[nagdu] petting guide dog question

Sat Nov 29 22:16:20 UTC 2014

For the first two months I had my dog, I did not allow anyone to pet
him, no exceptions. Now, I do not allow anyone to pet him in harness
or while he is leash guiding. The only people I allow to pet him are
my parents and sisters, only if he is not working and sitting
relatively calmly. I have a very friendly lab/golden cross and I don't
want to make his job harder by allowing people to pet him in public.
He is very good about ignoring people calling his name or exclamations
of "doggy", "puppy", and comments of that nature. For the most part,
he ignores strangers, particularly children, but gets excited when he
sees people he knows well. I treat this like any other distraction and
redirect his attention so he once again focuses on his work.
Ultimately, it depends on each individual person and dog.

Danielle and Thai

On 11/29/14, Tracy Carcione via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> I do what Lyn does--treat petting as a distraction.  I was happy to get some
> drive-by petting in training; it gave me a chance to show Krokus that he has
> to ignore it.  I even asked a couple classmates to give him a pat in
> harness, so I could see to it he didn't get excited about it.  I figured
> other TSE students wouldn't be offended if I corrected my dog.
> Krokus is a beautiful dog.  I know people on the bus will try to pet him
> when we stand up to get off.  So we work to stay calm about it.
> Tracy
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "L Gwizdak via nagdu" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> To: "John Sanders" <starmy22 at gmail.com>; "NAGDU Mailing List,the National
> Association of Guide Dog Users" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, November 28, 2014 3:17 PM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] petting guide dog question
>
>
>> Hi John,
>> As far as petting guide dogs, I learned long time ago that we can't
>> control other people anymore than we can control a loose dog or squirrel.
>> So, I treat this issue just like any other distraction we encoounter as we
>>
>> walk with our guide dogs.  People like to do what I call "drive by
>> petting".  I simply teach my dogs that this is to be ignored as we are
>> walking.  Dog gets corrected just as if he was showing interest in other
>> animals or things as we walk.
>>
>> I do allow people to pet my dogs if we are standing around talking and I'm
>>
>> not holding the harness handle. My dogs learn that they can either sit or
>> stand but not go wacky.  If I want to let a friend play a bit with my dog,
>>
>> I take the harness off.  This works for me and all my dogs so far.  I
>> don't let others interact with a brand new dog for a time until I know the
>>
>> dog better and it has had time to settle in with me as "top dog".  I am a
>> consistant handler and my dogs all learn quickly what is OK to do and
>> when.
>>
>> I'm leaving this Monday to fly to TSE. Did I read that you were going to
>> Pilot soon for a first dog?  If so, good luck to you.  You will learn all
>> you need at the school.  Be proactive and ask questions.  Pick the brains
>> of retrains there.  But do follow what your instructor says.  He or she
>> knows your dog well and they can give you insight in how to handle YOUR
>> dog.  Good luck to you.
>>
>> I will be MIA on all the lists while I am gone.
>>
>> Lyn soon to have new dog!!!!
>>
>> "Asking who's the man and who's the woman in an LGBT relationship is like
>> asking which chopstick is the fork" - Unknown
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "John Sanders via nagdu" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, November 28, 2014 7:40 AM
>> Subject: [nagdu] petting guide dog question
>>
>>
>>> Hi,
>>> I have a question: I know that this topic has already been talked about
>>> so I do apologize for reposting it.
>>> I had talked with my parents and they said that they were ok with me
>>> getting a guide dog.
>>> My mom had asked me, if me and the guide dog were just sitting there and
>>> the guide dog wasn't working, what would I say to some one who wanted to
>>> pet him?
>>> I remember a lot of people saying that while the guide dog is working,
>>> people are not supposed to pet him.
>>> I'm just wondering:  when your not working with the guide dog, do you
>>> allow other people to pet them?
>>> I hope to hear from you soon.
>>> Sincerely,
>>> John Sanders
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
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