[nagdu] Reasonable Accommodation?

Mon Sep 6 13:36:16 UTC 2010

How about using a retractible leash?  Then wehn you feel the dog going far, you can pull it in or press the button down to stop the leash from unwinding.  Then the land owners will be happy with the dog on leash.

--- On Sat, 9/4/10, Tamara Smith-Kinney <tamara.8024 at comcast.net> wrote:

> From: Tamara Smith-Kinney <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
> Subject: [nagdu] Reasonable Accommodation?
> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Saturday, September 4, 2010, 8:31 PM
> Er...  Is there a secret key to
> requesting reasonable accommodation under
> the FHA (we're talking a single rule in this case)?
> 
> In other words, can I just write a quick letter saying I
> need to do X with
> my dog so I am requesting ye olde reasonable
> accommodation?  And that's
> that?
> 
> Er...  Um...  What if the reason I need
> reasonable accommodation in this
> case is because the people I'm requesting it from have not
> met their legal
> and contractual responsbilities when it comes to the safety
> of the land we
> rent from them for the home we own...
> 
> This is Oregon, BTW.  Dealing with it directly by,
> say, hiring an attorney
> and stuff like that is not, as near as anyone I know has
> ever discovered,
> will not happen.  Some of the people I know and have
> discussed such matters
> with are working feverishly to do something about Oregon
> landlord/tenant law
> while trying to provide advocacy for tenants, but the
> problem is so hopeless
> and so overwhelming that they just come out and tell you
> that the best they
> can do is to give you a list of numbers to call but that
> nobody at the other
> end of those numbers will do a dange thing.
> 
> So...  We fenced off our backyard, after getting
> proper approval and such
> when we purchased the house, and they promised they would
> fix the back yard
> so it was safe to walk around on and ready for us to
> landscape.  This would
> required heavy equipment and the like but they would get it
> in and do it
> before we moved in.  Also, of course, they would get
> the trees removed,
> since they create a safety hazard for me especially and
> since we included
> the removal of those trees in our purchase contract. 
> We purchased the home
> from the landowners we rent the lot from.
> 
> Anyway, a year and a half later, and I still cannot
> exercise with the dogs
> in the backyard.  So I need reasonable accommodation
> to do so with Mitzi in
> my front yard, which is safe for both of us, except for no
> fence between us
> and the street.  Side street, limited traffic, most of
> it slow, but still!
> Mitzi is off leash and boundary trained -- although she
> will still push the
> envelope a bit on the boundaries, then turn around and run
> back.  At the age
> of 4, she's got it down to 4 feet (hers, as opposed to one
> toe) over the
> line, and then hardly ever.  So it's our safest option
> to get the exercise
> we both need without having to risk death going to a dog
> park, since they
> are now belatedly upgrading the infrastructure out here to
> accommodate the
> population, so it's crazy out there.  /smile/
> 
> Anyway, I'm feeling quite lost in it all because as far as
> the park manger
> (the one who is supposed to be getting the work done) is
> concerned, I am
> breaking a rule by playing with my dog in my own front
> yard, which he
> translates as letting her run loose around the entire
> park.  Er...  I did
> attempt to discuss the situation, and DD has done so as
> well, but they
> called the Oregon Commission for the Blind about
> it...  And I think GDB,
> too, though I can't remember for sure.  I thought I
> made it clear it had
> nothing to do with my blindness or Mitzi's work as a guide
> dog, beyond the
> added value of her training, which they are crazy to think
> I will endanger
> just willy nilly...  
> 
> There is also, apparently, an issue with Mitzi's being
> off-leash in the
> front yard because of Daisy.  Who has nothing to do
> with it and is *never*
> off leash anywhere except in the house, the back yard or
> the car.
> Nevertheless, last I heard, my playing/training/exercising
> my poodle in my
> own front yard is a terrible, terrible problem and danger
> because we can't
> have Daisy loose out there.
> 
> I will remind you, I live in Oregon.  There is not a
> dang thing I can do or
> anyone to call or write on the state level who will do
> anything or even
> record the call or put my letter in a file ... Very much
> the same as with
> OCB.   Well, since I'm blind and my dog also
> happens to be a guide dog when
> she's working, I can get referred to the OCB or to
> GDB...  /lol/  Even when
> it's clearly not a blindness or guide dog related
> issue.  And even if it
> was, my dog is not from GDB, so...  I can't quite
> figure out how they come
> into it, except that they happen to be there and I happen
> to have a guide
> dog.  /lol/
> 
> I've been asking around here and there to see if maybe some
> randome person
> will know something I don't that will make the way things
> are around here
> make sense...More than one such random human has suggested
> I call OCB and
> GDB, seeming quite assured that that will take care of
> everything...  OCB is
> militant in protecting information relating to blindness or
> blindness
> issues, although a sighted person can't be expected to know
> that, I guess.
> 
> As for GDB...  Have I been living this close to them
> all this time without
> ever catching on that they're actually Hogwarts? 
> /lol/  Even if I did call
> them about the issue, why would they possibley care? 
> Or why would they
> assume that I am not a crackpot myself, on the basis that I
> have called them
> out of the blue about an issue that has nothing to do with
> them or one of
> their dogs or anything, with the expectation that they will
> fix it?
> 
> Now that I have attempted to ask the question and try to
> outline the
> situation, I am feeling like a crazy crackpot, so I guess
> I'll have my guide
> dog take me to the store and hope we live to tell the
> tale...  It's not the
> traffic on Farmington that's the problem, I have
> decided.  It's the people
> driving the traffic...  Also since there is nowhere to
> walk but the bike
> lane most of the way, and since drivers assume the bike
> lane is there for
> them to pass on...  Whaddaya do? /smile/
> 
> Tami Smith-Kinney
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> On Behalf
> Of Sherri
> Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 7:12 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide
> Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] harness pouch
> 
> Thank you. That's where mine came from too, however, it is
> worn out. 
> Perhaps a harness pouch with the NFB logo and a picture of
> a dog or 
> something like that would be a good item that NAGDU could
> sell for 
> fund-raising as well.
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Charlene Ota" <caota at hawaii.rr.com>
> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide
> Dog Users'" 
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, September 03, 2010 10:01 PM
> Subject: [nagdu] harness pouch
> 
> 
> > Sherri, just to let you know, I found out that the
> harness pouch that I 
> > was
> > given is actually the sign that says something like
> "Don't pet working 
> > dog"
> > and it was purchased from Guide Dogs Incorporated for
> $20. The sign is a
> > small pouch that fits over the harness with two
> straps. The pouch has 
> > GDUI's
> > logo on it but I don't think the sign does and thsign
> is basically a small
> > pouch in itself and has room enough for pooh bags and
> maybe a foldable 
> > water
> > bowl or things like that.
> >
> > That's about all I know. I'm not sure where else to
> get harness pouchs or
> > signs like it.
> > _______________________________________________
> > nagdu mailing list
> > nagdu at nfbnet.org
> > http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> > To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your
> account info for 
> > nagdu:
> >
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/flmom2006%40gmail.com
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your
> account info for nagdu:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/tamara.8024%40comcast
> .net
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your
> account info for nagdu:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/william.odonnell1%40yahoo.com
> 