[nagdu] Guide dogs in taxis?

[Daryl Marie]

Tami,
Hard to say, There was quite a large language barrier. he simply said "Dog in back?" - which I took as a suggestion for Jenn's comfort, though it could have been interpreted as a gentle request. Either way, he didn't put up a fight at all when I said "No, I am not comfortable doing this." If his English was better I might have done more education.
He handled it like a pro when Jenn started coughing out of nowhere. I had baggies at the ready in case she got sick.

Daryl
----- Original Message -----
From: Tami Jarvis <tami at poodlemutt.com>
To: Daryl Marie <crazymusician at shaw.ca>, NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 20:04:54 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Guide dogs in taxis?

Daryl,

Hm... Was he asking if you wanted to, suggesting that you do, or trying 
to insist that you do? If it were me, the driver's tone and willingness 
to accept -- or the opposite -- my wishes would determine whether I 
thought he/she was out of line.

In the Portland area where I took a lot of cabs, it's really dog 
friendly, so people are always taking their pet dogs in cabs. So I 
didn't have a problem when the driver would assume my dog would ride the 
same way. How are they to know the difference? The more experienced 
drivers did, of course, though they would mention that since they took 
pets a lot, they were fine if she rode in the seat. I would just explain 
that I was training her to do right or she was new and I wanted to keep 
her doing right and in case we travel to places where dogs aren't so 
accepted everywhere, I wanted to keep us both in good habits. It was all 
good. In a different dog culture, I might go up in flames at the very 
thought someone assumed I didn't know proper etiquette with my dog. If 
they tried to insist I put the dog where I didn't have control of her 
and couldn't put my hands on her in an instant, that would not be okay. 
If someone who doesn't know the ins and outs suggests something that 
makes sense to them for my dog's comfort, then I just do what you did 
and maybe give a little info about guide dog etiquette and let it go at 
that.

Tami

On 07/20/2014 06:07 PM, Daryl Marie via nagdu wrote:
> Hi!
> I took a taxi yesterday, and the driver asked if I wanted to put Jenny in the back. This was a completely open area primarily used to transport people in wheelchairs. She would have had plenty of room, and I had full access to her, but I said no, I didn't feel comfortable having her in the back like that. It was a full taxi (4 people), so the question didn't aggravate me like it otherwise might have.
> My teammates didn't say much beyond "She'd have so much room back there!" so I didn't feel judged or anything, but I was wondering on your thoughts. Did the driver have the right to request this?
> Jenny did end up sitting in the back seat with me, curled up by my feet.
> Curious Daryl
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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/tami%40poodlemutt.com
>