[nagdu] should guides be given a second owner if it doesn'twork out with the first owner?

[Lisa Irving]

Hi there, Tami and Brittney,

The more I contemplate the re issuance of a guide dog, I keep thinking how 
much it means to me when someone gives me a second chance. Our dogs deserve 
as many chances as we can give them; first time out, or re issued.

Lisa and Bernie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 10:36 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] should guides be given a second owner if it doesn'twork 
out with the first owner?


> Brittney,
>
> I'm glad you asked this question.  That's one of those program policies I
> ran across while researching for owner-training, and my first response to
> the notion was very negative.
>
> Since then, I've heard of enough positive experience with dogs who were
> reissued after being returned to have a more favorable view of the 
> practice.
> Most of what I've heard is from people who have done well with re-issued
> dogs or from people who know people...  /smile/  Still, I get it more now
> and understand the reasoning others have explained, and it does seem to 
> work
> for the most part.  There will certainly be times when it doesn't, but 
> that
> is true of matches in general.
>
> As for whether you're over-reacting...  As a still pretty new and only
> somewhat experienced guide dog handler, also an owner-trainer then
> self-taught handler, I've been observing the attitudes and ways of 
> thinking
> of handlers at or just above my level of experience as closely as I have
> those of the long-timers.  I can watch my peers in that regard to give
> myself a reality check as to how I'm coming along not just in skill but in
> maturity as a handler while I'm learning from those with much more
> experience.
>
> So here's my observation, based not just on myself but on a generalized
> group of other first time handlers going through or just coming past the
> team building phase:  We over-react.  To everything.  /lol/  The good, the
> bad, the mundane...  It is all new and exciting and frightening and
> wonderful and awful, all beyond belief.  We popped out to dinner just this
> evening, and at the restaurant there was just this one little thing that 
> no
> one would have noticed beyond our table...  Outwardly, I remained calm and
> responded correctly and it was all okay.  Inwardly, what did I do?  /lol/
> OMG!  How can this be?  What can it mean?  Oh, no, this is so terrible!
> Then I noticed nothing had actually happened that was worth all the fuss 
> and
> got over it.  /smile/  More and more, it's all old hat, but apparently I 
> can
> still freak out just fine over absolutely nothing.
>
> As for working through bad habits in your re-issue dog...  I think others
> are right in their observations that during the first year or so, there 
> will
> always be something that will make you absolutely crazy about your dog. 
> In
> your first dog, these will be far more magnified in your own mind than in
> those you work with later on as a truly experience dhandler.  The bad 
> habits
> need to be dealt with and modified, certainly, but it's not really habit 
> for
> you yet to deal with those ups and downs.  So you really have to think 
> your
> way through it and notice every little thing and try to figure out how to
> counteract and...  Well, on and on.  It just takes awhile for all of that 
> to
> become havit and natural.  I've only been there for a short while -- with
> minor blips where I freak out over nothing -- and that sure is nice!
>
> Good luck with your dog; sounds like you're coming through the tream
> building phase and are starting on the next one -- which is where it all
> falls together and you're just you working your guide.  /smile/  I'm 
> loving
> that, and trying to hold onto that feeling as I move into the taking it 
> all
> for granted phase.
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Brittney N. Mejico
> Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 3:20 PM
> To: the National Association of Guide Dog Users NAGDU Mailing List
> Subject: [nagdu] should guides be given a second owner if it doesn't work
> out with the first owner?
>
> Hello all,
> My dog had another handler before me.  I don't think that guides should be
> given another handlerbecause the dog picksup a lot of bad habits and they
> are  really hard to get rid of.  I love my  dog very muchand harvard has
> changed my life, but it took me a year to stop a lot of her bad habbits, 
> and
> we still have some work to do.  What do you guys think? am I over 
> reacting?
>
>
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