite the tales I tell about her misdeeds.  /grin/

I hope that helps.  Your road should be pretty smooth with your new bundle
of poodle in a harness, and I think you will enjoy the ride.

I am making a list of questions for you for when you arrive home, of course.
/smile/  I still want to know how to curl a smallish standard poodle under a
seat where an 80 pound lab can fit without going mad.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Jennifer L Finley
Sent: Saturday, February 20, 2010 9:12 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] nagdu

ya, it is crazy because when I say something to my grandma for example about

the dog, she has no reply.  Do you know anyone like that?  I mean she has 
nothing to say about it.  You know, I want to hear something like, your 
doing a great job.  Or some I am very proud of you.  You know something like

that.  That hurts when I don't hear it from my family.
----- 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: Saturday, February 20, 2010 5:15 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] nagdu


> Jennifer,
> Well, if yoiu live at home and also own a cat, sounds like you can 
> certainly own a dog.
>
> I'd get the dog if that's what you want.  You say your Mom is concerned 
> with you stepping in poop in your house - well how about when the cat 
> hawks up a hairball!  I still remember when we were kids we were all 
> asleep and all of a sudden my younger sister let out this blood chilling 
> scream. After we all had the crap scared out of us we discovered that my 
> sister had gotten up to use the bathroom and stepped in a soggy hairball 
> in the hallway with her bare feet.  We all laughed about it next morning. 
> LOL
>
> I keep my dogs on either a tiedown or in his crate at night so if he has 
> an accident because he's sick and he couldn't wake me, he can't spread 
> diahrrea all over the entire house.  That is so bad because the smell 
> permeates everywhere and you can't locate the mess where the smell is 
> from.  The smell is equally strong everywhere!  I had to get my neighbor 
> to help me find the multiple messes.
>
> Your Mom thinks you are responsible and capable with your own care and the

> cat's care and you can do what it takes to live alone in an apartment?  If

> this is the case, why is she making such a fuss over something that will 
> enhance the independence you already have?
>
> Also, you are an adult, unlike the young high school student on this list.

> You have the right to do as you please as long as it's legal and 
> responsible.
>
> Good luck on your neew dog! (grin!)
>
> Lyn and Landon
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Jennifer L Finley" <jenniferfinley at embarqmail.com>
> To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, February 19, 2010 3:30 PM
> Subject: [nagdu] nagdu
>
>
>> Hi Lynn this is Jennifer.  To answer your question no I do not live at 
>> home any more.  It's just that my parents think that I can not handle the

>> responsability that comes with a guide dog.  I have a cat, so it's not 
>> like I can't handle it.  I think that a lot of it is that they do not 
>> know how guide dogs work.
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>
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