[nagdu] always taking the dog was guide dogs

Wed Mar 17 16:10:00 UTC 2010

Wayne,

That's part of the problem with Mitzi.  She's terribly funny, and she knows
perfectly well she cracks me up no matter how mad I try to act.  So when I
get all stern and put on my alpha posture and tone and glare, she just
laughs at me.  She does the same thing to DD.  Ha ha!  You humans are so
silly.  /grin/

I love the slacks story.  I can just seem him figuring out how to remove the
slacks from the hanger...

It's no wonder so many guide dogs have advanced problem-solving skills for
their species, though.  They have to be super smart just to make the grade
and do the work.  And we give them all this individualized attention and
training and teach them to solve problems by figuring out how to take a
blind human around the trash can without banging the human's head on the
street sign...  So by the time they're adults, their natural cleverness has
been well-exercised and developed!  So when the problem is, "I'm bored, I
need to get into trouble so I get some attention," they can come up with
some pretty amazing stuff.

I do love stories about Guide Dogs in Trouble.  /grin/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Wayne Merritt
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 2:41 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] always taking the dog was guide dogs

Tami, Mitzy's behavior is terribly funny. Actually, i'ts not that I'm
upset by Gucci's behavior, sure it gets annoying at times and when I'm
trying to correct her by slapping the laundry hamper, it's more out of
frustration. I'm very much amused, even if there's some annoyance,
when I find a sock on the floor or a shirt or other garment a few feet
away from my bed. I just hope my parents understand if they ever see
clothes lying about on the floor, and don't assume that I'm lazy,
grin. My first guide, a Lab, did this as well. Except he pulled a pair
of slacks across a floor one day. He got corrected for that, and he
never touched the slacks again, though he did rearrange other
clothing. Now that I think of it, the Lab removed the slacks from a
hanger that was on a closet door. Clever guy.

