[nagdu] Perspectives on Guide Dogs

[debby phillips]

Hi Rachel, boy, you did pose a lot of questions! (Grin).  First 
I'll start by telling you a bit about me.  I am working with my 
7th dog, Neena.  She is a Golden Retriever from Seeing Eye.  I am 
60, and have been traveling with dogs since I was 26.

Let's see, breed.  Well, I've had either Labs or Goldens with the 
exception of my first dog, who was a Lab Newfoundland cross.  At 
that time, Seeing Eye was still accepting donor dogs, or 
purchasing dogs.  Fortunately she had the Lab shape and size, but 
the Newfie coat.  She was wonderful (but the first one always 
is).  She brought me a lot of freedom and joy, and problems.  
Lol.  I have never worked with German Shepherds, so I don't know 
about those, but then GDB does not train them anymore.  So I'd 
say that each dog, regardless of gender or breed has pluses and 
minuses.  I really have no breed or gender preference.

2.  As far as your question about the changing dynamics.  I was 
single when I got my first dog and so the relationship between me 
and my dogs was kind of like it's us against the world, kind of.  
I don't exactly mean that either but I lived alone with my dog, 
so the relationship between me and my dogs was intense.  When I 
got married in 2000 things did change.  Suddenly there was 
another person and his dog that I was interacting with, and he 
was interacting with my dog.  We made some mistakes-I just 
followed him with my dog a lot.  Now even when we are together 
unless we are in a very crowded noisy situation, I walk 
independently with my dog, and he gives me directions if it's 
somewhere I haven't been before.  Now we have both my retired 
guide and my new girl Neena, a cat, and frequently our 
granddaughter.  Our granddaughter loves Neena and it's fun to 
watch them interact.  Neena is my partner, I love her, and my 
husband and I joke about our "animal kids" though we don't really 
treat them that way.

Before my current husband when I dated guys, if they did not like 
my dogs, or there was any conflict about it at all, the guy was 
outa there.  Lol.  But my husband has always loved my dogs, read 
a lot, listened a lot to me, and talked to instructors from 
Seeing Eye, so he has a great balance between loving my dogs and 
yet letting me be the primary person who cares for my dogs.  The 
rest of my family has been okay with my dogs, though sometimes 
they want me to let my dogs do things that I don't want to let 
them do.  In the beginning I acceded to my family's wishes, but 
not anymore.  Now, I call the shots.

I have only experienced some discrimination in housing, maybe.  I 
was promised an apartment at a place and then at the last minute 
they said they couldn't rent it to me because they needed to give 
a manager my apartment.  As for jobs, no, my dog has never been 
the issue.  Or not that the perspective employer ever said that.  
It's hard to know, of course.  Anybody with any savvy these days 
will not say, I don't want to hire you because you have a dog or 
because you're blind.  They will say stuff like, We had so many 
qualified applicants, and it was very difficult to choose.  How 
can you argue with that? Sigh.

5.  Well, I would never leave my dog home from a job interview.  
I think that for me, having my dog at my side guiding me into a 
room and settling down quietly is a plus.  If they are going to 
discriminate against me then the dog is not going to be the thing 
that they would discriminate for.  However having said that, 
there are some places that I don't choose to take my dogs 
necessarily.  I took Neena to a Pigout in the Park here, and next 
year I don't think that I will take her to that.  I also don't 
really like taking my dogs to fairs, because I like to go to the 
petting zoo and see the other animals.  (Smile).

I suppose for me the emotional thing is just knowing that I have 
another being with me when I'm out and about.  When I get lost it 
helps knowing that I'm not totally alone.  She also does somehow 
ease things for me in conversations.  When I travel with my cane 
often people don't talk to me, but with a dog they do.  I think 
my dogs have served as ice breakers.  That's okay with me, 
because once people get to know me (if they're going to) they 
become my friends, not just friendly because I have a dog.

This may sound horrible but ow don't really care about how 
sighted people perceive me.  I know that for me having a dog is 
better.  I have good cane skills, but I know that having a dog 
gives me some added confidence that having a cane doesn't.  I 
don't really know whether there's a difference in how sighted 
people perceive blind folks using canes or dogs.  I just know 
that people seem more friendly when I have my dogs than not.  
(The flip side is that the crazies are also attracted to my dogs, 
sometimes.  That can be good or bad.  The other thing is that the 
guys I dated when using my cane didn't seem to perceive me any 
differently than the ones whom I dated when ow just had my cane.  
I think really that the biggest difference in dating was whether 
the guys liked dogs or not.  I'd made my choice a long time 
before them that I wanted a dog.  So if they wanted me they'd 
have to accept that or like I said earlier, get lost.

I have had people be afraid of my dog, and I don't really know 
what to do about that.  You see, I had a terrible fear of strange 
dogs, and had to go through desensitization therapy.  So I 
understand that fear, and all I can do is reassure and try to 
keep my dog away from them.  Allergies is another matter.  I also 
had allergies to dogs and got allergy shots because I told the 
doctor that I was not getting rid of my dog.  I know that there 
are ways to mitigate allergies to dogs, like in a bus, train or 
plane, I will try and sit as far from the person with the allergy 
as I can.  They too can take something like Bennadryl, although 
usually in that situation me being far away is enough, since we 
won't be together forever.  I did have a doctor who was allergic 
to dogs.  I really liked her, so I chose in that situation to not 
travel to appointments with her with my dog.  But if she'd been a 
negative person and screamed a lot about it, then I might have 
wondered.  Sometimes I think people use the allergy card because 
they just don't like dogs.  I also will not tolerate being 
discriminated against by a cab driver.  If they have a religious 
issue with my dog then they should do something else.  I will do 
my best to keep my dog's mouth and face away from drivers, and if 
it's not a huge hassle (like I'm going on a trip or something) 
and I think about it, I might take a blanket or towel to put on 
the floor of their cab.

Sorry for such a long email.  (Grin).  I hope I've answered all 
of your questions.    Blessings,    Debby and Neena