[nagdu] Soul Searching

[Margo and Arrow]

cindy, thanks for sharing all of this with us.  soul searching was a good 
subject line.  These things are difficult, and, yes, one can say there are 
pat answers and pat decisions and hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but, when 
you are in the midst of this stuff, it's difficult.

it sounds as though you are making the decisions and searching for the 
answers you need to make and search for.  We're with you, Cindy.

Hugs, margo and Arrow
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cindy Ray" <cindyray at gmail.com>
To: "the National Association of Guide Dog Users NAGDU Mailing List" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 07, 2012 11:11 AM
Subject: [nagdu] Soul Searching


> Well, the convention is over. I went. It was fun meeting you, Mark. But 
> there were really some serious dog problems with my dog. Sad.
> I have always known he had issues with dogs, but I thought I had made some 
> progress with it. But at convention he just came totally unglued. Nothing 
> really bad ever happened, because I was on alert with him. It was tense 
> though, and when he did what he does--growl and bark--people reacted as 
> you might expect they would. He frightened them, and mostly they thought I 
> did not have control of him, and they didn't mind saying so. I finally did 
> seek out TSE. I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get the GL on him, 
> after the visit with TSE, I did figure this out. But I have learned two 
> things from this. I need to do something. I was offered a visit a long 
> time ago; I didn't think it was necessary because I did and do know most 
> of the things I might be able to do to help. I need to try them by way of 
> going out more with him. But I will call for help because I believe that 
> there are some things someone who can see notes about what your dog is 
> doing or the other that you could miss. So I will
> call for help.
> Second, Lukas said his eyes seemed a little dilated. He thought I might 
> want to have the dog checked for cataracts. He is of an age now where this 
> might be a possibility. After that, I have decided that, unless there are 
> huge changes in the dog between now and the next convention, I won't take 
> him again. I enjoyed the convention, but I did not enjoy the sense that 
> folk think I am a bad handler, and though I had the largest amount of 
> control over the dog, I do et this. I won't put myself through that ever 
> again. I have never taken a dog to convention that had this serious of 
> issues, and I think I've been in denial about the dog's issues with other 
> dogs. So that's it. Yesterday when we were walking to the ticket counter 
> at the airport, there was a dog in front of us that we were following. My 
> dog did fine until we were just about there and then he did his bark/growl 
> thing. It was a dog with whom he had tangled earlier in the week a couple 
> of times. What was that? I just don't know
> because up until that moment he had been coexisting with that dog well.
>
> Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I hope all have a good 
> weekend.
>
> Cindy Lou
> p.s. I just have to say it was fun helping at the NAGDU Table.
>
>
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