[nagdu] Crisis Averted!

Doug Parisian eggmann at mts.net
Sun Feb 6 20:29:08 UTC 2011 

Sure hope you said yes to that stupidity.

Doug: I've got a Tiger by the tail.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dixie" <blueherons at sbcglobal.net>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 06, 2011 2:21 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Crisis Averted!


> 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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