[nagdu] to Tatyana

Lyn Gwizdak linda.gwizdak at cox.net
Mon Sep 5 17:13:13 UTC 2011 

Hi Tatyans,
I've had two German shepherds, one Lab/Golden retriever mix, and the rest 
full Labs - two black and two yellow.  Some of the dogs worked out and some 
did not.

The Labs are similar but each dog had its own personality.  So did the 
shepherds.  The Labs are generally fairly laid back with a "whatever you 
want is fine with me" attitude.  They are an easy breed to place with the 
widest variety of handlers and work well.  Some need more activity and some 
are happy to be a couch potato - lying arouond the house or waiting for us 
to go somewhere.  They are very easy to train for the most part although 
some can be very stubborn.

I have found many shepherds are quite high strung and have lots of nervous 
energy.  They can have the attitude of "Make me do that!" They tend to be 
very alert and will test the handler to the highest degree.  You have to be 
on your toes with this breed generally.

Both breeds can be very loyal to their handler and are good workers.  Of 
course, there are always exceptions to each breed.  You can find a very 
nervous high strung Lab and a very mellow easy going shepherd.  These breeds 
are the most used for guide work although other breedxs can be used.  People 
on this list have and do work with breeds other than Labs and shepherds and 
they do very well.  There's a guide horse user on list as well.  She uses a 
miniature horse which is the size of a large dog.

I'll bet reading the American Braille is easier than me reading English 
print and then looking at the Russian print.  I learned from my niece that 
Ukrainian uses the Cyrillic alphabet as well as the Russians do and I saw 
the reading materials she had.

Take care,

Lyn and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tatyana" <tagriru at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2011 5:39 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] to Tatyana


> Lyn,
> Wow, you are on eighth dog! What breeds did you have? Based on your 
> experience, what are major differences between  different breeds?
>
> As for Russian Braille, I think Braille  is adopted to  many languages 
> that don't use Latin. For Russian Braille it will be just a few new  dot 
> combinations for uncontracted Braille to learn. I mean it was not hard for 
> me to learn English Braille because it uses many  of the same symbols. But 
> they may stand for different sounds though.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braille
>
> I think Russian is easy to read - rules  do help and  there are less 
> uncertainties with pronunciation. It may be hard with lots of changing 
> parts of the words  though but rules may help.
>
> Tatyana.
>
> > Try to spend time with guide dog users and see how it is for them.  A
> guide
>> dog isn't for everyone and they are perfectly comfortable in getting 
>> around with a cane.
>>
>> A guide dog is a DOG in that it is a living animal that has needs and 
>> feelings.  They are more care than a cat.  A dog needs to eat, poops and 
>> pees - the poop must be picked up and thrown away.  They can get sick - 
>> vomit and diahrrea.  They can smell bad from being dirty or due to 
>> infections.  They shed hair all over the place.  WE are all taught proper 
>> dog care at the guide dog schools.  Properly groomed and cared for dogs 
>> rarely smell bad or shed lots of hair all over.
>>
>> Some people, like us guide dog users, put up with or don't mind what it 
>> takes to take good care of a dog.  We don't mind dog hair on our clothes 
>> or in our houses.  We enjoy living with house animals.  Other people do 
>> not like these things and don't care to take on the responsibilities in 
>> dog or other animal care.  And this is valid.
>>
>> While you take the time to determine if a guide dog is for you, ask 
>> anything you want of us - that's how you gain information with which to 
>> make a sound decision for yourself.  Like I said, spend time with guide 
>> dog users as much as you can and go places with them.  this will give you 
>> a realistic view as to what it means to have a guide dog.
>>
>> BTW, your English is great for someone like you. You're a brave person to 
>> leave a coountry that is familiar and move to another one with a totally 
>> different culture and language.   English is a very hard language to 
>> learn with all it's crazy rules, words that sound alike but you spell 
>> them different depending on how you use the word.  My neice knows some 
>> Russian from when she lived in Ukraine while in the Peace Corps.  Your 
>> Cyrilic alphabet differs from the one we use for English and other 
>> languages.  Is Russian Braille different from American Braille - you 
>> know, the dot formations?
>>
>> Anyway, welcome to the list and hope you come to the decision that is 
>> best for you.  Using the dog or cane is a personal decision and you are 
>> the one best to make it.  Many of us also use the cane - it is required 
>> for getting a dog.  You need good mobility skills to learn how to work 
>> with a dog.
>>
>> I am Lyn and I've worked guide dogs sinse 1973.  I am on my eighth dog. 
>> He is Landon, a red Lab/Golden cross from The Seeing Eye.  We live in San 
>> Diego, CA and do pet assisted therapy for work.
>>
>> Lyn and Landon
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Tatyana" <tagriru at gmail.com>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, September 02, 2011 12:56 PM
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] to Tatyana
>>
>>
>>> Hello Marilyn,
>>> I don't know whether  I like dogs or not, I don't have one to know. I 
>>> don't like cats. I had a small dog when I was a child, someone killed 
>>> our dog and for many years I felt that was the only doggy love in my 
>>> life. I'm not an advanced cane user. I thought with a dog I could do 
>>> trips from my town to D.C. and use subway and go any place I never went 
>>> before. But an improving my   mobility skills  using a cane may be a 
>>> better  option. If I could get more training in some advanced programs 
>>> of NFB or something, I don't know what programs are available, but any 
>>> way may be I need to pay more attention to my cane using skills.With a 
>>> dog, I would get a companion and loved being. I don't care 
>>> responsibilities like cleaning a house, grooming and feeding a dog, but 
>>> I care smell of my clothing from a dog. I don't want a dog be 
>>> aggressively attacked. I don't want argue with attendance in public 
>>> places. And I don't want to ruin a job   of many people not training a 
>>> dog myself, if I don't take a dog to unfamiliar locations for example, 
>>> so its  working abilities may be lost. I don't work and I need to go to 
>>> unknown places not often. But from other hand it may be because I don't 
>>> have a dog.
>>> Tatyana.
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "marilyn" <t21114 at optonline.net>
>>> To: "nagdu" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Friday, September 02, 2011 1:21 PM
>>> Subject: [nagdu] to Tatyana
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hi Tatyana,
>>>> I think for everyone its a personal decision about getting a guide dog. 
>>>> First and foremost you must love dogs and be willing to be responsible 
>>>> caring for one.
>>>> If you can private email me I would like to talk further to you. Also 
>>>> about Russia
>>>> Marilyn and Anna
>>>> T21114 at optonline.net
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
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