[nagdu] Bad weather and class

[Raven Tolliver]

I would imagine that classes go on. Sidewalks in most places are
shoveled or salted, so ice is not as much a hazard as you might think.
Not here in Michigan anyway. I've lived in Southeast and Western
Michigan for a long while and the sidewalks are just as cared for as
the streets are. Given, there are some places where you must walk over
patches of snow. But patches of ice are pretty rare.
My golden and I were still able to get out there and work despite the
below freezing temperatures. Classes around here aren't cancelled
unless the world is on the brink of ending, so the show goes on.
Outside of classes, we still have errands to run, buses to hop, and
volunteering to do. Life is definitely not put on hold because of the
snow, and trust me, there is a lot of it here. You just work through,
around, and over it, even if you have to climb over 2-1/2 feet of snow
to get out of the street and onto the sidewalk.
It would have been nice to score a winter class, but I don't think New
York winters are anything like West Michigan winters, so it probably
wouldn't have made a difference. Too, that would have clashed with the
school semester, so it was out of the question.
For people from different parts of the country who aren't used to
working through so much frigid temps and copious amounts of snow, I
would advise those people to avoid the winter classes if you plan on
getting a dog from a place with weather like Momma Michigan's. It
definitely takes some getting used to, even for some dogs, so if both
the handler and dog are thrown off, your mobility is shot.
My golden was very thrown off by the snow his first winter here in
Michigan. His trainer couldn't even tell me how he'd handle it since
the winter he was trained dropped little snow in New York. I had to
put in extra training with him to get him acclimated so he would still
turn down the paths I needed and stop at those curbs flush with the
sidewalk. He got it down quickly, and this winter, he's guiding in the
snow as if he's been doing it his whole life.
Too, if you put booties on a dog, they definitely walk faster,
especially if it's those clunky ones the schools commonly give out.

On 2/14/14, Larry D. Keeler <lkeeler at comcast.net> wrote:
> Welcome to Michigan's weather! It will finally go abov freezing this week!
> Holly mostly didn't work much this winter because of the cold and
> sidewalks.
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 10:07 AM
> Subject: [nagdu] Bad weather and class
>
>
>> It seems like, here in Jersey, we've had a major storm every week for at
>> least the last month, and, even when there's no storm, it's been very
>> cold.
>> I wonder how the schools around here are handling it.  Do people just go
>> out, unless it's actually blizzarding, and stomp through the snow as best
>>
>> they can?  I would have a hard time judging my new dog's pace, if all the
>>
>> time we were walking carefully on ice, or maneuvering down narrow
>> shovelled paths.  And in my book, one or two trips to the mall exhausts
>> the possibilities for learning anything useful there.
>> Or, I suppose, they could come into New York City a lot more, because the
>>
>> City tends to clean the main walkways pretty well.  A lot better than my
>> town does, for sure.
>> I wonder what Leader does, since bad weather is a constant in Michigan
>> winters?
>> Anyone been in class in the northern part of the country during January or
>>
>> February, with lots of snow?
>> I'd be real interested to hear about it.
>> Tracy
>>
>>
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-- 
Raven