Wayne

On 3/14/10, Tamara Smith-Kinney <tamara.8024 at comcast.net> wrote:
> Oh, she is too funny!  Having a "thinking" dog is very entertaining, if
not
> completely maddening at times.  Mitzi used to hide my shoes and socks when
> we were getting ready to go out and play, when she was a puppy.  She
finally
> figured out this would delay us, so she gave it up and began to help me
find
> misplaced shoes and socks.  I had suspicions about how they came to be
> misplaced to begin with, but she was very helpful about showing me "the
> other" shoe, sock or glove.
>
> Last week, the dogs stashed their favorite squeaky ball, which is also the
> one I take to the park for Mitzi.  I asked them to find it, I asked them
> where it is, I made play motions and asked them to bring it...  Not a clue
> from either dog they had a clue what I was talking about.  Shadow ball?
> What could that be?  /lol/  I tried looking for the dang thing once a day
or
> so, because I hate trying to play soccer with park balls -- usually ratty
> old tennis balls.  I can't hear them at all, so kicking them for her
doesn't
> work so well.  /smile/  Anyway, one day I looked absolutely everywhere,
with
> the dogs watching avidly and encouraging me every step of the way.  If it
> looked like I might be flagging in my efforts, they would peer into and
> under whereever I was looking, as if to say, "It's right there!  Look
again!
> You missed it by an inch."  Goobers.
>
> That evening, about the time I was ready to fall into bed and sleep, guess
> what I heard Mitzi bringing into my room so I would play with her?  She
was
> very pleased with herself, I tell you.
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Wayne Merritt
> Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2010 9:26 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] always taking the dog was guide dogs
>
> Though my Gucci isn't trained for laundry work, she will pull things
> out of the clothes hamper that I've just put there, sometimes right
> after and other times when I'm in the shower. And then I find a stray
> sock, T-shirt, or other item on the floor as I'm walking back over to
> the dresser for something. She will also pull my socks off the couch
> right after I've taken them off. Really, one day I pulled my socks
> off, turned to put the shoes under my coffee table, and when I turned
> back, not 5 seconds later, the socks were gone. She's good. One of her
> classic clothes relocation incidents happened when we were still in
> training in fall of 2008. I had dropped a pair of socks one day, and
> though I found one almost immediately, I didn't find the other one. At
> that time I didn't know about her clothes relocating tendencies. So I
> looked all around the place for that stray sock, and even brought my
> instructor and one of the house maids into look for the sock with no
> result. It wasn't until I was packing to leave the next day, when I
> was pulling stuff out of the crate she had been using for the last
> week or so, that I found the stray sock in the corner of the crate.
> I'm sure that when I looked at her, she had this total blank look on
> her face like, "What? I didn't do anything." I sat back and laughed. I
> think somehow I knew that she was going to be different than my first
> guide. though my first guide would have moved clothes, he would not
> have stolen a stray sock and kept it for his own benefit. I'm
> convinced that Gucci does htis mainly to be sarcastic and to prove
> that she can. It doesn't matter that I slap the hamper and tell her
> no, she will still pull things out for her and my own enjoyment, or i
> should say for her enjoyment of seeing me go, "Now where did I put
> that thing?" That's a thinking dog for you, grin. I also have to be
> mindful of where she is and where I drop clothes that i'm pulling out
> of the dryer, lest she get a hold of something and relocate it
> somewhere else, grin. Sometimes I'll put her on the tie down chain to
> try and prevent this from happening, only to have her steel a stray
> sockt that I missed and take it somewhere, grin. I have to give her
> credit though, she knows to relocate things to be in my more frequent
> walking paths so that I'll step on it and then do a doubletake. The
> very few times that she's made messes in the apartment, she's done
> them in places that are just outside of my normal walking paths, as if
> she's saying, "hahahaha, this shows you not to neglect me a park time
> or take me out later than usual." that devil, grin.
>
> Wayne
>
> On 3/10/10, Tamara Smith-Kinney <tamara.8024 at comcast.net> wrote:
>> Rox,
>>
>> /lol/  Mill'E is too, too funny!  I wonder if Laveau will pick up some of
>> those ways of entertaining herself?
>>
>> I did some starter teaching with Mitzi on laundry-related tasks, but she
>> just used what I taught her to mess with me or to invent new games.  So
we
>> were entertained, and I didn't have to worry about really training her to
> do
>> actual useful tasks or anything.  /grin/  I keep threatening to do the
> same
>> with Daisy, again to keep her amused.  But I get lazy...  Huh.  We all
> have
>> cabin fever on top of spring fever...
>>
>> I love the towel snapping. /grin/  Are you sure she doesn't think she's
> your
>> teenage brother or something?
>>
>> Mitzi invented a new game with her ball last night.  She stood on the
edge
>> of my bed and bounced it to me so I could catch it and bounce it back.
> That
>> strange, quirky mind of hers will never cease to amaze me.  /smile/
>>
>> Tami Smith-Kinney
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf
>> Of The Pawpower Pack
>> Sent: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 1:16 PM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] always taking the dog was guide dogs
>>
>> Lyn,
>>
>> Mill'E's favorite chore ever! is doing laundry.  Specifically-- she
>> loves emptying the dryer, then crawling in and taking a nap in the
>> warm dryer once it's empty.  She has found ways to keep laundry
>> entertaining; she pulls towels out, and smacks me with the end; same
>> with blue jeans.  She has also figured out how to nudge all the small-
>> clothes into a pile and take them out in bunches rather than one by
>> one.  She loves laundry!
>> I am lucky because I have one "pet" dog-- my twelve-year-old golden
>> Bristol so I already have to look for pet-friendly housing and the
>> landlords don't seem to care.  I do find that it makes things less
>> intense for the dogs if they can have time to just be a dog.  All of
>> my dogs have a fantastic work ethic and love to work.  I want to keep
>> it that way.
>>
>> Rox and the Kitchen Bitches
>> Bristol (retired), Mill'E SD. and Laveau Guide Dog, CGC.
>> "It's wildly irritating to have invented something as revolutionary as
>> sarcasm, only to have it abused by amateurs." -- Christopher Moore
>> pawpower4me at gmail.com
>>
>> Windows Live Only: Brisomania at hotmail.com
>> AIM: Brissysgirl Yahoo: lillebriss
>>
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>
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