[nagdu] blazing trails with tails.

Tami Jarvis tami at poodlemutt.com
Sun Jul 21 17:26:06 UTC 2013


Doug,

Yeah, letting the dog take over and find the way is super fun. If your 
ego is up to admitting that the dog is clearly smarter than you are. 
/lol/ Out here in the small town, Mitzi's choice of routes will take her 
by friendly kitties. People here can have indoor/outdoor kitties who 
happily lounge about their yards or on the sidewalks. Not all love 
random passing poodles as much as she thinks they do, but they're 
accustomed to dogs and passersby in general so don't disappear before 
she gets to them. I think one got in a swipe the other evening, which 
hurt her feelings and nothing else... Poor misunderstood poodle. I hope 
she got the message that sticking her nose at kitties is not a totally 
good idea, though. /smile/

i still seem to be sans iPhone, but it's not too critical while we're 
out here. I'm hoping for an iPad soon, since I won't need a data plan to 
use it for many things. I did play with my friend's a few weeks ago...

Do you ever find yourself arguing with VoiceOver and Siri at the same 
time? I can just see me going along keeping up my usual patter at the 
dog (a habit I cannot break even knowing I must seem to be a nutter), 
then asking Siri a question, then arguing with my phone... /lol/

Happy random trails!

Tami

On 07/21/2013 10:06 AM, Doug Parisian wrote:
> Tami, I have always applied similar strategies to yours and now, with my
> IPhone and the Blindsquare GPS, I have one more amazing tool which also
> protects me against asking Jo public for information which my IPhone usually
> gives more accurately.  Even Siri is helpful, I simply ask the amazing
> question "where am I," and get enough information so that if I need more, I
> can make my question to the panicked bystander as clear as possible.
>
> Also, I've always trusted my dogs who often give cues if they happen to
> remember a particular location.  Just for fun, I often allowed my dogs to
> choose their own route (with limits of course) if I'm just going out for a
> walk as an end in itself.  It's quite neat when my dogs get something right
> when I screw up; the tail goes nuts.  Only thing is, sometimes they've found
> locations of past girlfriends, lovers etc about which I'd much rather
> forget.
>
> I like to walk a lot through wooded areas where there no sidewalks and some
> roads less traveled therein can be difficult to pick out, but not for a
> seasoned dog.
>
> Doug: Happy tails to you!
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tami Jarvis" <tami at poodlemutt.com>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Sunday, July 21, 2013 11:02 AM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] blazing trails with tails.
>
>
> : Daniel,
> :
> : I do wonder about all those sighted people just hanging around waiting
> : for us to ask them for help everywhere we go since we can't figure
> : things out ourselves and they have nothing better to do... Sheesh!
> :
> : I just get up and go. Did that with my cane, do that with my dog. It
> : works. I do find out as much as I can about a new area or new route,
> : whether through internet research or by asking questions of people I may
> : know in the area. It can help to know how the area is laid out, how the
> : streets run, etc. In a new city, figuring out the naming conventions is
> : helpful, too. And I'm not afraid to ask for directions along the way, or
> : to ask an innocent bystander the  name of the street I'm on if I've
> : forgotten to count blocks, stuff like that. I have a fairly good sense
> : of direction, which helps, although when it goes haywire, then so do I.
> : Fortunately, for those times, I also enjoy unexpected adventures, so
> : long as they don't make me horribly late for something. My poodle guide
> : is also great at finding any number of useful landmarks of various
> : types, so I love that. She does get a little put out if I go awry and
> : end up doing a lot of back and forth trying to get back to the last
> : place I actually knew where I was. /smile/
> :
> : Heading out for new horizons is a time it's good to have a pocket cane
> : of some sort for added information gathering. Also, if you have hearing,
> : that's very helpful in picking up things about your location from
> : context... Maybe I'm being too obvious there. I know folks without
> : hearing, or not much of it, who can sally forth and conquer, but I have
> : no idea how they do it. I use mine a lot, and also use the clicker for
> : echolocation, even with my cane. Don't know when I started doing that
> : during/after the training process, or how it didn't confuse my dog, but
> : there we go. When the wind is blowing or I have a head cold or
> : something, things get iffier for us.
> :
> : I would say that it doesn't hurt when finding new routes to be willing
> : to admit defeat when, say, a five-way intersection is just too dangerous
> : and go the extra mile to find a better way even when you're really
> : tired. Well, I've done some adventuring when I was having fatigue issues
> : where really tired meant picking up one foot or the other was really the
> : hardest thing in the world to do... When I'm not having fatigue issues,
> : then having to go around a few blocks isn't a huge deal.
> :
> : Good luck, and let us know how it goes!
> :
> : Tami
> :
> :
> :
> : On 07/20/2013 06:37 PM, daniel wrote:
> : > Hey guys, as yall know I'm going to be moving to a new town for college
> : > quite soon. While I was in training (I can't remember if it was an
> : > instructor or not) someone off-handedly said something like, always have
> a
> : > sighted person help you on a new route or something.I've always been a
> : > really independent person trying new routes and what not. I can
> understand
> : > getting some orientation help in a new place but for everything? How do
> yall
> : > feel about going new places without an advanced orientation session or
> such?
> : > Do yall usually stick to a preplanned set of routes or do yall sometimes
> go
> : > new places just for the heck of it? I'm asking this from a dog users
> : > perspective, how does your dog react on a new route or a place, and
> : > especially if any of yall have moved to a new city or home, how did yall
> get
> : > used to the new surroundings?
> : >
> : > Thanks,
> : >
> : > Dan
> : >
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