[nagdu] importance of education on guide/assistance dogs

Thu Nov 10 00:05:26 UTC 2011

If you don't have an I-phone, well, you don't have an I-phone!!  I don't 
have one iether.  I like the Haven myself.  I don't have to look up 
everything while trying to snooze on the bus!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)" <REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2011 3:18 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] importance of education on guide/assistance dogs


> Rob, you must not have an Iphone.  I've seen people lust after those 
> things, wanting to touch, see how it works, can yours do what mine does, 
> stuff like that.
> And people do touch children, though maybe not as much with a guy present.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf 
> Of Robert Hooper
> Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2011 4:48 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] importance of education on guide/assistance dogs
>
> Hello Bibi and others:
>
> I might as well use this subject line to build upon your thoughts by 
> providing some of my own. Luckily, I have experienced few annoying 
> uneducated citizen issues, but I have definitely had my share. A few days 
> ago, I was standing outside the university library, in the midst of a 
> serious conversation with my friend about something or other 
> class-related. Some individual, as he walks between us, seems to pay no 
> heed to the fact that I was preoccupied and asks "Can I pet him". My 
> response, tailored to the situation was a short, "no".
> There was another such time when I was standing outside the library in 
> order to take a phone call and once again I was interrupted as though I 
> had nothing better to do than stand around and grant peoples' wishes to 
> molest my dog. I understand those who may be "dog" people, and I 
> enthusiastically include myself in that crowd. However, my patience is 
> very thin when it comes to people's lack of common courtesy. They don't 
> fondle the phone they see in my hand, why should they fondle my dog? They 
> don't fondle others' children, why should they fondle my dog? Somebody 
> once saw me correct my dog--this person was a bus driver. He didn't even 
> ask for an explanation, but after I had boarded, I explained to him what I 
> did and why. I am glad to educate people and inform them of the various 
> things I do and why, but I am very short with those who don't even have 
> the manners to ask before they potentially cause me to blunder into a 
> light pole with their ignorant distractions.
> Sorry for what no-doubt seems like an abrasive rant, but I have had a long 
> day and I enjoy topics such as these.
>
> Robert Hooper
> Hooper.90 at buckeyemail.osu.edu
> The Ohio State University
> 0653 Buckeye-Cuyahoga CT
> 653 Cuyahoga Court
> Columbus, Ohio 43210
> (740) 856-8195
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf 
> Of Criminal Justice Major Extraordinaire
> Sent: Thursday, November 03, 2011 2:01 PM
> To: ";"
> Subject: [nagdu] importance of education on guide/assistance dogs
>
> Hi, all,
> Since I've posted about the situation I've been in for a while which was 
> having to fight my apartment complex so I can get a successor guide dog 
> when that time is right, I figured to get another subject line going.
> Can't remember exactly which lists there's been a discussion on certified 
> and no certified service dogs, so here it goes.
> *Smiles*
> When I did some initial research on the service dog law here in Colorado, 
> I've began to realize that the law isn't publicly well-known, meaning not 
> everyone is aware of it.
> If the protection law was more well-known or made aware of, there would be 
> lesser problems of interfierence from people and other pet owners as a 
> whole, interrupting a guide/assistance dog's job.
> My next approach that I'll be taking is to speak with the denver Office of 
> Disability Rights Commision to express the important part of a working dog 
> in the hopes that I can also contact my senator and Governor Hickenlooper 
> here in Colorado.
> My ultimate goal is I can try to get the service dog law to be officially 
> past so it is an actual bill for the whole state of Colorado.
> This is not just for me, but for others too as I want to make sure they 
> don't have to put up with unnecessary harassment or problems.
> Another good example of why I decided to write about this?
> My friend, Amanda Dreher happened to be inside of a Chase bank here in 
> downtown Denver on the 16th Street Mall a couple days ago at an ATM 
> machine.
> She had her hearing dog Louie in a sit stay position until an unknown lady 
> approached Louie, started talking to him, petting him and not bothering to 
