[nagdu] The Differences in Dogs and Canes

[Nicole Torcolini]

OK, yeah, but there are things that a dog doesn't detech that a cane does,

Agreed, especially if you are talking about texture of ground or finding
obstacles verses just going around them.

especially if said dog is distracted.

And that is why I wrote "a well trained dog usually".

And sometimes they will come to stairs and not stop; they shouldn't, and you
can correct the behavior, but you could get hurt. Stuff happens, and it does
even if you are sighted.

I never said that using a guide dog instead of a cane was going to keep you
from getting hurt. I also specifically did not use the word "better". My
point was that the difference of clearing overhead obstacles is one that
seems to be overlooked sometimes. However, like all aspects of guide dog
training, it only works if:
A. The dog is paying attention, and
B. If the dog is good at that particular aspect.
Whether a difference between cane travel and guide dog travel is considered
a good thing or a bad thing depends on the person, the dog, the situation,
and a million and one other things; sometimes, a difference is not even
labelled as good or bad.

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Cindy Ray
Sent: Sunday, June 23, 2013 1:40 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] The Differences in Dogs and Canes

OK, yeah, but there are things that a dog doesn't detech that a cane does,
especially if said dog is distracted. And sometimes they will come to stairs
and not stop; they shouldn't, and you can correct the behavior, but you
could get hurt. Stuff happens, and it does even if you are sighted. 

CL

On Jun 23, 2013, at 2:08 PM, "Nicole Torcolini" <ntorcolini at wavecable.com>
wrote:

> 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
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