[nagdu] Give the Dog a Break!

William Burley william.burley3 at gmail.com
Thu Oct 13 07:49:47 UTC 2011


Julie,

I agree.  During training we were encouraged to give the dogs down time
beyond just them being ill.  

I think we forget that these dogs aren't human, aren't super heroes, etc.
Now before I get slapped in e-mail, I'm only saying this because it is hard
to remember these dogs are just that...dogs.  I have to consistently remind
myself.  

Everyone's definition of when and where to break is rightly different
according to the dog and situation...but none of these animals can be worked
into the ground.  It's all about finding an appropriate balance and as a few
people said...knowing your dog.

I tried to just speak on the issue of "dogs don't and can't work 24/7 and
need down time."  I'm not trying to define the when and where of this down
time.  It was just a little shocking to speak with someone that obviously
didn't care about her guide as she openly admitted what she does.

This conversation has been awesome!

William Burley
William.burley3 at gmail.com 



-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Julie Phillipson
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 7:19 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Give the Dog a Break!

that's one way to burn a dog out fast!  May be she doesn't want to keep her 
dog for a long life.
Yes they absolutely need to have brake time and if you go out to work every 
day and your dog is chained up all day then a day off is well earned.  I 
can't imagine any guide dog school pushing the dogs to work every day.
Julie Phillipson
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "William Burley" <william.burley3 at gmail.com>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 11:02 AM
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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