[nagdu] Dogs Off Leash

[Tracy Carcione]

There aren't any dog parks anywhere near my home, so it's a moot point,
but it seems to me that, if I were to take Ben to one, I'd have to have
faith in my neighbors judgement of their own dogs.  Twice recently, I've
let Ben meet neighbors' dogs, who they said were very nice, and those dogs
have snapped at Ben.  One of them snarled at him, and got close enough to
have spit on his ear.  It's made Ben a bit wary of strangers.  Maybe
there's something about his cocky Bubbatude that rubs some dogs the wrong
way.  He gets along with other dogs just fine.  Too bad there aren't any
other guide dogs handy; they're just the kind of non-aggressive playmate
Benny would enjoy.
A friend of mine takes her dog to a dog park in Manhattan with no
problems.  City dogs do tend to be well-socialized.  But it seems a bit
chancy to me. I don't want my sweet boy to get snapped at, or to get more
nervous of other dogs than he is.
Tracy

> Gary,
> I'll add too that you are lucky to have a partner that is both interested
> in helping you assess safe off-leash areas, and who's judgement you trust
> in that regard.
> My husband is great in many ways. He made a wonderful dinner for us last
> night.  He got us a gift I'd been wanting.  We had a fun evening after our
> daughter went to bed.  There is something we are going to go see this
> weekend and he knows how much it means to me and how much our daughter
> needs to see it even though she may or may not remember or understand. But
> my God, I would never trust his ability to assess the safety of an
> off-leash situation, nor would I trust him to respond appropriately should
> my dog (no guys, I don't have a dog at the moment) do something silly.
>
> Just saying this so that you don't assume the rest of us are heartless
> bastards that could care less about our dogs' happiness.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of GARY STEEVES
> Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 4:44 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Dogs Off Leash
>
> Hi Wayne
>
> You make some good points. All the places I take bogart off leash are
> defined off leash areas be that parks or trails   that we hike on. The off
> leash park we use the most is in a bit of a bowl of a field with 3 of the
> 4 sides being a short sharp hill. The bottom of the field is our sea walk.
> The only danger I worry about here is bikes but bogart has also
> demonstrated his wisdom in not venturing onto the paved pathways.  But
> being sure about trafic safety for off leash adventures is very wise and
> goes with what I was saying about using ones brain to assess the risks.
> There will always be a risk but I cannot have my dog leashed at all times
> since he would never get the exercise he requires. Therefore I identify
> safe areas for us to do this in.
>
> Gary
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Wayne Merritt <wcmerritt at gmail.com>
> Date: Tuesday, August 16, 2011 12:24 pm
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Dogs Off Leash
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>
>> Letting your dog be a dog is all well and good, just don't lose your
>> common sense while you do it. For instance, don't let your dog run
>> free in a park, that just happens to be sitting by a moderately busy
>> street. One of the things that they do at The Seeing eye during
>> training is read a letter bya  former graduate. The
>> graduate said that
>> he knows the area, knows that there's no traffic where he lives, but
>> in a moment when he assumed that things were fine and there was no
>> traffic, his dog got out, ran toward the road, and there just happened
>> to be a car coming. After you hear one of these letters once or twice,
>> you begin to have seconds thoughts about letting the dog run free.
>>
>> Wayne
>>
>> On 8/16/11, Larry D. Keeler <lkeeler at comcast.net> wrote:
>> > I think those program folks don't want you "or them" to lose a
>> valuable dog!
>> >  I think its great to let dogs be dogs once in awhile!
>> > Intelligence is always claimed but rarely proven!
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>>
>> --
>> Follow me on Twitter at:
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>> My websites:
>> www.wayneism.com
>> www.whitecaneday.org
>>
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