[nagdu] So and so lets me pet their dog.

Tue Mar 9 16:51:58 UTC 2010

Well, Mitzi's secret name is scurvy cur...  I don't know why that works, but
I guess I use a certain tone when I say it that reminds her she's pushing
the envelope and needs to remember her manners.  Go figure. /smile/

Actually, if she's being to distractable while she's working, use of any pet
name will remind her.  So I will also say, "Hey! Working girl!" to remind
her she's working.  Or whatever.  I don't know if she gets the irony, but
that sort of thing has become part of our schtick, so that's what works now.
She's not so rambunctious these days and mostly stays on track, so I don't
end up feeling like the traveling circus when we're walking where ther are
people.  /grin/

With her, I've found that keeping a balance with the flirting -- allowing
enough of it to make her happy, but staying in control of the interactions
-- works best.  Every now and then I will do some refresher work on
practicing total nondistraction, which is good for me because when I spend
too much time in familiar environments, I get pretty sloopy myself.  Sigh.
So we'll leave Daisy's Dad to do his thing and just tool around the store or
the sidewalks concentrating on doing everything right.  /smile/

Really, now that I'm healthy enough, I need to get my budget healthy enough
that we can start taking day trips downtown to keep up our city manners.
Then again, VR is being their usual selves, so it looks like I won't be
contracting/consulting since the adaptive tools I need are just out of
reach.  Sigh.

So if me and my dawg go around like a couple of hicks, who cares?  Just
kidding!  I make fun of our foibles, but I do care about maintaining good
working habits anyway.  Mitzi actually seems to like going to a more proper
style with a more proper handler, although she always will make sure to
remind me early on that she is still a rebel free spirit.  /smile/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Wayne Merritt
Sent: Monday, March 08, 2010 8:12 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] So and so lets me pet their dog.

No, I don't pet other people's guides unless they give me permission.
It seems like before you can stop your own guide from flurting, that
you'd need to stop flurting with those guides yourself. Then perhaps
your dog would notice and start to understand, though reinforcing the
no flurting policy with the dog always helsp this process. I've got a
dog that flurts as well and I just have to stay on top of what she's
doing and pay attention to the way the leash feels. I can usually tell
by the tension in the leash if she's getting petted by someone and by
the way her head is tilted, and then I can deal with the person doing
the petting. Most people where I work know not to pet her when she's
in harness, and I've got no problems with correcting those that pet
her anyway. I've established the rules with those I work with, such as
not saying her name when she's working, and pretty much got nearly
perfect compliance from everyone. I've even got students that will
tell me that they won't say the dog's name, even when the dog is
flurting with them out of harness, and when it's technically okay to
say her name. It also helps that there are those with other more or
less well behaved guides where I work as well. AS has been mentioned
several times on this list recently though, each person is different
and may allow or not allow their dog to do or not do certain things.
Here's my own observation,and some may disagree with it, but those who
let their dogs run wild, flurt excessively, and so forth, shouldn't be
surprised if the dog starts not minding as much and misbehaving.

One way I've dealt with those that want to know her name is by using a
different word that sounds nothing like her name. There's nothing that
says I have to tell people her name if I'm not comfortable in doing
so. The dog's real name is Gucci, but her "working" name, or the word
that's used when she's working, is the word secret. I've found this
works super, except in the rare case when she sees someone that she
adores and they call her secret, and she still responds. I can usually
keep control over her and prevent her from really misbehaving. And
then I've got someone I work with who knows Secret's real name, but
just likes calling her Secret, whether she's in or out of harness.
This method works great, especially in those cases when you see
someone on the bus or the street that you know you'll never see again,
who wants to know the dog's name.

Jmt,
Wayne

On 3/8/10, Deanna Lewis <deannakay618 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> I have a really hard time getting Pascal to ignore people. What are the
best
> strategies for working on that? I do daily obedience with him, but he is
> always wanting to be pet by someone. I wish I could get him to ignore
> reaching hands so that they will just stop and give up. Any suggestions???
> I am also around a lot of blind people who use dogs and I will usually let
> him say hi and flirt. He has a lot of girlfriends out there! I guess I am
> bad too, and want to know if you all do this, but do you pet your friend's
> guide dogs? Sometimes I do it without asking, just because I am so used to
> showing my own dog affection, and if dog's head pops in my lap, I have to
> pet it. LOL Am I a horrible person?
> PS: I have been denied a taxi ride before, in Detroit at the National
> Convention, last year. I was with a group of people, and two of us had
guide
> dogs. He said he would take the people without dogs, but did not allow
dogs
> in his cab. I had only had Pascal 2 months so I did not know how to handle
> it. I could have asked the guy for the cab name and number, but he
probably
> would have given me false info. Luckily, it only happened that once and
not
> in my home state.
>
> Deanna and Pascal
>
>
>
>
>
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