[nagdu] In the Wee Hours of the Morning

Wed Jul 16 03:59:51 UTC 2014

Oh, yes, they know. I have said it before, I will say it now, and I will
probably say it again in the future: I do not know what Lexia knows, but she
knows something. She helps me even when she is not in the harness.

Nicole and Lexia

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Marsha Drenth via
nagdu
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2014 3:45 PM
To: Tami Jarvis
Cc: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] In the Wee Hours of the Morning

hi Tammy,
Well guide dog foundation had started to do the foundation work for alerting
tasks. But since I've had my dog. I haven't done a huge amount of trading
with her, but she seems to alert on certain noises without much training.
It's like she knows that I can't hear. Funny how the dogs know that sort of
thing!

Marsha drenth
email: marsha.drenth at gmail.com
Sent with my IPhone
Please note that this email communication has been sent using my iPhone. As
such, I may have used dictation and had made attempts to mitigate errors.
Please do not be hesitant to ask for clarification as necessary. 

> On Jul 15, 2014, at 1:00 PM, Tami Jarvis <tami at poodlemutt.com> wrote:
> 
> Marsha,
> 
> Another awesome true story! The dog's part is wonderful, and so is the
trust to listen to her and follow her, as Karyn did with Thane last night.
> 
> I can't remember. Was your dog cross-trained from the start when you
received her? Or have you added some cross-training for hearing alert? Just
curious, since cross-training of guides by programs is a new thing (or so I
think).
> 
> Tami
> 
>> On 07/14/2014 08:01 PM, Marsha Drenth via nagdu wrote:
>> Hi Karen,
>> What a awesome dog you have! Thank you for sharing the story with us.
It's a good example of what the proper training of a dog can do for someone
who is deaf blind.
>>  this also sort of gets me to think, as in that because of my hearing 
>> loss, that I am deaf blind. I do not have the ability to hear fire 
>> alarms. I also at this point do not have one of those fancy alerting 
>> systems for my home. At some point I would like to get one. But my 
>> dog already Alerts to fire alarms and and some other loud noises. 
>> That I cannot hear.  your story reminds me of an incident that 
>> happened while I was at Helen Keller national Center, I was getting 
>> ready for bed, and my Pup was laying on her bed, when I was just 
>> laying down, she jumped up on the bed on top of me and would not get 
>> off. I did not have my hearing aids in. But she would not calm down. 
>> I knew that something was going on because once I opened my eyes I 
>> could see the flashing lights. I grabbed some clothes, with out 
>> thinking about the harness. And ran down the hallway. In the lobby of 
>> the residential building, we were instructed to go outside. This was 
>> during the time of the  year that there was snow on t
> he groun. There was actually a fire as when I got into the main part of
the building, I smelled a lot of smoke. It was a good thing that she got me,
that she alerted me of this fire alarm. of course, if anybody knows this
building, this building could never burned down. Nevertheless, she did a
good job.
>> 
>> Marsha drenth
>> email: marsha.drenth at gmail.com
>> Sent with my IPhone
>> Please note that this email communication has been sent using my iPhone.
As such, I may have used dictation and had made attempts to mitigate errors.
Please do not be hesitant to ask for clarification as necessary.
>> 
>>> On Jul 14, 2014, at 7:30 PM, Karyn & Thane via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
wrote:
>>> 
>>> Last night or should I say early this morning, I was awoken to Thane 
>>> hitting his body hard against the back of his crate vibrating my bed.
>>> At first I thought he might still not be feeling well from the 
>>> heatwave effects, but he meant business and I could tell he was 
>>> unsettled. He immediately took me to the front door so after 
>>> checking the back patio door which overlooks the parking lot and 
>>> ascertaining there was a big problem as there were lots of flashing 
>>> emergency lights out there, I harnessed him up, leaving my apartment 
>>> in my pjs (not even thinking about that little detail) The building 
>>> wide fire alarm was blaring, but I was not privy to that being 
>>> deafblind. Thane has always been quite sound sensitive to the fire 
>>> alarm here, but this time, he was all business, doing what needed to be
done to save me.
>>> Once I got to my front door I smelled the smoke (still seem to have 
>>> a more heightened ability to use my sense of smell though) I had a 
>>> really difficult time getting through the two fire doors, but we did 
>>> it. Once I got to the outside door, a really neat gal grabbed and held
it for me.
>>> I couldn't understand her. After I told her I was deafblind she 
>>> immediately began to fingerspell letting me read tactile from her 
>>> (we didn't even know each other before last night) She gave me 
>>> really helpful information as well as helping me to find one of my 
>>> friends here which helped both Thane and I relax.
>>> The sprinkler system did its jobon the fire in the unit one floor up 
>>> across the hall from me. The water damage is being dealt with on 
>>> both the two
>>> floors-- lots of work ahead, but everybody was OK.
>>> I am just so impressed with Thane's work. We've never had a 
>>> situation where I needed him more than I did while I was sleeping last
night.
>>> Something changed in us last night. I realized just how much my 
>>> wonderful sidekick will do for me when danger is knocking at the 
>>> door. We are both OK (albeit a bit rattled from the experience) When 
>>> the firemen were leaving the apt across the hall (lots of water 
>>> damage for them), I got to talk to them about safety concerns. They 
>>> are entering information I gave them into the 911 system so that 
>>> they know to check my apt for any emergencies as well as having 
>>> critical information should I ever need to call 911. It's something 
>>> that I think is very good that I have wanted to have done since I 
>>> moved here. It might be something good for some of you to consider as
well.
>>> I am definitely putting together a go-bag after this experience. I 
>>> want to be ready to get out the door quickly while also having 
>>> anything important we may need in an emergency.
>>> The bottomline though is that I am just so proud of my little red head.
>>> Thane totally ROCKED last night.
>>> 
>>> Karyn and Thane
>>> 
>>> 
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>> com although my story is very true, and she did a very good job, I 
>> mean my puppy. It wasn't that big of a deal, not like Karen and things
story.

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