[nagdu] Dog IDs

[Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)]

Larry, 
My first dog shed like there was no tomorrow. I could have brushed her all day every day and nothing would have helped. 
I suspect now that she had an underlying medical condition.  Note the word "now" in that last sentence. When I got her, I was told she was in "perfect health".  I was also eighteen years old.  I honestly didn't know that guide dogs could have chronic health issues, and I certainly didn't know that they'd be issued with one. 

I say all this because you are considerably older then I when you got your first dog.  You also seem to have more resources then I did, this list being one of them. Your age and experience perhaps being another. 

My point is that sometimes you can be in a situation with a dog, feel in your gut that something "isn't right" do all you know to resolve the issue and be told that you are the dumb one. 
When I asked about Cayenne's shedding, the vet, as well as people I trusted, they all said "You just need to brush her more". 
And I did brush her. 
I hope you are never in such a situation. It's horrible. You question what you know to be true. You question your abilities to handle a dog. You get comments like the ones you yourself have written.  It sucks like few things do. 

Please be kind to those you deal with. You don't have to like or agree, but please be kind.

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Larry D. Keeler
Sent: Monday, August 01, 2011 9:11 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] Dog IDs

Sorry, that was an example of just bad behavior.  I mentioned it because sometimes folks that do that kind of thing reflect on us.  In that example, he didn't groom his dog properly and whenI got hHolly and went to the same restraunt he did, I heard the owner mention that Holly was clean unlike that other dog that came in!  My real point about IDs is that to many people are slipping dogs under the radar as service dogs when they are not.  A story told by a disc jocky in the Ann Arbor area points this out.  He was flying somewhere and a woman sitting next to him had a miniture poodle on her lap.  I love those things and when I was a teenager, I used to breed them.  I went to Pilot precisely because they bred poodles!  The woman claimed that she needed the woman for emotional support because she was scared of flying.  Apparently, the plane hit turbulance and she didn't even reach for the dog.  To all appearances, it sure seemed like the dog was claimed that way to get out of paying for it to ride underneath.  A couple of weeks after that, on one of the Detroit tv stations, they showed a article on people doing this sort of thing.  The article included a segment on things such as buying harnesses, vests and IDs on the internet!  My daughter has a friend who claims her dog is a hearing assistant.  She baught a vest for 40 dollars at a store.  The thing is a Jack Russel terrier and I have seen it!  It barely knows obedience training!  
Intelligence is always claimed but rarely proven!
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