[nagdu] I have some advice I would like to share.

[Dan Weiner]

Oh well, you guys are very competent cane users and I certainly give you
credit.

I however will not mince words in my experience a dog is far superior to the
long white cane.

Having said that, I know that different people use different tools well but
I will tell you that the most active times of my life were made possible
because of my using a dog and my motivation, both go together of
course--smile

The training I received with a guide dog and my interaction with the dog as
well as my high motivation  made my travel experience pretty awesome.
I  surmize   that some of  my fellow federationsists like to downplay the
benefits their dogs have given them because they feel shy about saying too
much in praise of a dog  because maybe   it would undermie or contradict
federation philosophy in some way.
.
I however am not ashamed to say that I went to Japan and studied there for
almost two years with my Labrador guide, Evan, and negotiated very crowded
conditions and got all around Tokyo.
The fact that I knew I would be able to go around people and obstacles, etc.
and just the thrill of getting out there and letting Evan do his work made
me actually want to get out there and do things.
I used a cane before that of course, but had been getting increasingly
dependent and worried due to traffic conditions and my hearing loss on the
left side, as well as my tendency to get massively disorientated or is it
disoriented due to veering.

My independent travel with a dog as compared with my independent travel with
a cane is about a ratio of five to one, maybe ten to one to be blunt.

And of course, keeping cane skills up is a great idea,I'm not arguing with
that....but what I am saying is there are some things I just can't do with a
cane or do them very badly that I can with ease do with my doggies.

Yours most sincerely,

Dan the man, Parker the dog

 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Gary Steeves via
nagdu
Sent: Monday, June 09, 2014 10:28 AM
To: Leonard Stamper; NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide
Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] I have some advice I would like to share.

Hi:

I think we all agree that keeping up cane skills is important on several
levels.  First, it gives us all a sense of security knowing that, as much as
we love our dogs and the job they do, we know that we could get around
without them.  It is very different  using the cane and dog but doable. 

The other reason is to give confidence to those around us.  I was shocked on
saturday when i had to get a certain intersection where my band was setting
up to play at an outdoor street festival.  My girlfriend asked how i was
going to do it with out bogart?   I was sort of shocked since i'd been in
this band 6 years before bogart showed up and i'd got to many of these types
of gigs. Yes, i admit that navigating metro stations  is a bit more
challenging  with cane over dog but on the other hand Iwas able to get to
the bus stop in under 2w minutes from my house, a time that bogart could
never compete with. :) 

So just mjade me realize that i needed to reassure Susan that my cane skills
are just as d as they were before.  I actually try to plan a day full of
errands all over the city when I take bogart to the groomers to make me keep
my caning up to date.

Good advice and thanks for sharing with us.

Gary


On June 8, 2014 12:55:22 PM PDT, Leonard Stamper via nagdu
<nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>
>Sent from my iPhone hello everybody this is Leonard again. I had a 
>thought I would like to share, especially with new and potential god 
>dog users. I know from experience when you first get your dog you 
>Thelda came in the closet and probably will forget it exists. But here 
>is a nugget of valuable information for you to think about. As we all 
>know a guy dog will only work for so many years. Also, your life will 
>still have to go on after that dog retires. I believe it would be a 
>great idea, if everyone would get out the pain and just use it every 
>once in a while just to keep your skill set shop enough that something 
>was to happen to your dog, or here she has to retire you would not be 
>housebound or taking your life in your hands when you travel. Just 
>thought I would share that everybody, and your doggies stay safe and 
>God bless.
>_______________________________________________
>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/rainshadowmusic%40sh
>aw.ca

--
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
_______________________________________________
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/dcwein%40dcwein.cnc.net