[nagdu] The Differences in Dogs and Canes

[Nicole Torcolini]

Okay, yes, I know that this one has gone round and round before, but I had
something happen today that made me just have to bring it up one more time.
There is the way of thinking that says that the good cane user should be
able to travel as quickly and as safely with a cane as with a dog. However,
unless you wear a full body shield, I just don't think that that is true.
For reasons that I will not discuss here, I was out walking today with my
cane rather than Lexia. I was traversing a route that I have taken numerous
times with Lexia. Lexia usually stays a tiny bit from the edge of the side
walk. However, as I was using my cane rather than Lexia, I was trailing the
edge. There is a staircase that comes down from a building that has a
railing that sticks out farther than the bottom step. With Lexia, this had
never before posed a problem as she had cleared it as an obstacle. However,
I had no way of detecting it without her; it was at hip level. As a result,
I ran right into it. I was not hurt or anything, but it just goes to show
that there are those things that a guide dog, at least a well trained one,
usually detects that a cane cannot.
 
Nicole