[nagdu] Some people are assholes

Mon Oct 6 19:52:57 UTC 2014

Hi,

I recently asked a friend about a situation like this.  It hasn't happened to me, but I am concerned about the "what if" sinerio.

What I'm going to do, and what it never hurts to do, is teach your dog to take food on command.  I mean any food, breakfast, snack, dinner, etc. 

I've heard that guide dogs are taught this at school, but I believe it doesn't get reinforced by the handlers after a time, generally speaking.  

Along these lines, practice with it.  This is easier to teach when your dog is hungry, but throughout the day, set aside some  breakfast to train this.  

I am going to teach my dog that he can only take food when the "take it" command is issued.  Dogs can be taught to ignore food, and it will be a lot harder for those who's dog works for food as a primary motivator, unlike my dog, but it can be done.

When your dog knows the command to take food, practice with friends. Immitate a sinerio where your dog might be tempted to snatch some thrown food.  

My thought is, you can't always control what people do, but you can control how your dog reacts.

In regards to the person.  I believe calling him an "ass hole" is a bit uncalled for.  This person, more than likely, thought that your dog must be hungry, given that he works all day, and probably thought he was doing your dog a favor.  Some dogs can take table scraps with no problem and this person probably feeds stray dogs or his own dogs table scraps.

With that being said:
Was this person right for feeding your dog?  absolutely not, but unless you had a "don't feed me" sign on him an ass hole is a bit harsh.  Yeah, people should know not to do this to a service dog. Maybe he knew and didn't care because he figured his imagining the dog to be hungry overrode what's proper for service dogs.

Again, I do, in no way, condone the guy's actions, and if I were in your situation, I would be very mad.  But what could I do?  I could yell at the guy for feeding my servie dog, go on a tyrade on how my dog has a malobsorption problem and how this is going to cost my a pretty big vet bill.

In this situation, I think explaining to the guy why guide dogs should not be fed certain things, and especially by strangers, is crucial to their job in helping you.  If the person insists that your dog is starving or tries to defend his point, again, explain that you're sorry he feels that way, but this is not his dog.  

I had to tell someone that when he insisted that I was cruel for making my puppy work. "Can't you just give him a break and allow him to be a dog", was what I got.

I once knew of a person who purposefully tried to distract a guide dog by making hand motions to it and making soft noises to it, while it was walking with it's handler.  That, in my oppinion, would be an ass hole.

I know some people may find my approach too soft, but I try to understand where the person is coming from in regards to this sort of things.  My family is bad about feeding dogs table scraps, and they truely mean well. They love dogs.  But I have to keep telling them, you can't do this.  You can be a bit more abrupt with strangers and leave it at that though, but try to understand what the stranger sees, assuming the stranger is not familiar with guide dogs.

Well, just my thoughts.
On Oct 6, 2014, at 11:58 AM, Larry D Keeler via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Well, as far as the sub goes, I'd just watch him for a little while. Mostly for diarrhea. But, Holly got into a whole sub once and I didn't see anything but her satisfied grin! In my case, someone had left her purse with a sandwich sticking out of it and Holly after awhile was just too tempted! And, the purse was where we couldn't see it and so she was able to eat the whole thing unnoticed. The only thing you can do is tell those jerks not to do that. But of  course, they may or may not listen! I'd find out where thdey lived and park your dog in front of there door so they can see what it did for his digestion! Teaching a dog to not snatch food offered him is probably very difficult. Holly won't snatch but if an offer is made, she certainly won't decline! I usually can intercept but not always. If I suspect some has slipped her a forbidden treat, I calmly explain that if she ralfs or runs they may have the pleasure of cleaning it up! My daughter once found it humorous to feed Holly some cookies. Of course, I woke up and found them tossed all over the front room! I got her up and had her clean it up. She doesn't feed Holly or her friends service dogs without asking anymore!
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark J. Cadigan via nagdu" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, October 06, 2014 1:34 PM
> Subject: [nagdu] Some people are assholes
> 
> 
> Some people are assholes. today; I was sitting on a bench making a phone
> call. And there was another student on an adjacent bench eating a sub. My
> dog was just lying by my feet not even looking at the other student, and
> when the student was finished with his sub, without even asking, he threw
> his leftover sub at my dog. Naturally, my dog seeing food flying at his
> face, opened those big jaws of his, and swallowed it. My problem is that the
> student was so inconsiderate to do that in the first place, and secondly
> that grain makes my dog have the runs. Additionally, it was a meatball sub,
> and tomatoes are bad for dogs.
> 
> 
> 
> What I am doing besides venting is asking what if anything I can do to
> lessen the inevitable stomach upset, and should I be concerned by the amount
> of tomatoes contained in ½ of a sub. Also, is it possible to teach a dog not
> to accept food in that circumstance?
> 
> 
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