[nagdu] Getting a guide dog

[Tami Kinney]

RJ,

Good grief! What a nightmare people are making for you! I am so sorry 
that you have to put up with it.

In short, I chose guide dog because I just love dogs and knew I would 
love that way of travel over cane. I'm a good cane traveler, but... I 
prefer dog. Because I love dogs, I don't see all the hassles and all as 
hassles. /smile/ Also, my decision was made for me by physical abuse 
from staff at the Oregon Commission for the Blind headquarters. Using a 
cane afterwards was making the original injuries worse by leaps and 
bounds, and there was no way I could ever hope to start getting the 
injuries healed while using a cane to go everywhere. Sigh. Because those 
injuries and other events at the time I was there brought my old 
fibromyalgia out of remission -- or caused a whole new onset, as it 
seems to me -- I needed to deal with the travel problem and became 
physically unable to even *think* about the rigors of a guide dog 
program. So I got me a poodle pup and when she proved to have "the right 
stuff," just up and trained her myself. /smile/ I had tons of training 
experience since I was too young to remember, so I knew I had the right 
stuff, too, but it was a pretty daunting project. I still sometimes find 
myself going about with my super duper poodle guide and feel suddenly 
shocked. How'd that happen? /lol/

As an owner-trainer, I know all about getting, um, strong-smelling brown 
stuff over every decision you make to do  with dogs canes socks... Oh, 
my! Who needs it?

That's my story.

Your story is your story. Your decisions are your decisions. Remembering 
that when everybody else is telling you what your story is according to 
them and what you should do based on the life and times they have so 
kindly invented for you is not easy. In fact, it is just plain maddening!

Your reasons are yours. They reflect your reality. And most of us on the 
list can easily remind you that you have been gathering information to 
make the best decision for yourself for quite a while. If you wish to 
stick with your cane at this point in your life -- or for all the rest 
of it -- that is *no one's* choice but yours.

Oh, and when you live in a place with no sidewalks and no safe place to 
walk where traffic won't mow you down... Even with a guide dog, you will 
need a ride. Trust me, I go nuts over being in that position every day. 
/lol/ It's just a regular item on my to do list so that I can get it out 
of my system and get on with my day so I can give myself better options. 
/grin/ If people want to grump at me about my decisions about how to 
deal with what exists in the real world, I just smile blandly and shrug. 
If they want to go risk their lives doing what they think I should do, 
fine. People die out there, and they have sight and everything. I don't 
think anyone else's approval is worth dying over, and I'm sure not going 
to risk my dog. She's got great traffic training and is a total pro. But 
she can't do magic with a road full of crazy, inattentive 
non-law-abiding drivers with no protection between us and them. Sooner 
or later... So. That's my decision. If I make the wrong decision to 
please someone else, they won't be haunted for the rest of their broken, 
crippled lives by what they let happen to a really great dog, will they? 
Nope!

Don't know if that attitude of mine is helpful for you, but I got it a 
long time ago from someone very wise. If someone tells you to go play in 
the freeway, and you do it because they want you to and you want to make 
them happy... They don't get run over. You do. /smile/

Best to you! Sooner or later, you can get to a point where you are 
surrounded by people who respect and support you for who you are. It is 
not always easy, though, as I also know. And it's really tough when the 
pressure is so much and you hear the same thing over and over so often 
and said so strongly and reinforced so heavily that you doubt yourself.

You're doing well!

Tami

On 02/06/2012 01:38 PM, RJ Sandefur wrote:
> I have a questions for everyone on the list. What was it that made you decide to get a guide dog? My Family and mobility instructor both tell me they do not see a need for me to have one. I live in Okeechobee Florida. We do not have any public transpertation. I practually have to be driven to church, the store etc. Others from people at church are telling me to stop making excuses, and get a dog, but when I tell them I am a cane traveler, they accuse me of not trying. I tell them it is a huge responcibility, and they tell me that it is just me making excuses. Am I making excuses? I do not have the finational means in order to care for a guide dog. I'm only just making excuses. What do you as guide dog users think? I would have to feed the dog, take it for check ups. It is an animal, and it is a responcibility. RJ
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