[nagdu] just want your thoughts on this

Tracy Carcione carcione at access.net
Tue Sep 17 13:09:01 UTC 2013


If Laura wanted to, when she feels Vegas is ready for it, she could get some 
friends together and have them run around, or whatever it was that was 
exciting the dog, and help Vegas practice staying calm.
I remember taking my college dog to dances on occasion, and she didn't bat 
an eye about it..  I guess I didn't fully appreciate her calm nature until 
now.
Tracy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Darla Rogers" <djrogers0628 at gmail.com>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 10:34 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] just want your thoughts on this


> Dear Laura,
> I liked Meghan's advice a lot, and it sounds like this professor really is 
> trying to be objective in this matter, but he or she does have to 
> remember, he is still a bit young, and youngsters sometimes, don't behave 
> appropriately.
> I wonder what you all think:  If Laura could, right before class, do an 
> obedience session, too?
> Good luck with this, Laura.
> Darla & hardworking Huck
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Laura T
> Sent: Monday, September 16, 2013 3:02 PM
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nagdu] just want your thoughts on this
>
>
>
> this is an email I received from one of my professors last week below that 
> you will find my reply then his to me Laura I wanted to send you an email 
> about Vegas' behavior last night at the STRA meeting. When we began to do 
> the activities and move around the classroom, he appeared to become 
> agitated. He barked several times and directly lunged at students who were 
> present. Several students began to feel very uncomfortable with his 
> presence in the room when he engaged in these behaviors.
>
> I do believe that you handled the situation the best that you could by 
> sitting to the side and holding Vegas apart from the rest of the students; 
> however, I am very concerned that he was not able to maintain his calm 
> during an activity of this nature. It is my understanding that guide dogs 
> should not ever lung at another person or bark at another individual.
>
> Last night you were having to work very hard to restrain Vegas several 
> times during the activities and his behaviors, accompanied by the 
> challenges that you had in keeping him quiet and under control, led 
> several students to have concerns.
>
> This is not the first time that he has barked at another student in the 
> classroom. I am not sure how best to handle this situation, but as you 
> know, in many of the Recreation classes you will be moving around the 
> classroom and participating in activities. It is going to be very 
> important to find a way to be able to maintain control of Vegas so he does 
> not disrupt or make other students uncomfortable.
>
> this was my reply
>
> After speaking with the head trainer at Freedom Guide Dogs and having 
> sought the counsel of the SDRC we postulated that:
>
> 1. The dog is young and our partnership is even younger, we have been a 
> team for only two months.
>
> 2. It may have been a mistake on my part to attempt to train through the 
> activity instead of removing the dog however, this is the first major 
> activity of this type I have encountered and every handler has to go 
> through a situation once to figure out what is appropriate for that dog.
>
> 3. In the future there needs to be a predetermined place to take the dog 
> where he can be put on a tie down away from the stimulation of new 
> situations such as an office or empty classroom that is nearby. This 
> allows me to fully participate in the activity and not have to worry about 
> the dog acting out.
>
> 4. Vegas’ trainer is returning later this month to continue working with 
> us and overcome some of these issues.
>
> Hopefully working with this situation we can achieve your goals and help 
> the students who are afraid of Vegas become accustomed to his presence. It 
> is my hope that everyone can adapt to these situations with a minimum of 
> disruption.
>
> Please let me know if we need to discuss this further. I look forward to 
> working with you on this matter.
>
> this is the reply I received from the professor
>
> Laura
> This all makes sense and sounds like a very good plan. I know that 
> Wednesday night was not typical of anything that we are currently doing in 
> my class, but it did set off some alarms.
>
> My only caveat with your outlined plan is that if Vegas responds again in 
> a classroom situation as he did on Wednesday, he will not be allowed to 
> come back to the classroom until additional training has been completed. 
> My challenge is that I have to balance the needs of everyone in the class 
> and on Wednesday night, Vegas became problematic and scared several 
> students.
>
> i would like the thoughts of the list
> sorry it is so long
> thanks in advance
>
> Laura L. Thompson
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