[nagdu] moderator notes

[Dan Weiner]

So let's see...some dogs had fleas and therefore the rule is not to leave
your dogs unattended?
Explain that one.

Dan W.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Julie J.
Sent: Thursday, June 30, 2011 6:42 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] moderator notes

Hey all!

Wow!   There are a ton of messages.  I haven't read through all of them 
yet.  I will.  In the meantime I wanted to interject a few things.

first and foremost, some of the messages have had a tone that is bordering
on rude.  I am a very, very, strong advocate of letting people speak their
mind.  However the writer *must* always be polite and keep 
the message          on thoughts, ideas, facts or plans.  It is 
absolutely not okay to flame an individual or even an organization.  Now
before people go all crazy on me, please disagree to your hearts content.
Please tell us all the things you don't like about the NFB.  
I'm all ears, but where I draw the line is when constructive      
critisism turns into just plain whining or worse.

So explain why it is that you don't agree with the policy.  Tell us an
alternative that could work just as well or better to solve the problem of
barking and other problems with guide dogs left unattended in hotel rooms.
Tell us what you have done to ensure that your dog isn't barking even when
you are not there to know for sure.

I also think it's important for people to know the history behind this rule.
It hasn't always been a policy of NAGDU and the NFB.  Many years ago at an
NFB convention in a very nice hotel that had given us very nice room rates,
guide dogs came that had fleas and were generally a huge problem.  This
hotel would not host our conventions ever again after their horrible
experience.  It turns out that hotels, just like all other sectors of
commerce, talk amongst each other.  It got around that guide dogs at
convention were a problem.  Other hotels were very reluctant if not outright
opposed to hosting our conventions.  You will 
notice that NFB conventions get very, very good room rates.   A hotel 
cannot deny a guest with a guide dog access, but when you are talking about
an entire convention you are talking about a very different thing.  The
excellent room rates were in jeopardy.  So NAGDU and the NFB came up with
the plan to self regulate guide dog problems in order that the hotel would
continue to give us the low room rates.  This is why you are asked to not
leave your dog unattended, to clean up accidents or to 
get a NFB affiliated person to assist instead of hotel      staff.  
These policies were not dreamt up to single out guide dog users or to make
our lives more difficult.  They were drafted after problems occurred that
were affecting the entire organization.  So if there had been no fleas in
the first place or no dogs barking like crazy in hotel rooms, we would not
have these policies and would not be having this discussion right now.

Thanks for making this list great!
Julie
NAGDU list moderator


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