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

Lyn Gwizdak linda.gwizdak at cox.net
Thu Apr 14 22:01:48 UTC 2011


I know a guy who had a guide who had been reissued.  This dog was with a guy 
who got himself arrested and a jail term and the dog was taken from him and 
my friend got this same dog.  Boy, what stories this dog could have told if 
he could talk!  It was a very nice dog and she worked well for my friend and 
she had a good long working life.

Lyn and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lisa Irving" <lirving1234 at cox.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 1:24 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] should guides be given a second owner if it 
doesn'tworkout with the first owner?


> 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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>
>
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