[nagdu] Give the Dog a Break!

[Sherry Gomes]

I feel kind of both ways about it.  I live alone and my dogs, current guide
and retired are always with me.  They don't like to be left home by
themselves.  I'll do it occasionally for very brief times.  I work from home
now, but when I worked outside the house and didn't have a retired guide I
took my dog to work everyday, no matter what.  I couldn't leave her home
alone for 8 to 10 hours.  my now retired guide did not like to be left home,
so I never did, unless it was very brief, like 15 to 30 minutes.  So, I do
think you have to consider your dog's personality in making those decisions.
however, at work, I would take my dogs harness of, and though she was still
on leash, she wasn't in that harness mindset.

I left previous dogs home for longer periods of time, but now, if I go
somewhere without my dog and it will be long, like say to a concert, I
either have someone stay at my house with my dogs or take them to my friends
who live nearby.  I'm fortunate, that I live in an area with a lot of puppy
raisers too, and they are always a good source and willing to do dog sitting
very occasionally.



-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of William Burley
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 9:02 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: [nagdu] Give the Dog a Break!

Good morning.

 

I was having a discussion with a fellow guide dog user this morning at the
bank.  We somehow talked about whether you should give your guide a break
from work every now and then.

 

The person's opinion was no as she stated she uses her guide all the
time.even when the dog isn't feeling all that well.  She said that she just
won't work it as much.

 

My opinion is that we should give our dogs a break pretty regularly.  By
this I don't mean leave your dog four days a week or anything, but I do feel
as though the dog does need a break from work.  Their work is more than a
little stressful, even for the most experienced team.  In those instances
where the dog is ill, then I really believe you should give it a break.

 

Beyond the reasons that a dog should learn to be alone at some point as well
as de-stress, leaving the dog at home here and there will allow us to keep
our cane skills up to par.  I think people become overly dependent upon
their guide.even though this is easy, through experience.  But that dog is
just like us and needs a break.

 

What are your thoughts?

 

William Burley

William.burley3 at gmail.com 

 

Facebook and Twitter:  wburley3

Skype:  William.burley69 

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