[nagdu] guidedog and mobility skills

[Nicole Torcolini]

Debby, I think that you are misunderstanding what I am trying to say. Yes,
there are people who are better dog travelers than cane travelers, and I am
one of them. To be honest, whenever I use my cane, I wonder how I survived
so many years using a cane; perhaps it was because I did not know what
traveling with a dog was like. That aside, there are certain skills that a
person has to have regardless of what type of mobility aid that person is
using, with the exception of sighted guide, given that the sighted person
knows the area. If you do not know how to problem solve when you are lost or
how to cross a street without getting run over because you crossed at the
wrong time, then it does not matter that much if you have a cane or a dog.
As I have said before, dogs can and will learn certain routes, but it is not
something that you get out of the box, and it can go wrong sometimes. That
is not to say that I have not once or twice let Lexia take complete control.
Does that make more sense?

Nicole

-----Original Message-----
From: debby phillips [mailto:semisweetdebby at gmail.com] 
Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2014 8:52 AM
To: Nicole Torcolini; semisweetdebby at gmail.com; DLewis at clovernook.org;
nagdu at nfbnet.org; nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: RE: [nagdu] guidedog and mobility skills

Hi Nicole, I think that when I got my first dog I thought that it would make
me less afraid and a better traveler.  And it did.  I began going more
places on my own, and having a dog did give me more of a sense of
confidence.  I wouldn't say that I was a great traveler when I got my first
dog.  Over the years, I improved and because I had dogs I got out more than
I had.  Then my husband and I moved to rural Washington, and I mean rural.
I ended up needing to go to CCB to work on my travel skills again.  Now, I'm
a much better traveler than before, but I am absolutely a better traveler
with a dog than a cane, and I went all over Denver using my cane.  And what
about those folks who first used dogs, before there were canes? They didn't
have OandM instruction.  All I'm trying to say is that I do believe that
there are people who do quite well with dogs but are terrible cane
travelers.  Don't ask me how it works for them, but it does.  Maybe they
travel in limited routes, or whatever but as long as the dog helps them, 
who am I to judge tone else?    Blessings,    Debby and Neena