[nagdu] those comments from the public

[Craig Heaps via nagdu]

Sherry:

That's a funny story.  I haven't had Chase quite a year yet, but I realize 
how ignorant I was about guide dogs before I began looking into getting one 
and went through the training.  (Not to mention the real life experience of 
having a guide dog.)

People often ask if I'm training Chase.  I think it's because I have a 
little bit of useable vision and wear glasses (massively thick though they 
may be).  I tried to come up with some clever response.  But I have found it 
was just quicker and easier to say,  "No, I'm legally blind and he's my 
guide."  I usually try to smile and say something like, "he does a great job 
of keeping me safe."

Maybe it's because I'm still kind of new at this, but I enjoy the 
conversations, even the ones that seem a little dumb.  Occasionally I get 
the weird question.  A rough looking guy on BART one day asked, "Does he 
bite?".  For a moment I thbought of Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther.  I 
said, "He's trained to do what I tell him to do." and left it at that.

I have also concluded there must be a gazillion puppy raisers out there. 
About five times a week (small exaggeration) someone says, "My sisters used 
to raise guide dog puppies" or "I used to raise guide dog puppies for 4-H" 
or "We had a career change dog.  It was the best dog we ever had."

Craig and Chase (who is still training me)

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sherry Gomes via nagdu" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2014 10:35 AM
Subject: [nagdu] those comments from the public


> On the subject of the public and their comments, good or bad. I had the
> strangest conversation once, strangest I ever had. I was out shopping with 
> a
> friend who was a GDB puppy raiser. at the time, I was quite involved with 
> a
> local puppy raising club, and she and I had decided to do some shopping at 
> a
> local mall. I was with my then guide Bianca. Bianca was doing her job
> beautifully, when suddenly this woman I was with stuck her arm out in 
> front
> of me, like you do with kids in a car when you come to an abrupt stop.
>
> "stop, there's a planter in front of you," she cried.
>
> I looked at her in bewilderment. GDB puppy raisers have lots of
> opportunities to interact with handlers if they both want to, and having 
> me
> and my best friend around the club a lot had given all of them reasons to
> see guides in action. So, I just answered that she needed to let Bianca do
> her job, and that Bianca would lead me around the planter. which of course
> she did. So, this woman then said,
>
> "You mean, you actually trust her to do that?"
>
> :Of course I do."
>
> "You even go out on the street and cross streets, even busy streets on 
> your
> own? Just you and your dog?"
>
> "Of course I do," I said again, "Why else do you think I have the dog? 
> What
> do you think she does?"
>
> She didn't really have an answer for that. I guess she just thought Bianca
> acted as a pet or emotional support animal or something, in spite of 
> having
> seen her in action several times before. It sure was weird.
>
> Sherry
>
>
>
>
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