> read his orange vest which clearly states "hearing dog, please do not 
> pet."
> The lady didn't care and still did it anyway.
> That caused Louie to get up and become distracted, leaving my friend 
> Amanda Dreher angry and annoyed.
> What makes me irritated and disgusted with people is when they have the 
> nerve to ask "Is The Dog In Training?"
> If it was true that a service dog would be in training, they would have a 
> vest that actually says such and such in training.
> louie's vest doesn't state that he's in training, but a hearing dog.
> I've had people ask me the same question when Odie wears his medical alert 
> service dog vest, despite that one patch says medical alert and another 
> one says please do not pet.
> Louie was trained at International Hearing Dogs out here in Henderson, 
> Colorado and they do issue identiication cards to their clients.
> The identification cards are the same thing which those who do use guide 
> dogs automatically get from their guide dog school of choice.
> Truth is that I sometimes want to say to people who continuously decide to 
> behave rediculously when they ask the question I mentioned above and say, 
> "Why is that your concern?"
> I know that would be rude of me to do so, but after a while, you feel as 
> if you've had enough.
> One tactic I've come up with and this is something that neither guide dog 
> school have taught anyone as a whole is to put my left hand and arm over 
> Odie's head, creating a barrier to indicate I don't want people just 
> coming up out of nowhere and making attemps or even touching him withoutt 
> my permission.
> Even back when Odie was a guide dog, I still did the same thing.
> My husband, dale noticed when I'd do that and he told me that was my way 
> of going into defense mode and being on the ready for an unknown hand to 
> come at our four-legged furry partner.
> Back to the law, my friend Natalie and I have been talking about it a lot 
> and I've told her directly of the next plan I have in the hopes I can get 
> the Chief of Police, Disability Rights Commission and Downtown denver 
> Partnership along with myself to work on strengthening that law.
> I've also encouraged Natalie by letting her know she'd definitely be 
> welcomed to help me out with accomplishing this task as well.
> It seems weird that with older states here in the US, laws are more 
> stricter and service dog protection is more well-known than here in 
> Colorado.
> Although Colorado is yunger than some states, I do agree that there 
> shouldn't be an excuse for the law not being tougher and it can happen.
> I'll admit that when people have tried to come up and mess with Odie, he'd 
> clearly make it known when he didn't want to be bothered, especially after 
> a long day of traveling.
> He would display that directly on his face upon turning away from an 
> individual or moving around to let them know they need to back off and 
> leave.
> So, I'll be doing some more research to get in contact with Senator 
> Michael Bennett so I can speak with him directly and try to give him and 
> others the information I've found.
> All right...
> Another confession time here and this one has nothing to do with special 
> treatment.
> Earlier this year during the time I had encountered my second seizure 
> (technically the third one) on june 16, 2011 ten or eleven hours apart 
> after the first one, Dale wanted to get Odie into the medical alert 
> service dog vest before we went downstairs to the waiting ambulance.
> Both fire department and paramedics told us there was no time to get the 
> vest on and just quickly slip on a leash and collar with identification 
> tags.
> Luckily, denver Health Medical knows Odie very well and since I worked 
> hard on keeping him in tackt to be sure he stayed well-behaved, they still 
> knew that he was a working dog, even withoutt his vest on.
> The security guards and staff on the hospital grounds gave us no trouble 
> nor did they say a word about Odie being there in the buildings with my 
> husband as they had to go over to the pharmacy to grab my seizure meds 
> while I remained in the emergency room.
>
>
> Because of that type of circumstance, I know there will be listers who 
> might feel that was special treatment, but truth is that there was no 
> special treatment involved or brought upon by the fire department or 
> paramedics in that situation.
> It was more they were concerned that if I didn't get the medical 
> treatment, the convulsive grandmal seizure would have killed me right on 
> the spot.
> Yes, Odie for the most part does have his medical alert vest on when he 
> goes with Dale or I.
> Just my thoughts on this one.
> Bibi and Odie
> the happy spirited bounty labra wolf
>
>
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