[nagdu] State Convention

[Tami Kinney]

Sheila,

Bruises, I have discovered, are a good incentive to learn to stop when 
the dog stops so you don't get anymore. /lol/ Or to zig when your dog 
does instead of zagging into the pole she was leading you around. Even 
if you managed to avoid the bruises, you can always experience public 
embarrassment until you learn to follow the dog. /lol/ I have also 
noticed that my dog does much better work when I actually follow her. 
Coincidence? Ha! /lol/

Well, as a backcountry, mountain ranch kid, I learned the secret to 
equitation that applies here, too. The key to keeping oneself in one 
piece is not to keep the horse between you and the ground, but to know 
how to land when the horse removes itself. /lol/ Sometimes, knowing when 
to remove oneself from the horse mid bolt because you know how to land 
can be a real good thing, too. /lol/ So I have lots of practice for 
zipping along at poodle speed, having managed only a sprained ankel as 
the worst consequence of not stopping when the dog did. Whew! Actually, 
I like poodle speed, because I need to focus more on my center of 
gravity  -- as I did in equitation -- to keep up and move with her. So 
it's like a dance and very like that unity of movement I love in riding. 
I am also more motivated to pay attention not to run into stuff by not 
following my dog, since it would hurt a lot more at our favorite fast 
clip. It's when we slow down to walk with the strolling crowd that we 
get into trouble. /lol/

Tami

On 11/08/2011 12:38 PM, Sheila Leigland wrote:
> Tami I have been stupid a time or two with a dog. When I was in training with my first dog, he would stop at those parking things that are supposed to slow down cars and I didn't for a total of theree times I finally figured out that when my dog stopped maybe it would be a good thing to do the same. I also got tired of the bruises. My trainer told me I was learning to fall graciously. One after coming home with my dog he stopped at a bunch of steps and my son who was with us said dah your dog stopped mom. That one would have been a long way down.
>
> Sheila Leigland
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tami Kinney<tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 12:52 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,	the National Association of Guide Dog Users<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] State Convention
>
> Yeah, it's a real hoot romping around with cane users and your guide
> dog. /lol/ Especially when everybody likes to experiment and compare
> notes and find new and clever ways of dealing with ordinary O&M
> problems. Er... Unless you happen to be the cane user who gets excited
> over a new technique and starts using it on the fly without learning to
> adjust for it first. Ouch! Well, one way to learn how to use a new
> technique to avoid obstacles is to run into one a full tilt. The
> advantage of being the dog user in such a free wheeling crowd is that
> your dog has more sense and will not allow you to get hurt from your own
> stupidity. /lol/
>
> Tami 11/07/2011 06:50 PM, Larry D. Keeler wrote:
>> Yah, this sort of appropriat for this list.  Our state convention was in Kalamazoo last weekend.  Three members from our chapter went to Kalamazoo by train.  While there I introduced the idea of forming a guide dog division like many of y'all have in New York for instancee.  I may very well have enough interest as well!  But, that is not what this is about!  My 2 friends are cane users so I sort of wondered what it might be like to work cane and dog together as a team.  Not me with a cane in my hand and also a dog but using what the dog knows in tandem with what can be found with the cane.  It was pretty fun!  I would have the cane folks find which driveway we were supposed to go up and then I would have them follow me when I told Holly to find in! They did the shore lining and I did the door finding.  Also, when I was in front I could tell them when something was coming up and which way to veer so they didn't bang it.  Using both skills in a group was really interesting a
n
> d neat!
>> Intelligence is always claimed but rarely proven!
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