[nagdu] Destroying Things, Energy, and Barking was RE: The Breed or the Dog

Raven Tolliver ravend729 at gmail.com
Thu Sep 19 07:30:22 UTC 2013


Hi Nicole,
There were two separate rooms with big baskets of toys where a handler
could take their dog and have interactive play time. One room was
gigantic, and the other room was considerably smaller. I used the
smaller room just because it was easier for me to keep track of where
my dog was and the toys that he played with. At the time, he didn't
bring toys back, and if he is done playing he simply leaves the toy
be, so I didn't feel like searching a huge room for a Cuz ball.
I chose to play with my dog everyday. I'm sure other people played
with their pooches in their rooms or the larger playspace, but I can't
speak to how often they committed time to it.
The instructors encouraged us to play with our dogs. There was even a
day committed to it where we could learn the kinds of toys our dogs
liked, and learn how they liked to play. But that was the only day
where going down to a playroom was mandatory. The instructors would
bring it up, but you can't drag people and force them.
When I went around with the birthday card, some people had their dogs
on leash if they were in the library or computer lab, but if the
student was in their room, the dog would be free to roam the room.
This was about the third week of training, so everyone let their dogs
roam their room during the day by that time. I was greeted eagerly by
some dogs upon entry, or when I squatted down to a desk to have
someone sign the card, I would receive licks on my ear or arm. No one
jumped up on me.
I don't think this was anything out of the ordinary for a lot of dogs.
It was just the excitement of "Oh, someone's at the door! or Oh,
someone's visiting us! Hello! Let me greet you with lots of loving
wags, sniffs and kisses!" It's the way I've seen many dogs greet
people. It's friendly, but still very in-your-face, in my opinion. My
golden guy is more slow and gentle in his approach to strangers
though, and will simply walk up, sniff and lick you. If he is greeting
someone we know well or a child, he will act just as enthusiastically
as these labs did. But that much excitement is too much for me to
handle all day everyday. I work with high energy dogs like that
regularly, but thankfully, it's only for twenty to thirty minutes at a
time.
The signing of the card was just a snippet of how energetic the dogs
were. Some of these dogs were just far more energetic and enthusiastic
than mine. Certain things would really get them rowdy or set them off.
It's not a bad thing, but as I said before, for me personally, it was
too much energy and excitement. I think my definition of high energy
is far different from many people's. I'm a big fan of the
stereotypical couch potato breeds, large, medium, and small, so I just
have more of an appreciation for that kind of temperament.
As for vocalizing, I could handle a dog that barked during play time,
but other than that, keep the vocalizations down to a minimum. Barking
at things out the window, whining and whimpering out of bordem or need
for attention (like a certain couple dogs in class), or barking in
harness is a no-no. I have heard my dog let out a singular bark on
several occasions, but I could tell by the tone and situation what
those barks meant. He has only barked twice in harness, and I was
never able to figure out why. They seemed to be frustrated barks
preceded by growling; I'm not sure if he heard or saw something
aggravating. Once, I took him out to park, and my dog just howled. I
am not sure why, but that was the only time I've heard him do that.


On 9/19/13, Nicole Torcolini <ntorcolini at wavecable.com> wrote:
> Ugh. And I don't like the idea that the handler encouraged the dog to be
> destructive. Once in a long while, I will let Lexia tear up a paper bag
> that
> has treats in it as a birthday gift or something, but I certainly don't
> encourage anything else like that.
> The dogs having a lot of energy makes me think of something else. Did that
> school let the handlers play with their dogs with toys, and did they have
> somewhere for the dogs to run? Although not for all dogs, JMHO, even during
> training, just the work of one day is often not enough for a dog to get all
> of the energy out, so the dogs kind of need to do something else, whether
> that is running in a fenced in area or playing with a toy or something
> else.
> What do different schools have? GDB has a large fenced in area in which the
> dogs can run. The rule was one dog at a time, and no toys.
> Also, out of curiosity, when you went around to the rooms, were the dogs on
> tie down? GDB, at least when I went, gave short tie downs. There were hooks
> attached to the wall. When our dogs were not with us on leash, they were
> supposed to be on tie down, which did not keep them from making noise, but
> it did keep them from jumping.
> Also, out of curiosity, what do people think of barking? Personally, I
> would
> not a dog that barked a lot, even if it was only out of harness. Over the
> six years that I have had her, I think that I have heard Lexia bark about
> five times.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Raven Tolliver
> Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 8:29 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] The Breed or the Dog
>
> 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%40waveca
>> ble.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.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