[NAGDU] Cricket can growl?

Sun Dec 27 20:03:47 UTC 2015

I don't see a thing wrong with doing corrections. If it gets the results you are looking for, you praise. You cannot always assess the whole situation until much later. Much later might well be too late. If you know your dog, you know what kind of corrections are appropriate for it. If someone is petting my dog and the dog is distracted and not doing what I want, I correct it even if it is not the dog's fault. It needs to understand the fact that it is not behaving in a way I would expect it to. It also corrects the person who was messing with the dog. Same goes here. If someone's dog is in my dog's face, my dog is growling, I am going to correct it. Then the person to whom other dog belongs can feel badly maybe because my dog had to be corrected, and they might think twice before they allow the situation to come up again. My dog isn't going to have some kind of lasting traumatic effect afterwards unless I've abused it. I wouldn't ever abuse my dog. And people may think I am abusing the dog sometimes because dogs aren't ever corrected if they are "civilian" dogs. So I would make no apologies to anyone if I have corrected my dog.
Cindy Lou Ray
cindyray at gmail.com

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Wayne And Harley via NAGDU
Sent: Sunday, December 27, 2015 1:06 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Wayne And Harley <k9dad at k9di.org>
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Cricket can growl?

Hi Abby,Being that it was a situation you hadn't prepped for I think you did well.However, a firm "No, Leave It" is what I would have done. Given that a growl was her only way of letting the other dogs know she didn't appreciate them being in her face. Better to have her growl a bit then learn she can't growl and instead go straight into a silent attack.
Yours, Very Sincerely And Respectfully,

Wayne M. Scace 

-------- Original message --------
From: Abby Bolling via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Date: 12/27/2015  02:21  (GMT-06:00)
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Abby Bolling <violingirl30794 at gmail.com>
Subject: [NAGDU] Cricket can growl? 

Hi all!
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!
I went to my uncles house for our annual  family get together. My aunt and uncle have two black labs and they said that of course, cricket was welcome, that Stella and Lulu would love to play with another dog. Well, that didn't go as planned.
I was working Cricket into the house because we don't go there very often, so the layout is very unfamiliar to me.
So Cricket and I are walking up the steps and she is doing really really good. She steps up and is on the landing and all of a sudden I hear puppy paws on the wood floor. Crickets harness handle is 20inches long because she is super short, but this means, when we go up steps, I am usually two steps behind her. So I wasn't on the landing yet. But all of a sudden, I feel Crickets head jerk around a little bit, then she turns to the right to body block me. at this point, I can feel Stella and Lulu like dancing around Cricket and getting in her  face and jumping at her. 
I could tell they were playing, but i have no idea what was going through Crickets head. I was very surprised when I heard my little 48 pound tiny black lab let out one of the most terrifying growls I have ever heard. I'm serious, I was taken-aback for a split second.
I corrected her so hard that she actually did a 180 degree turn, but Stella got back in her face and she growled again. At this point I was able to get on the landing and correct her hard again, but even through the fact that the collar was tight around her throat, she was still trying to growl. At this point, my cousin was able to grab Stella and then Lulu and put them in a separate room, but Cricket was still wound up and was jumping in the air. I literally had to almost tackle her to get her to lay down and calm down.
My family doesn't understand dog corrections, and they cringe and squawked because they thought I was hurting Cricket. I told them that I wasn't "hurting her," sure it wasn't comfortable, but I wasn't debilitating her.

Now the question! In your guys' opinion, did I handle the situation correctly? Should I not take cricket over there? And what would yall have done in that situation?
My Boyfriend asked why I didn't take Cricket out to the car, as it is really warm here, so temperature wise she would have been safe, but I didn't do that because she has really bad separation anxiety and will cry and whine and howl if she is left alone very much.
And since I have only had her home for 4 months, I don't want to make her mad too early in the game.

So anyway, thoughts? Opinions? Suggestions? All are appreciated!

Thanks,

Abby and the currently snuggly peaceful sleepy cricket.

--
Abigail M. Bolling
Wright State University-2018: Rehabilitation Services
Phone: (513) 512-3456
Email: bolling.8 at wright.edu
Abilities United: Secretary
Ohio Association of Guide Dog Users, a chapter of the National Federation of the Blind of Ohio: Secretary "keep a smile on your face and a song in your heart, and just let the music play." (Julie Anderson-Diamond) "Dance like no one is watching, love like you'll never be hurt, sing like no one is listening, and live like it's Heaven on earth." (William Purkey) The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.

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