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

Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC) REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com
Tue Jul 13 15:42:07 UTC 2010


I wonder if he trusted his dog's not wanting to be where he was v.
trusting the dog to take him where he wanted to go. 
I was camping with my first Leader Dog when she decided she didn't want
to be at our campsite. She took me back too ur car and insisted we stay
there. Turns out there was a bear in the very next campsite, something
we didn't discover until the next day when the park ranger came by to
tell us. 
The experience is very different froma dog screwing around. Their body
language is different, their energy is different, it is just a
completely different experience. 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 1:58 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: EXTERNAL: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-heroGuid
e-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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