[nagdu] . Guide - service parrot.

Tue Jul 27 18:34:55 UTC 2010

No, not *you* centric but everybody is wring from their own perspective.

Kind of like the buffets that say "all you can eat" but they don't mean
"all *you*" can eat. 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Jewel S.
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 2:33 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] . Guide - service parrot.

Why do you say it is "me centric"? I have neither a cat nor a parrot
nor a horse for a service animal. The guide cat thought was more a
dream, would take a lot more work than I can give any time soon. But
for many people, cats, parrots, and horses are service animals who
help in their day-to-day living.

I always thought a miniature pony as a guide animal was a neat idea,
but rather impratical for city living. Rural living, I could see a
miniature pony being a wonderful guide animal, but in the city, the
size of the animal and the damage their hooves can cause would make it
a problem.

I think parrots and ferrets are both good animals for service work,
though not guide work. Ferrets are very smart critters and very good
at opening cabinets, handling objects, and could likely press buttons.
Plus they are very easy to train to routine-relieving, much as a cat
would be.

I don't see how a snake, iguana, bird (other than parrots, who are
very smart and trainable), or other non-mammals could make very good
service animals. I could see how a capuchin would make a good service
animal, but as DoJ said, their behaviour can be very unpredictable. A
person could own a capuchin for 10 years without incident, and then
suddenly the monkey goes nuts and attacks. They are wild animals, even
when bred in captivity. They are not domesticated. I suppose the same
could be said about ferrets, but I think they are becoming
domesticated, slowly but surely.

Restricting service animals to dogs only is not a good idea. What if
someone is afraid of dogs? Allergic to dogs (even to the hypoallergic
dogs like boxers)? What if a dog simply can't meet their needs like a
parrot or pony or cat could? I wonder if they are going to make any
provisions for people who want to appeal for a special accommodation?

On 7/27/10, Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC) <REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com>
wrote:
> The thing I find interesting about this discussion is that it is "me
> centric". Some of you are bummed that cats are no longer service
> animals. Some feel the same about parrots and some about horses.
Nothing
> wrong with any of this, though I do wonder if 100 years ago, people
knew
> a dog could be housebroken and I think there is evidence to suggest
that
> a dog guiding a person used to be considered downright silly.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Jewel S.
> Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 12:41 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] . Guide - service parrot.
>
> I could never see a parrot doing effective guide work. I agree, that's
> just rather stupid. For guide work, a parrot is about as practical as
> (sorry guys) a toy poodle or chihuahua.
>
> But for other purposes, a parrot can do some amazing work, especially
> working with a deaf person, or for pressing buttons, flipping
> switches, and the like. A parrot can even draw curtains or open/close
> blinds. For a paraplegic, I imagine that would be a welcome action for
> a service animal.
>
> On 7/27/10, Ed Meskys <edmeskys at roadrunner.com> wrote:
>> I had never taken seriously the use of parrots, but this is
> interesting. I
>> am surprised at what they have been trained to do. In the science
> fiction
>> world I had seen some serious discussion of the high intelligence of
> gray
>> parrots.
>>
>> Soon after I lost my sight, some 35 years ago, a friend had sent me a
>> newspaper clipping about a Hollywood animal trainer trying to teach a
> parrot
>> to guide a blind person. It was held in a special cage by the walker
> and
>> would communicate by ringing a bell or otherwise communicating with
> the
>> bearer. The whole concept had struck me as stupid. A guide dog has to
> walk
>> andavoid barriers, steps, etc, and is less likely to lose focus and
> forget
>> to warn the user. The parrot is just sitting there and has no
> incentive to
>> notify the bearer of steps, obstacles, etc. And that is assuming that
> the
>> parrot could be trained to respond to al possible obstacles, which I
>> doubted.
>>
>> Ed Meskys
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> ~Jewel
> Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
> Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com
>
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-- 
~Jewel
Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com

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