[nagdu] Crisis Averted!

Sun Feb 6 20:21:17 UTC 2011

Hahahaha, is that a Pit Bull?  I had someone once ask me if my brindle boxer
was a "baby tiger?"

 Dixie
~  @-> ~ <-@  ~

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Tamara Smith-Kinney
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2011 1:25 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Crisis Averted!

Julie,

Most of the time, I'm used to it, and have my pat answers to the usual
questions and comments to deliver with a smile without having to put in much
effort.  People are pretty good about keeping their hands to themselves,
since GDB has the populace pretty well trained, but they do flock to the
Adorable One.  I swear there are days Mitzi sends out some sort of
irresistable magnetic force.  /lol/  I've had friends like that, and it used
to crack me up all the attention they would get and graciously handle much
the way Mitzi does just by walking down the street.  With them, however, I
could just sort of blend into the background and watch the show.  I didn't
have to stand around and answer questions for them.  /lol/  I'm more of a
people watcher or a listener than a center of attention type, so I'm still
not entirely comfortable knowing I'm part of a traveling show.  Then there
are those days when one is in a funk and doesn't want to smile and wave like
a bleeping prom queen in the local parade.  /smile/

So I decided to let Mitzi's tail grow out some, first in the pom pom, which
saves saying, "She's a poodle" every third step, since the people who would
be asking are telling others for me.  Which cracks me up until it starts to
give me the willies because everybody is watching, or so it seems.  Also, I
think the pom pom is ridiculous!  So now I'm growing it out into a fan tail,
which can be combed out into a fan shape or combed down to resemble a waving
horsey type tail -- say like that of a happy Arabian.  So I must have that,
naturally.  Only it works really well on some of the poodles I know with the
thinner, more wiry show coat.  Only Mitzi has a super thick, soft working
coat that you can get lost in (literally if you put off grooming a couple of
extra weeks).  It's getting pretty long, but does not comb out straight and
fall nicely in to a horsey-tail fan.  In silhouette, it looks more like a
Japanese paper fan or a French fan or some such.  Before it starts returning
to something more like a pouf.  I keep trying, in case I can get it figured
out.

Only people now walk behind me giggling!  Mitzi's expressive with that tail
-- I call it her happy meter -- and apparently even when we're just going
along doing normal guide dog stuff like forward, left, right, halt like we
know what we're doing, the tail is carrying on a separate life of it's own.
/lol/  Took me forever to figure out what the giggling was about.  I had
become convinced there was a traveling mime troupe in the area that just
happened to be performing somewhere in front of me wherever I went.  What a
great thing!  I could pretend I was in Paris!  That is just so...  Then
finally someone went from giggling to gushing...  I caught the words
"poodle" and "service dog".  Oh, you have got to be kidding me!  I did a lot
of checking out what we could possibly be doing that was so hilarious and
was please to discover that we were both in proper position and that I was
much more aware of her position throughout the length of her body than I
realized, because we do that without thinking now.  Never thought that would
happen!

Took me three weeks to figure out what the cause of all the public hysteria
was.  That freaking fan tail.  OMG!  I do not know what to do.  Do I go back
to having the tail cut short like the rest of her coat, in which case it
looks like a docked retrieving breed tail?  (Is that a Portugese Water Dog?
No, she's a poodle!)  Do I go back to a small pom pom to answer the question
on everyone's mind?  Ugh!  I mean, of course, it's cute on her, but...  

When I was choosing a dog breed and then a dog, it did not occur to me, not
once, that I need to include "not cute" in my specs.  I swear!  Maybe part
of the problem is the absurdly weirdly wonderful (most of the time) culture
around here, especially in the Portland Metro area, but still!  What kind of
self-respecting guide dog user spends months of her life trying to solve the
dilemma of what to do about her guide dog's tale?

If I ever get the budget to travel just because, I want to go to New York or
Boston or somewhere else with a reputation for unfriendlines, just to see
what happens.

For the record, someone did once ask me, nervously, if my dog is a pit bull.
For one wild moment, while I supressed my own outburst of hilarity, I
thought of saying yes.  She's the curly, skinny variety with the long pointy
head and nose.  They're the *really* dangerous ones.  I didn't, but it would
have been fun.  /lol/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Julie J
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2011 9:48 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Crisis Averted!

Tami,

I've had a few people think Monty is a pit bull, but then again I've had 
people think my long ago pet Beagle was a pit bull. *smile*   I can't 
remember anyone running screaming when they see Monty, but I also don't get 
a lot of interference when he's along.  I get a lot of comments about how 
beautiful he is, but it's rare that anyone gets real close or touches him 
without asking.  I should say tries to touch him without asking because he 
will duck petting from strangers.

I appreciate this more than words can express.  I don't think I could ever 
work with a Golden Retriever because I don't think I could deal with the 
unwanted attention.

Julie

----- 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: Sunday, February 06, 2011 11:33 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Crisis Averted!

> Doug,
>
> There have been a couple times when Mitzi's been in super rock star mode,
> I've actually found myself standing around waiting for her adoring fans to
> let her move on the adoring fans waiting just ahead and actively mulling
> over the pit bull option.  /lol/  I might be a nice change to have people
> run screaming out of my path everywhere I go.
>
> No, I'm not seriously going to do any such thing!  Not because I think one
> couldn't get a pit with a suitable temperament, but the public reactions
> would be a nightmare, and you would have to put in so many added safety
> precautions and this and that to protect the dog from the public and the
> public from the dog (they are heavy machinery, so a boo boo can be
> disastrous) that it wouldn't be worth going anywhere with it.  Plus, I do
> strongly believe that due to the power of the breed, you need to be 
> neurotic
> about your fences and stuff if you're going to have one as a pet, even if
> it's the sweetest creature on earth.  I'm too lazy!  /lol/
>
> Just saying.  Using one would give you the sidewalk, bike lane, middle of
> the freeway, pretty much every path you want to walk, all too yourself.
> /evil grin/
>
> Tami Smith-Kinney
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Doug Parisian
> Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2011 8:50 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Crisis Averted!
>
> I suspect the answer for not training certain dog breeds to perform 
> specific
>
> tasks, whether that be working as a guide, therapy dog, bomb and drug
> detection, police work, etc--these tasks require specific temperaments not
> found in many breeds.
>
> Doug: Ya think many folks would want to pet my guide pitbull?
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Alysha" <anjeans at att.net>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2011 8:35 AM
> Subject: [nagdu] Crisis Averted!
>
>
>> Hi everyone,
>> I just wanted to give you a quick update on my issue with my coworker's
>> allergies. We bought 6 air purifiers that we scattered all around our
>> working space, and they seem to have done the trick. He's no longer, to 
>> my
>
>> knowledge, complaining of any allergy-related symptoms, and management 
>> has
>
>> assured me that me and my dog won't be restricted from common areas in 
>> the
>
>> building. So thank you all for your responses, and I'm so relieved this
>> turned out alright! I wonder why guide dog schools don't train more
>> hypoallergenic breeds to prevent these things from happening altogether.
>>
>> Alysha
>> _______________________________________________
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>
>
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