[nagdu] Just heard on news12 last night that Congresswoman Gabby Giffords has a dog from GDF continued

Thu Feb 14 17:13:11 UTC 2013

To answer both Tammy and Rebecca and give some more info: 

First, I can't elaborate on Ms. Giffords' particular dog and his specific
training as that's confidential, as it is for all of our graduates. 

I can explain though how guide tasks are taught to our service dogs and
under what circumstances. All dogs taught guiding tasks are taught
intelligent disobedience and stopping at any change in elevation. This means
stopping at curbs. Yes, totally flat curbs are problematic, but they are for
all guide dog handlers. 

Some of the guiding tasks we use for our handlers who are not legally blind
include: 

The follow command for those people who need assistance navigating
complicated places like airports. This involves people whose senses may shut
down in complex environments due to over stimulation. 

"Let's Go" which is equivalent to the guide dog command "Outside" and is
used to direct a dog to take the person outside and away from a distressing
situation safely. 

This command is really important for people with Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder who experience panic attacks and can sometimes become either
immobile or run and tend to not be able to pay attention to their
surroundings. They can give the dog the "Let's Go" command and the dog can
smoothly guide them outside, say from a store, mall or public event. 

One handler told me that this has really changed his life. Before he applied
to get a dog, he had stopped going into some local businesses because when
he had a PTSD episode, he had rushed out, knocking over displays or people,
or he had ended up prone on the floor unable to move. It was profoundly
embarrassing. With his dog, he can simply issue the command, even close his
eyes if he wants, and follow the dog outside. It's elegant. 

The other type of work that resembles guide work in that it utilizes the
dog's pull is called counter balancing. This is when the dog walks slightly
ahead of the person to maintain positive tension on the harness handle. For
someone like Ms. Giffords who has difficulty standing straight up, having
the dog pull forward as she walks with him does help her to stand straight.
For other people, this helps them from falling to one side or the other and
helps them move up or down stairs. 

Hope that helps everyone to understand the guiding tasks. The key factors
though in any of these tasks are that the dog avoid obstacles and exercise
intelligent disobedience no matter what the disability or degree of vision
loss or difficulty. 

Jenine Stanley
jeninems at wowway.com
http://www.twitter.com/jeninems

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tami Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 11:12 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Just heard on news12 last night that Congresswoman
Gabby Giffords has a dog from GDF continued

Jenine,

Thanks for the clarification. Is America's VetDogs affiliated with GDF? 
Or is this a joint effort between two separate programs?

Either way, it is great to see that an individual can get a dog with both
types of training without having to go the do-it-yourself route for one or
both. /smile/

Tami

On 02/14/2013 06:40 AM, Jenine Stanley wrote:
> Actually, though Ms. Giffords is not totally blind, her vision was 
> severely affected by the shooting and her dog does do some guiding 
> tasks along with balance and other tasks.
>
> He is a combination of our two types of training, what both programs, 
> Guide Dog Foundation and America's VetDogs have strived to do since 
> their beginning, serve people who need trained dogs to further their
independence.
>
>
> Jenine Stanley
> jeninems at wowway.com
> http://www.twitter.com/jeninems
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of cheryl 
> echevarria
> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 8:56 AM
> To: nagdu
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Just heard on news12 last night that 
> Congresswoman Gabby Giffords has a dog from GDF continued
>
> Well since Congresswoman Giffords is not blind, but disabled it will 
> be a service dog, it may have also been at the time that her husband 
> did reach out, which he did, because he may have connections through 
> NASA since he is an Astronaut, to go to GDF and ask questions.
> She may not have been 100 percent mentally when they first reached out 
> to the school, she did receive a gun shot to the head.
>
>
> Disabled Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 of NY State Leading the Way in 
> Independent Travel!SNG Certified - Accessible Travel Advocate!Cheryl 
> Echevarria, 
> Ownerhttp://www.echevarriatravel.com631-456-5394reservations@echevarri
> atrave
> l.comhttp://www.echevarriatravel.wordpress.com2012 Norwegian Cruise 
> Line University Advisory Board Member.
> Affiliated as an independent contractor with Montrose TravelCST - 
> #1018299-10Echevarria Travel and proud member of the National 
> Federation of the Blind will be holding a year round fundraiser for 
> the http://www.NFBNY.org after Hurricane Sandy and other resources. 
> Any vacation package booked between November 6 2012-November 6, 2013 
> and vacation must be traveled no later than 12/30/2014 a percentage of 
> my earnings will go to the affiliate.  Also is you book a Sandals for 
> couples or Beaches for families and friends resorts vacation, $100.00 
> per booking will go to the affiliate as well.  You do not need to be a 
> member of the NFB.org, just book through us.
>
>
>> From: REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com
>> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:50:26 +0000
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Just heard on news12 last night that
> Congresswoman	Gabby Giffords has a dog from GDF continued
>>
>> The line about her caretakers struck me. Sounds like this dog will be 
>> more
> of a service dog then a guide dog.
>> Also sounds like her husband reached out to GDF, not her which is
> interesting.
>> I did like the press release, it provided good information and also
> mentioned that sometimes it isn't appropriate for a dog to always be 
> with its person. That was good to see that.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Cindy Ray
>> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 8:39 AM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Just heard on news12 last night that 
>> Congresswoman Gabby Giffords has a dog from GDF continued
>>
>> I think this is interesting about Gabby Giffords. I had heard on a
> newscast on the day she spoke to Congress that she is blind. Of course 
> a service dog for her would be far more than a guide at this point. I 
> think this was a wonderful piece, and it points up just how well she is
doing.
> That is just so amazing to me.
>>
>> CL
>>
>>
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