[nagdu] Where your dog sleeps at night, etc.

[Jennifer L Finley]

WhenI talked to the guy that is going to be interviewing me, I told him that 
my mom wanted to bring me.  He told me that it would be easyer on me and the 
dog to fly.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "AnnaLisa Anderson" <annalisa at sector14.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2010 6:47 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Where your dog sleeps at night, etc.


> Hi Jennifer,
>
> Don't be afraid to ask questions.  I sure wish I'd had a list like this to
> go to when I got my first dog, but email was in its infancy then and 
> nobody
> had thought of list serves yet. <smile>
>
> I have been very fortunate that both my dogs have had very good house
> manners.  Neither of them  has felt the need to roam around the house at
> night, and I have felt no need to tie down or crate either of them.
> Everyone else is right though, when you first bring the new dog home, you
> will want to keep it either near you on leash or on tie down until you get
> to know your dog better and to teach them the ground rules.  In the case 
> of
> my current dog, I didn't have to keep her on leash or tie down very long,
> though I did have a tie down chain on the bed for several months and did 
> put
> her on it when going to bed at night, even though she really didn't need 
> it.
> She didn't mind either and sort of expected it.  I have a fleece mat for
> Sunny to sleep on, which I bought from PetEdge.  Don't remember the brand
> name though, but it's fleece on both sides, and she seems to like it.
>
> I do have a story about giving freedom a bit too soon with Sunny...  After
> about a week of being home from school and displaying very good manners, I
> decided to try giving her some freedom in  the house, in a limited fashion
> at first.  She did pretty well but of course had to try to get into the 
> cat
> food, but she responded very well to voice commands and immediately left 
> it
> alone when I told her to, and she leaves it alone most of the time now
> unless she thinks she can get away with it. <grin> Same with the litter
> box...  I don't have a good place to keep cat food or the boxes up high (I
> have two boxes and three cats).  She does like kitty crunchies, so we have
> to watch her a bit on that one. Again, she leaves it alone mostly, unless
> she knows no one is paying attention... <smile>  Oh, both the litter boxes
> are the kind with covers on them.  Anyway, I digress...
>
> After I started giving her limited freedom, one night I was doing laundry
> and had left my condo for a few minutes to go to the laundry room.
> Unbeknownst to me, Sunny had snuck out the door with my boyfriend when he
> went outside.  She led him a very merry chase before he finally caught her
> and got her back inside. <grin>  Fortunately we have a good sized driveway
> and parking lot area, so she wasn't in the street.  At the time I had no
> clue it was happening, when I had left for the laundry room, Sunny was 
> safe
> in the house.  We can laugh about it now, of course.  Needless to say, she
> lost her freedom again after that for a while.
>
> Anyway, like others have said, these are all things you will learn when 
> you
> go for training.
>
> That's too bad your family has to be so negative about this.  Will your
> parents be bringing you to the school, or will you fly?  Just wondering.
> When I went to Leader Dogs for the first time, my parents drove me there 
> so
> they got to see where I would be staying and I think they got a tour of 
> the
> school and the kennels, etc.  I still think that would be a great idea if
> your parents could do something similar.  I'm wondering how much of your
> parents' resistance is simply fear of the unknown.  Did you have pets
> growing up?  Do your parents even like dogs?  Just some thoughts.  I'm 
> glad
> you are taking a firm stand with them, and I sure hope they will come
> around.  Who knows, maybe there will come a day when they love your dog 
> and
> can't imagine when you didn't have one.
>
> AnnaLisa and Sundance
>
>
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