[nagdu] Puppy raising, taking the pup in public

[Debby Phillips]

Well, I think each person has to decide for themselves about 
whether their dogs should play with other dogs.  And I definitely 
would not allow unsupervised play.  My first dog had two good 
friends, other guides.  All three were from the same school.  The 
three loved each other (well, whatever the thing is, anyway, they 
were great friends).  I could actually tell my dog to fine one of 
the other dogs, and in a crowd she would do it.  The three would 
sometimes play until they were all panting and we would then 
settle them down and they'd quietly sleep together.
and Neena (when she lived here) would play with Lamar.  Nova 
plays some, but isn't the enthusiastic player that Neena was.  
She would rather have attention from me or sometimes my husband.  
So I don't see that it has hurt Nova to play when she does, nor 
will it in the future, as long as we supervise.

I don't have parties for my dogs, though I might sing happy 
birthday.  If I have the money and the time to get a present, I 
do.  But it hasn't always been possible.  I have had my dogs wear 
bells, (mainly because I like bells, but I also have done it so 
that other people would hear us coming.  I like small bells that 
aren't extremely loud, but that still can be heard.  It has 
helped during some conventions for people to hear the bell.  I'm 
not fond of me or my dog being run over.

As for the people and dog's names.  I know this may sound weird, 
but when I was single I very much felt that it was my dog and me, 
and we were family.  So it was Debby and Nat, or Debby and 
Artemis, or whatever dog I had when I was single.  I still feel 
that way to some extent, but not like I did before.  Now there's 
so many more of us.  (Smile).  I tend to sign my name with Nova's 
depending on which list I'm writing to.  This one I tend to, 
because it's a list where there are other guide dogs and people 
teams.  After all, Nova is quite of my life, and she is a living 
being.  So I do sometimes sign emails as Debby and Nova.  Again, 
I think it's a personal thing and nothing that people should get 
all uptight about.    Debby and Nova