[nagdu] Italian greyhound guide dog?

[Julie J]

Meghan,

Thank you!
In all honesty when I had my little Italian Greyhound I was losing a lot of 
my vision.  I never trained him to do any guide work, but I was able to get 
a lot of assistance with navigating my environment with that little dog. 
This was before I owned a cane.  I could watch his movements to see where 
there was a step or something to go around.  I just let him walk a bit ahead 
of me on leash.
I never consciously recognized what I was doing until much, much later.  I 
never considered that little dog any sort of service dog.  but if a person 
was legally blind and a small dog could assist  them in this way, I 
shouldn't judge whether that is right or wrong.  I see it as sort of the 
large print option.  It does work for some people.

Julie



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Meghan Whalen" <mewhalen at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2010 8:31 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Italian greyhound guide dog?


>I don't think it is too fortunate that we are trapped in a society which is 
>so hypercritical...
>
> It's possible the news reporter doesn't know what he/she is talking about 
> and the breed is listed wrong.  I'm sure that this man loves and cares for 
> his dog and is aware of the needs of the breed.  I know of folks in the 
> New Orleans area who work full-sized greyhounds as guides, and they're 
> doing just fine.
>
> The article stated that the dog was wearing a blue harness, so it probably 
> isn't leather, and he's probably not wearing the dog ragged.
>
> It's not fare to criticize and scrutinize someone who has no chance to 
> defend himself or his situation.  Before large breed dogs were commonly 
> used as guides, there were small terriers doing the work in a different 
> fashion. As long as the dog is safely completing its tasks, whether he or 
> she is or isn't a large dog, we need to step back and hold our tongues. 
> There are small seizure alert dogs who don't get stepped on.  There are 
> small hearing dogs etc.  I'm sure he looks out for and caders to the 
> well-being of his dog, regardless of the program he went through.  I do 
> understand that pulling in a harness is harder on the body than alerting 
> to sounds etc, but again, I'm sure he's taken that into consideration.
>
> Just my thoughts, and you can cast them aside if you choose.
>
> Meghan
>
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