[nagdu] [NAGDU] crates, Restrooms, transportation

[Raven Tolliver]

Several comments here.
First, I have a crate for my golden guy. If he wasn’t a crate-loving
dog, I wouldn’t have wasted the money. But the first thing he did when
my instructor brought him to my room was go to the crate and fiddle
with the latch. My crate is in my bedroom, and he naps or sleeps in
there whenever he feels like it, but I never close the door. If I have
to leave him alone for an extended period, I trust him not to get into
things, so he just roams the place. When I first got him, I was living
with my parents, so I would crate him if I had to leave him alone or
if I was vacuuming my bedroom.

Concerning restrooms, I usually use the handicap stalls in bathrooms.
But if I can’t score one and have to use the smaller stalls, I just
make a long leash and have my dog sit outside the stall. Since I am
the one who needs to use the toilet, I don’t think it is necessary to
work out some way to get the dog in with me. Though, when he’s sitting
or standing outside the stall, he sometimes gets the bright idea that,
“Hey, you know what? I can actually fit under this stall door if I
belly crawl.” So he crawls under the door anyway, which makes opening
the door a challenge, since most stalls seem to be so small that I
can’t cram him between the toilet and the stall wall. In these cases,
I’ll open the door  while he’s still laying down, then have him stand.

Also, I wanted to comment on the taxi and airplane transport
concerning the placement of  a guide dog. I’m reading all these posts
where people talk about having their dogs sit on cab floors and under
seats on airplanes. First, as far as taxis go, most of Yellow Cab’s
taxis in Grand Rapids are mini vans, so me and the golden guy fit no
problem. But for cabs the size of your average car, I always sit
behind the passenger seat because I have long legs, and the driver is
usually male, meaning the driver’s seat is too far laid back for me to
have leg room behind it. So this puts my dog, you guessed it, up on
the back seat with me. I’ve never even thought to ask a cabby to move
the passenger’s seat up; that just hasn’t ever crossed my mind. But I
don’t see why this is such a horrible thing for everyone else. Unless
I’m riding with other people in the cab, which never happens, I
absolutely refuse  to cram my dog on the floor between my legs or
across my feet; it just isn’t necessary. Sorry, we both like our space
and like to travel comfortably. For any car or van, I always, always,
always get in first, then call the pooch in and he sits on the floor,
or on the seat for smaller vehicles. If he’s sitting on the seat, I
just get out on the opposite side that I entered from, so there’s no
complication with who sits where or who gets out how.
No, I don’t bring a towel for the pooch. I mean, yes, he’s a maximum
shedder, this is why I groom him daily. But he’s not constantly
blowing coat, so what’s the point? Towels will only minimize the
amount of hair on the seat, not prevent hair from getting on the seat
because if the windows are down, which they will be on hot days, dog
fur blows throughout the vehicle anyway.
Someone also brought up that they keep their dog on the floor because
they don’t want to give their dog the impression that sitting on
furniture is okay. Listen, I would have to bribe my dog to get up on
my bed, or even come sit on the couch or the armed chair. He usually
sits on the seats in smaller vehicles, and this has not changed his
house manners for the worst in the slightest. Now, that doesn’t mean
someone else’s dog would behave the same way, but that is just my
experience with my guide dog.
As for planes, when I flew back from New York to Detroit with my
golden, there was no way on this planet he could have ever fit under
my seat or fit comfortably under the seat in front of me. There was
not a space under mine for him to be crammed into, and the seat in
front of me had space under it for a duffel bag, but not a 65-pound
golden retriever. He laid in the foot space in front of my seat and
the person’s next to me. Of course, this was a regular coach seat on a
Delta flight, so I’m not sure if other airlines have more room on
their planes or larger spaces under the seats or what. Other than
that, I just don’t see how people are cramming their dogs in a way
that they only are in front of your own seat, unless the dog is
curling up into a ball.

-- 
Raven