[nagdu] getting along with other guide dogs

[Tracy Carcione]

If I'm meeting a friend with a guide dog, I have no problem if the dogs
want to sniff each other and say Hi.  Usually they just give each other
the old butt-sniff and they're both satisfied.  But a few weeks ago, I was
walking into the bus terminal while another guide dog user was coming out.
 I would have liked to say Hi, who are you, where's your dog from, and all
that jazz, but she was yelling at her dog, trying to keep it in line and
not visit Ben, so I kept Ben moving along and didn't bother her.  I also
got the sense that she was a bit nervous coming into the big city, and
wasn't in the mood for guide dog chat.

If I'm at home with another guide dog user, we let the dogs play, if they
want.  Usually, they're not very interested in each other, though.  Most
of the guide dogs I know are more people-oriented than dog-oriented.  Dogs
are interesting and fun, but people are even better.
Tracy

> I don't encounter other guide dogs very often, maybe 2 or 3 times a year
> depending on how much I travel to attend blindness events.   But it is
> extremely rare that I allow Monty to visit with other guide or service
> dogs.   I have never allowed this when he is working.  I have let him
> visit with one guide out of harness in my home.  I think if I were at a
> convention with other dogs who wanted to work out a play date type of
> thing I'd be very open to that, it just hasn't happened.
>
> Anyway I was wondering how others approach this issue.  Do you like for
> your guide to meet and greet the other working dogs?  Do you do this in
> harness?  Are there circumstances that help you decide this on a case by
> case basis?   Does it make a difference to you whether or not the dogs
> get along or like each other?
>
> The recent messages have peaked my curiosity.
>
> Julie
>
>
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