[nagdu] Introduction and Questions

[Robert Hooper]

Hello:

Without reference to the original message, I will try to answer the questions from my perspective. Much like Julie J, the main motivating factor in my acquisition of a puppy was curiosity. I have been a strong cane traveler all my life, and this method would have probably taken me to my grave with little or no issues with which I could not learn to cope--basically, there was no immediate necessity requiring me to change my mode of travel. I just wanted to see if it was "better" than cane travel. I put quotations around "better" because better is subjective and different aspects of each method appeal to different people--also, saying that one method is "better" than the other often is the invitation for homicidal messages, national blindness revolutions, and other globally significant catastrophies. Before obtaining a Seeing Eye dog, I decided that there couldn't be a way for me to know which method of travel I prefer until I tried them both. It sounds like a crazy reason to "fix what wasn't broken" and commit a decade of my life to caring for a service animal and using a method of travel I ultimately liked less--despite this thought process, however, I went through with it. Unlike Julie, my family was not possessed of many pets--or at least I wasn't responsible for the ones we had; they were very low maintenance anyway. In spite of this, I learned to incorporate dog grooming, attention, feeding, relieving, vet visits, teeth brushing, and other dog-related tasks into my daily life--now I do them with as little thought as it takes for one to do these things for themselves. As for the travel method itself: I find that traveling with a dog is, as previously stated by another, more smooth and rapid. With a cane, I find that I would slow down when I knew I was in the vicinity of stairs or other such potentially hazardous things. After a while (because it does take a while), I learned to trust the dog and am no longer concerned--I know that he will stop at the top or bottom of a flight of stairs or go around an overhanging obstruction, etc.
I wouldn't be honest if I didn't admit also that I enjoy the dog for the companionship having such provides. Anyway, I hope this also helps.
Sincerely,
Robert Hooper
Hooper.90 at buckeyemail.osu.edu
The Ohio State University
0653 Buckeye-Cuyahoga CT
653 Cuyahoga Court
Columbus, Ohio 43210
(740) 856-8195

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Sheila Leigland
Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2012 5:13 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Introduction and Questions

Hello, welcome to the list. I'm totally blind and my cane slid under a boat parked across a driveway and I hit it at chest level and was bruised for several weeks. I'd thought about a dog for a long time but after our son was in middle school I felt tthe timing was more appropriate than when he was small. I do better in snow with a dog. I'm now hearing impaired as well and feelmore confident about being out by myself with my dog not because of mobility issues but hearing what is going on around me.

sheila leigland

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