[nagdu] The Breed or the Dog

Raven Tolliver ravend729 at gmail.com
Thu Sep 19 03:29:13 UTC 2013


Hi Nicole,
There was one lab who tore up his crate pad, and the school took it
away. But now that I think about it, that was surely a sign of stress,
as destruction of property on a dog's part usually is. Dogs don't do
that just to be spiteful. Also, the dog did it for a few days, then
his handler started encouraging him, so it got worse.
But there were some dogs who just appeared to have bad leash manners,
pulling very hard on their leads. And other dogs were very vocal,
which is not a bad thing altogether, but it's something that
definitely annoys me. There were a couple dogs that, just while people
were sitting around, would whine and bark.
Also, most of the labs were just very in-your-face. I went around to
everyone's room for them to sign a birthday card, and by the way
people's dogs were acting, you'd have thought I smelled like smoked
turkey. They were just so much excitement, enthusiasm, and energy all
the time! And it was too much for me personally.


On 9/18/13, Nicole Torcolini <ntorcolini at wavecable.com> wrote:
> There were really dogs that were tearing up things? Was this just in the
> beginning of the class, or was it the whole time? If the dogs were behaving
> as you described, then, JMHO, they probably should not have been guide
> dogs.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Raven Tolliver
> Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 3:06 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] The Breed or the Dog
>
> 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.
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nagdu:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/ravend729%40gmail.c
>> om
>>
>
>
> --
> Raven
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/ntorcolini%40wavecable.co
> m
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/ravend729%40gmail.com
>


-- 
Raven




More information about the NAGDU mailing list