[nagdu] Introducing Myself

[Dan Weiner]

	Greetings to you, Helga.
I am Dan Weiner, (rhymes with miner-lol) and I live in central Florida.
I am happy you joined our list and hope you will find a friendly and
informative atmosphere.

Well Dan will give you his opinion on the street-crossing issue, one which I
have seen is not always shared by what I call the orthodox blind--lol.
A dog will definitely help make street crossings easier, I never crossed any
major streets before I got a dog because I have a hearing problem in the
left ear and had a very hard time judging traffic, a dog will make street
crossings safer and you will walk without as much veering because if you
follow the dog and he is bonded to you and used to how you walk he will
realize, due to training and working with you, that you are crossing from
one side to the other.
The dog is trained to 
1. disobey a command that according to his training would put you in
jeopardy.
2. Cross straight, avoiding obstacles and stopping if a car comes in front
of you (called in the guide dog training jargon a traffic check), and take
you from down curb to up curb.

Now what will the dog not do:
1. file your documents in Microsoft word and make coffee for you--lol
2. now really, the dog won't judge traffic for you, you have to listen to
traffic and judge when to tell the dog to cross by saying forward.

Therefore, the better you can read traffic and make that judgment call the
easier you will have it with a dog because otherwise you'll be like me when
I first started out standing on the street corner saying "My god, all this
traffic, when do I cross"--lol.
Well, maybe an exaggeration but  you see what I mean.
Where I differ from what I say the orthodox interpretation of things is that
I believe your street crossings will be better and safer with a dog than a
cane, I say this from my own experience.

I encourage you to learn as much as you can in o amd m and to learn some
routes you will use for walking with your dog, going somewhere you want, or
to classes, etc.

Getting a dog I have found usually expands the desire to get out and explore
new routes, if, nothing else, to have fun and enjoy the adventure of working
with your dog.

Tell us about yourself if you like and we'll all be happy to hear how things
are shaping up.

Yours sincerely,

Dan and the Parker Pup


 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Helga via nagdu
Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2014 7:08 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] Introducing Myself

Hi all, this is Helga! How are you all? I just wanted to tell you that I
became a member of this list two days ago!, and I really like this list a
lot! Just to let you know, I don't have a guide dog yet, but I'm in the
process in getting one! The reason I say that is because I talked to South
Eastern guide dog school and they sent me an application, but I really
didn't fill it completely yet since I need to work with my mobility
instructor in street crossing! In fact, I'm not really so good in street
crossing since I'm a little scare to cross the streets due to the fact that
there are a lot of cars. However, I know that it is not impossible, and I'm
good in route traveling since I'm in college, but my mobility instructor
told me that I need to be able to cross the streets in order to get a guide
dog! Is that true? Just wondering. I will probably will have a lot more
questions along the way regarding guide dogs, and guide dog scchools. Hope
to hear from you soon, and hope to  talk to you soon. Thanks so much and God
bless!!  
Helga Schreiber 

Fundraiser Coordinator for Phi Theta Kappa, Alpha Delta Iota chapter

Member of National Federation of the Blind and Florida Association of Blind
Students

Phone: (561) 706-5950 Email: helga.schreiber26 at gmail.com

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16