[nagdu] The Breed or the Dog

Raven Tolliver ravend729 at gmail.com
Wed Sep 18 19:33:08 UTC 2013


Tracy,
I see your point. Some people are not suited to handle certain breeds,
such as German shepherds, dobies, or poodles. However, I think it is
perfectly fine to get what you need as well as what you want in a dog.
If a person has a strong preference, they should ask for it. If the
program doesn’t have what the prospective student is looking for, then
perhaps the student should give some leeway if they decide not to look
at another program.
 I do think preference should be strongly considered though, because
certain people will not bond correctly to their dog if the dog turns
out to be something very different from what they wanted and expected.
For instance, I know of a woman who had her dog for at least a year
and a half; I’m not sure if they’re still together. Anyhow, she had
requested a female dog and was very emphatic about it. The school
decided a male dog best suited her. I’m not sure why the sex of her
dog was a big deal, but she ended up disliking her dog. I really don’t
think she loved him. She would leave him behind or hand him off to
another person on a regular basis. The dog was often seen with other
individuals, far more than it was ever seen with her. She had a
designated friend who would feed, groom, play with, and pick up behind
her dog. It was almost like the dog belonged to her friend.
I say, if you can get the best of both worlds, shoot for that first.
Then, start narrowing things down if you’re having trouble finding a
guide that meets your desires. I would never encourage someone to
shoot for less than what they wanted out of a guide unless they had a
number of surrealistic or unlikely expectations, or the wrong motives
for wanting a certain type of dog, such as for beauty or protection.
But personally, I am not going to settle for something less than, just
because there’s a possibility I won’t get what I want. To flip this, I
will definitely not settle for a dog that possesses characteristics or
behaviors that I find undesirable, such as certain quirks or
behaviors. For instance, I do not want a dog that could be described
as extremely playful, or could play for hours so to speak. That is
reasonable on my part. That would be cause for a lot of frustration
from my and the dog's perspectives, and things in my home would likely
end up destroyed because I was not meeting the dog's needs.
It's hard to determine what is a reasonable extent of selectiveness.
But I would be a hypocrite if I said I would discourage a guide dog
handler or potential guide dog handler from being choosy. Frankly, it
is the schools' job to analyze the student's needs, then give out a
dog that suits the student. If the student doesn't like the dog, or if
the dog has qualities that they do not want in a dog, they are more
than free to say so. I don't know why people don't speak up.



On 9/18/13, Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net> wrote:
> Sometimes, what you want is not what you need.  Plenty of people want a
> shepherd, but aren't really cut out to deal with one, for example.  It's
> nice to get what you want, but it's more important that it suit your
> needs.
>
> "You can't always get what you want, but you find sometimes you get what
> you need."
> Tracy
>> Nicole,
>> I think a service dog user has just as much a right to be picky about
>> their working dog as any other person would be about selecting their
>> pet dog. Whether people like it or not, certain breeds tend to have
>> certain mannerisms and characteristics that are desirable to some,
>> acceptable to others, and undesirable for certain people. Now, there
>> are always exceptions to the rule, and dog personalities that don't
>> match the stereotypes. However, if I have temperament and personality
>> requirements for a dog, and there are particular breeds that tend to
>> not match up with those standards, then I will not be likely to choose
>> those breeds. I am not budging on what I am willing to handle and deal
>> with because for the next one to ten years, or even beyond, I have to
>> live with that dog when it's in and out of harness.
>> There are thousands of working-type dogs out there, and more than a
>> dozen schools. And if I had and wanted to put forth all the time,
>> energy, effort, and money, I could personally search for, choose, and
>> train or have trained, the breed I desire.
>> There is absolutely nothing wrong with being picky. I was picky my
>> first go round, and I got exactly what I asked for. After being
>> exposed to so many goldens throughout my life, I had no doubt in my
>> mind that this was the breed of dog that matched me perfectly. When I
>> found that GEB had the dog for me, and I finally met him, I was more
>> than pleased. I saw the way the other labs acted in class on numerous
>> occasions, and was grateful that I was not the person going home with
>> those dogs. While the dogs were in people's faces, being forceful,
>> licking them, jumping up in their laps, vocalizing frequently, tearing
>> stuff up, pulling hard and speeding down stairs, I had this low
>> energy, calm, laid-back, docile creature. Maybe there was a second
>> choice dog in the kennels for me that was a low energy, gentle
>> labrador, but I'll never know. But I believe that the next time I
>> apply for a guide, there will be another golden waiting for me in a
>> kennel somewhere.
>>
>>
>> On 9/18/13, Nicole Torcolini <ntorcolini at wavecable.com> wrote:
>>> All the discussion about different breeds has caused me to think about
>>> something. Often, we know what it is that we want in a dog. We then try
>>> to
>>> generalize that to a specific breed or set of breeds, saying I will take
>>> these breeds and I won't take those breeds. However, I think that,
>>> sometimes, we get so caught up in the whole breed thing, that we miss
>>> the
>>> whole point. When I went to GDB in 2007, I told them my breed, color,
>>> and
>>> gender preferences, but I also told them that, if they found a dog that
>>> they
>>> thought was for me, even if it was the lowest on my list, that I would
>>> take
>>> it because, for me, I would rather get a dog that was right for me and
>>> not
>>> quite the breed that I wanted than get a dog that was the breed I wanted
>>> but
>>> not for me.
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Raven
>>
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-- 
Raven




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