[nagdu] From Cane To Dog

Dan Weiner dcwein at dcwein.cnc.net
Mon Aug 25 12:33:46 UTC 2014


Well I have heard from people who got dogs thirty forty years ago that that
is indeed what would happen, but now trainers see the benefits of cane use
and everyone is better off for that type of understanding.

When I weent for my dogs over the years you were encouraged to use the cane
to learn the lay-out of the building but asked to phase it out after a day
or two.
I'll admit I got lost plenty of times while healing a dog in the building
because I was concentrating on the dog and not my orientation, but I
understand the idea behind it.

Eventually we were encouraged to work the dogs on campus and that was really
fun



Dan W.

 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Cindy Ray via
nagdu
Sent: Monday, August 25, 2014 8:10 AM
To: Stephanie; NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog
Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] From Cane To Dog

Really, Stephanie, they told you to put the cane away because you would be
learning the layout of the building without a cane? The first time I went to
my school, I had heard this was what they did, and I had made up my mind I
was going to refuse to do that. When I got there, the instructor said, "I
see you have a cane. Good. Use it." Then during the period when we were
heeling the dog places, I knew the building and I could operate more
efficiently. I thought maybe all of the schools used this approach now. For
people who did not have canes, there were loaners at the school.

Cindy
cindyray at gmail.com

On Aug 25, 2014, at 3:33 AM, Stephanie via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
> I have to write on this, because I can relate. I used my can since I was
young. I am mid 30's, it it was a problem. First of all, I went through a
grieving process as I realized that soon I was going to be with out the
cane. I even doubted if a dog was for me. I did not get a dog for many
years, because I thought I could never trust an animal to guide me. But I
heard about the benifits and decided to try for a dog. 
> The first day of training, I was told to put my cane away, and that we
would be learning the lay out of the building with out my cane. I felt dread
and wondered how the hell I was going to do this. I got lost a lot those
first few days.
> But soon, I found my dog was guiding me, and I didn't feel so lost. There
were some things that really puzzled me though. Obstacle work caused a real
problem to me. I kept failing the obstacle work because I just couldn't
understand how I could tell the dog to find my way around something when I
had no idea what, or where the obstacle was. After a frustrating time of it,
I told the instructor my issue and that she would have to show me how to do
this because I just couldn't get my mind around it. So we worked through
each obstacle and I was able to work out how to use my feet, hands etc
instead of a cane.
> The other thing I found was trying to work out why my dog stopped some
times. And thefeeling the loss of land marks that I'd gotten used too.
> Now, I'll never go back to the cane. I don't have to count steps, work out
land marks as much. I can just remember the turns and how to get some where.
I can go straight across streets, no more indents or anything like that. No
more having to find a pole to tell me we were close to something. No more
having to stress about an open space because Gypsy guides me through all
that. 
> Last christmas, I used my cane for the first time since getting my dog 15
months ago. I got to the shops ok, but my mind was telling me where the
counter was, but I forgot the obstacles in my road. I also nearly crashed in
to some one on the way out, and couldn't find the door. Like I couldn't
glide gracefully to the door. I was so thankful for my dog!
> Anyway, it will take time to trust the dog. But if you give it time, and
you want to, you will never look back.
> Steph
> '
> 
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