[nagdu] those comments from the public

Doug Parisian via nagdu nagdu at nfbnet.org
Fri May 16 23:18:13 UTC 2014


Larry, not sure how many other folks have claimed "rubber Teeth"in their 
guides but I did in fact do just that over 32 years ago with my first 
dog whose name just happened to be Brut (Pronounced brute, apparently a 
fine German Wine.)

I was sitting comfortably at a friend's restaurant one fine day, 
enjoying an awesome chicken salad plate when a foghorn woman's voice 
asked me "Do those blind dogs bight."

without change of expression and minimal thought, I explained that all 
blind dogs have teeth extracted and were provided rubber teeth for 
reasons of public safety.  Amazingly, said woman bent down under my 
table and tried opening Brut's mouth so she could see for herself.  Brut 
was a 75 pound German Shepherd.  My two owner/friends suddenly found 
they had to catch up with work in the kitchen.  For the rest of the time 
said restaurant remained in business, they always asked how Brut's 
rubber teeth were working.

My dog can lick your dog, and you too!

On 16/05/2014 5:07 PM, Larry D. Keeler via nagdu wrote:
> Tami, when I'm asked that question, I have a bunch of great answers! 
> For exxampl, no! But I do! or maybe, I don't know, she hasn't had 
> lunch yet! I can't remember who said it but I like the one someone 
> said about there dog having rubber teath.
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tami Jarvis 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 4:37 PM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] those comments from the public
>
>
>> Craig,
>>
>> I always think of that Pink Panther "does your dog bite" routine, 
>> too! And it always makes me giggle, so I can never get the 
>> satisfaction of popping off a snappy answer. Sigh. Then again, the 
>> one time I managed to be serious and tell someone on the sidewalk all 
>> about it, someone else came up and asked, so I explained it 
>> seriously, then someone else came up and asked and... Then there was 
>> a small crowd, and they were explaining it to each other for me, and 
>> I was thinking that dog-friendly Portland is too weird a place to go 
>> about with a dog trying to be seriuos about it. Then a small, timid 
>> voice at the edge of the crowd said, "Is that a pit bull?" and I 
>> nearly fell on the ground laughing while folks explained it all to 
>> her. Probably a good thing I was laughing too hard to answer because 
>> all I could think of to say was, "Yes! The pointy-nosed, curly-coated 
>> kind, and they're *really* dangerous!" /lol/
>>
>> Training her and working her at first so near to GDB's Boring 
>> facility, I got plenty of commentary from people who knew all about 
>> guide dogs because they had seen a puppy with a raiser or knew 
>> someone who knew someone who knew a puppy raiser or... When the 
>> mythology of guide dogs gets conglomerated with the mythology of 
>> guide dog puppies and it's all known for true fact, the things people 
>> say can be pretty funny. Or pretty annoying when they're pushy about 
>> it because they know so much. /lol/
>>
>> Tami
>>
>> On 05/16/2014 10:55 AM, Craig Heaps via nagdu wrote:
>>> 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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>>>
>>>
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>>
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