[nagdu] So long to my best friend
Hannah Chadwick
sparklylicious at gmail.com
Tue Mar 27 23:20:24 UTC 2012
Steve,
Sorry to hear that Misha is retiring so soon, but I hope that she will have
a happy life with her new family. Great to hear you got a class date with
the trainer you trust.
Hugs, Hannah
----- Original Message -----From: Steven Johnson <blinddog3 at charter.net>
To: "'Nagdu Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'"
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>,
Date: Tuesday, Mar 27, 2012 05:14:03 AM
Subject: [nagdu] So long to my best friend
>
>
> Dear NAGDU friends and peers,
>
> It is with great sadness, that I announce that my current Leader Dog,
> Misha, will need to retire due to severe anxiety/panic/fear issues.
> Although we were assessed a little over a month ago, and we thought
> that we could minimize the anxiety by avoiding certain situations, it
> came to a head while traveling to a recent District Lion's convention
> when her apparent fears really grabbed my attention.
>
> A little more background information for y...last May, our house took
> a direct hit from an F-2 tornado, and as I rushed to get into the
> basement, I was yelling for Misha at the same time to come to me, but
> she instead ran upstairs, probably thinking I was scolding her.
> Needless to say, as the devastating tornado rolled in, it started to
> rip the roof partially off of my home...right up where Misha had just
> gone. It also knocked part of the chimney off which is located near
> her bed, and it was one of the most terrifying things I went through
> in my life, and cannot even begin to imagine what she felt and heard
> as it was so incredibly deafening and violently shaking the neighborhood.
>
> Over the past few months, her fears and anxieties continued to show
> themselves outwardly, and after the weekend away, and while traveling
> on an over the road bus to and from home, she outwardly demonstrated her
fears.
> She was so afraid, not only of the bus shaking and rocking, much like
> the tornado did, but she was afraid to go up and down the stairs into the
bus.
> We had also gone to a live NPR radio production on that Saturday
> evening, and she would just tremble during the applause. I
> immediately contacted Leader Dog the following day, and discussed this
> with her trainer who with myself, made the decision to formally retire
> her as soon as I could get in for a replacement guide. This all took
> place on the weekend of March 10, the call to LD on that Monday the
> 12th, and I submitted my application on that Thursday. My application
> was reviewed last Tuesday, I was given a class date on Thursday and
> they have already been able to find a very solid match for me.
>
> Misha will be retiring to a home with a loving family, and we are
> still working on the final details of this. I am able to still work
> her on a 99light duty basis* avoiding the situations where she might
> potentially be exposed to things that might cause these symptoms. I
> have been scheduled to go back to LD on April 29 for home and away
> training in which I will go there for a couple of weeks and then come
> back home where they will conduct a follow-up a couple of weeks later.
> The expedited process by LD was amazing, and I have been so fortunate
> to have an agency that understands me, my needs and took everything into
consideration that I have expressed.
>
> I have been very blessed to have had 3 wonderful guides through LD in
> the past 20 years. Unfortunately, we cannot control how acts of
> mother nature affect us, or in this case, our dog friends, and it is
> with great sadness that I will be parting with my Misha after almost 4
> years of faithful, dedicated and amazing work that she was able to
> give me. She also gave me something that I initially realized just
> shortly after working with her, and that was not to micro manage, be a
> good master, have fun, and the realization that your guide will do
> amazing things simply because they love y...x's that simple.
> I look forward to being matched with my new guide, but hold a special
> place in my heart for Misha and have requested visitation rights...of
> course:) She will be going to a specially selected home where she will
> never be kenneled, have access to many activities throughout the day,
> and always be loved. I am even more thrilled as the trainer on this
> team, is the trainer who trained my first 2 guides, both who were
> equally amazing and wonderful as Misha, and I can only believe that the
next match will be as successful.
>
>
> With a lump in my throat, and a slight emptiness in my heart, Steve &
> Leader Dog, Misha
>
>
>
>
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