[nagdu] question about ownership and retirement

[Lora]

I retired my guide Trice five months after I came home with him. He had fear
issues an would stop in the middle of the road. The last week I worked him
he would step out into the road and we'd have to wait two light cycles to
cross the street. I had two instructors out and I tried one of their
techniques, but they basically wanted me to avoid things that caused Trice
to react which would mean stopping guide work. I am applying to The Seeing
Eye. I felt like I wasn't respected by the school and had bad dogs from that
school that endangered me.

On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 3:00 PM, Dan Sweeney <daniel.sweeney1 at comcast.net>wrote:

> Hello Tracy,
> Yes, it is the same Daniel with the wild and crazy Leader Dog, Scout. I
> never did return the little shit, much to my surprise. I had a trainer out
> last January, 09. He admitted to me that I was not ready to leave the
> school
> with Scout when I did. He told me that he even told my instructor this, but
> it was ignored. But that is all water under the bridge now. He did show me
> a
> few ways to get control of my little ever-ready bunny dog, and it has
> helped
> quite a bit. The dog is still not the guide dog I imagined, nor I had
> observed when I had some bit of sight. He still walks at a turbo pace, with
> his head to the ground most of the time. As long as I  have tried to
> "steady" him, it has been over a year and a half now, he will only comply
> when he wants to. Other than that he is a great dog. He is a perfect guard
> dog around the house, and has foiled 2 intruders. He is totally protective
> of me, and will not leave my side when at home.
> He will belong to me in July, and I was considering attending a different
> school, to get a real guide dog - now that I know what to expect from a
> guide dog. I thought of keeping Scout as our family dog, which he has
> become
> such a part of. He is absolutely wild when he is off leash, in the backyard
> he runs laps continually, he never tires. He has more energy than I could
> ever imagine a dog to have. The comments from everyone I know is "THAT is a
> guide dog, you are kidding!"
> So, that is the why the questions on retirement, ownership and the like.
> Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.
> Daniel and Scout
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Tracy Carcione
> Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 6:31 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] question about ownership and retirement
>
> Hi Daniel.
> Are you the Daniel with the wild Leader dog?  How's it going?
>
> I have kept 2 retired dogs.  The first, Amba,  had to stop working because
> she got cancer.  She lived only a few months after the diagnosis.  I could
> have waited to get a new dog until she was gone, but I much prefer to have
> a dog in New York City, and we kept hoping the treatment she got would
> work, so I did not wait.  It did interfere somewhat with the bonding
> process with the new dog, primarily because I was spending a lot of time
> and energy caring for my sick dog, and spending time with her while I
> could.  But after her passing, the bond between me and my new dog got
> stronger, and everything was fine.  And, even before, we could work
> together fine.
>
> I also kept Echo (who was the new dog I was just talking about).  She
> retired at age 11, and is still going strong 3 years later.  I had no
> problem bonding with my newer dog, Ben.  My husband took over some of the
> care of Echo, taking her for walks mostly, and she and Ben don't mind each
> other.  They play sometimes, and steal toys from each other, but mostly
> they ignore each other.  Sometimes Echo still comes to the door when I
> pick up the harness, but really she seems happy to take life easy and let
> the young dude do the work.
>
> I think it really helps to have another person around when one has 2 dogs.
> HTH.
> Tracy
>
>
> > Hello group,
> >
> > I am back on the list again because I missed all of everyone's helpful
> > comments and suggestions in the past. I have a question. What is the
> > earliest someone has retired their guide  which they received from a
> > school?
> > Upon retirement, did you keep that dog while returning to either to the
> > same
> > school or a different school to obtain another guide? And finally, was
> > their
> > any complications at home due to the fact that the new guide was
> replacing
> > the previous guide when it came to developing a solid bond?
> >
> > Whew! I know it is a lot to ponder, but I figured since the conversation
> > seemed to be around ownership issues, at least partly, I figured it would
> > be
> > a good time to ask.
> >
> > Daniel.
> >
>
>
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-- 
Lora and Trice