[nagdu] UK / My Tom-Tom is a 7/7 hero

Mon Jul 12 18:33:39 UTC 2010

I have insisted that we go a particular way more times than I'd like to 
admit.  If he refuses my direction three times generally I get the clue that 
we can't go my way and I give over.  So far he has never been wrong, at 
least the times I have figured out the detour later. Fortunately it has 
never happened in a totally unfamiliar environment.  I think that would be 
harder for me to follow a totally new way that I didn't know.

I guess it comes down to knowing your particular dog.  I'm glad I have a 
stubborn confident one or I think I'd have ruined him long ago!

Julie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 12:57 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] UK / My Tom-Tom is a 7/7 hero

> And a remarkably trusting owner.  I'm not sure I would just let my dog go
> a whole different way.  I'd start insisting we go my way, and get us into
> big trouble.
> On the other hand, a friend of mine let her shepherd go a different way,
> figuring there might be a good reason.  Turns out the reason was the dog
> was bored with the regular route, and they ended up wandering around in
> uncharted territory way out of the way until my friend figured out how to
> get back to somewhere she actually wanted to be.
> Tracy
>
>> Wow! What a story!
>>
>> And what a dog! Now *that* is intelligent disobedience!
>>
>> Tami Smith-Kinney
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
>> Behalf
>> Of Toni Eames
>> Sent: Sunday, July 11, 2010 3:22 PM
>> To: gdui-friends at yahoogroups.com; nagdu at nfbnet.org;
>> guide-dogs-4-2 at yahoogroups.com; golden-guide-club Moderator
>> Subject: [nagdu] UK / My Tom-Tom is a 7/7 hero
>>
>>
>>><http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3043599/My-Tom-Tom-is-a-77-h
>> eroGuide-dog-saved-blind-man-during-77-bombings.html>My
>>>Tom-Tom is a 7/7 hero
>>>Man's best friend ... Mike and his clever pet dog Tom
>>>
>>>THE booming, roaring, snarling of a bomb ripping through a commuter
>>>bus or train is a petrifying experience for any able-bodied person.
>>>
>>>But for blind dad-of-one Dr Michael Townsend, from Fleckney,
>>>Leicestershire, things were a little more daunting when he left the
>>>Tavistock Hotel in central London on the morning of 7th July, 2005.
>>>
>>>Having lost his sight when he was just eight, he walked to a meeting
>>>a mile away from the hotel, almost getting caught in the cross fire
>>>of the bus bomb that blew in Tavistock square.
>>>
>>>But someone was looking out for Mike that day - and not least of all
>>>his newly recruited guide dog Tom.
>>>
>>>While his owner was left unaware to what all the commotion was
>>>about, amazingly Tom the guidedog became his personal sat-nav and
>>>found his own, new and safe route to the meeting Mike was attending.
>>>
>>>Here, he tells us his amazing story.
>>>
>>>"I had always thought that my newest guide dog Tom was a bit on the
>>>scatty side. He was very loyal, and obviously very clever, but he
>>>just struck me as a little soft.
>>>
>>>"But I honestly couldn't have been more wrong about this pup.
>>>
>>>Terrifying scenes ... The Tavistock Square bus blast
>>>
>>>"When I awoke at The Tavistock Hotel on the morning of July 7th, I
>>>could hear commotion, sirens and fire engines but I assumed it was
>>>just the city getting more like New York.
>>>
>>>"Little did I know, there were three bombs on the tubes that day,
>>>and when I left my hotel for a meeting that morning I was about to
>>>be caught up in a fourth one - on the double decker bus.
>>>
>>>"I walked out of our hotel ready for a breakfast meeting. The other
>>>gentleman jumped in a cab, but it was such a glorious day, I decided to
>> walk.
>>>
>>>"Tom took me down to the cross roads, right by the Tavistock hotel.
>>>I had to wait a long while, which was unusual. Blind people feel a
>>>little knarl thing underneath the lights that moves so we can cross,
>>>but it didn't rotate. I usually had the concierge with me to show me
>>>across the road, but not today.
>>>
>>>"The road was quiet, so we just walked across. Suddenly there was a
>>>roar. It wasn't a bang, it was a roar. Like an animal being hurt.
>>>People started rushing towards it, in the commotion, nobody told me
>>>what was going on. It was frightening.
>>>
>>>Streets ahead ... Mike won't let the experience affect his life
>>>
>>>"Tom started to pull me violently in the wrong direction. He paused
>>>and instead of going straight on, he turned right. This isn't so
>>>good, I thought, this isn't the way Tom! I tried to persuade him to
>>>go straight on.
>>>
>>>"Up and down roads I didn't recognise we went, I felt buildings I
>>>had never experienced before.
>>>
>>>"Then suddenly, it smelt like the office we were going to -
>>>unbelievably we had found it, a new route. My guide dog Tom had
>>>become my Tom-Tom!
>>>
>>>"There were gasps when I walked into the room. The rest of my
>>>meeting thought we had got tangled up in the bus bomb. When they
>>>told me all about the commotion, I was flabbergasted.
>>>
>>>"Another member of our meeting even came in with a burnt jacket, he
>>>had got caught up in the Edgeware road bombings earlier.
>>>
>>>"Like true Brits, we did what we do best and just got on with it. We
>>>carried out the audit meeting and finished it like true professionals.
>>>
>>>"The true extent of the miracle that had happened to me, thanks to
>>>my dog Tom, came to me a few days later. I found out that an
>>>American woman, who had been escorted to the crossing by the
>>>concierge, had been blown up by the bomb on the bus and killed just
>>>minutes after I had stood there waiting for the lights.
>>>
>>>"But even how shockingly close this encounter was for me has not
>>>stopped me doing what I want. I will not give the terrorists what
>>>they want and become a recluser. I was back in Tavistock Square a
>>>week later and it's never put me off public transport.
>>>
>>>"I've had a lot of knocks in my life as a blind person and I have
>>>learned to handle them readily and deal with them
>>>
>>>"Tom is now the most special dog in the world to me, I know I can
>>>rely on his capabilities. Witout him, I certainly might not be here
>>>to tell my story.
>>>
>>>"He goes everywhere with me - even as far as Los Angeles. He was
>>>even the first guide dog to ever set foot in Romania. I couldn't
>>>face the world without his help. Without him, I might not be here."
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>Read more:
>>><http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3043599/My-Tom-Tom-is-a-77-h
>> eroGuide-dog-saved-blind-man-during-77-bombings.html#ixzz0t0ymgrXr>http://ww
>> w.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3043599/My-Tom-Tom-is-a-77-heroGuide-do
>> g-saved-blind-man-during-77-bombings.html#ixzz0t0ymgrXr
>>>
>>>http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/3043599/My-Tom-Tom-is-a-77-he
>> roGuide-dog-saved-blind-man-during-77-bombings.html
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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