[nagdu] Sidewalk-less walking?

[Jody Ianuzzi]

Whenever I walk down the road without sidewalks I walked down the left side of the road facing the traffic so that they can see me. If I walked on the right side of the road I would be afraid that they wouldn't see my dog and might hit him.  

When I was in training my instructor told me to walk down the left side of the road towards traffic and I think that's the generally excepted with pedestrians are supposed to walk. 

JODY 🐺
thunderwalker321 at gmail.com

"There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes."  DOCTOR WHO (Tom Baker)

> On Jul 1, 2015, at 10:14 AM, Daryl Marie via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Thanks Julie, it does help!
> 
> I think it's a matter of getting both Jenny and I thinking this is normal. On the way TO work, Jenny does beautiful guiding. We're right up against the curb... even when I think we're not, I tell her to move "in" (which to her is "All the way right", and I find she angles me so my right foot is on the grass immediately.  There aren't a lot of cars parked, and she's great about getting out of the way of those that come up behind us... So getting there isn't really the issue... but it's on the way back that seems to be the problem.  There are cars on the road nearly the entire way, and enough traffic coming down the street that I don't think she or I feel safe enough to walk on the road, which leaves us the parking lots (I think it might be better) or the grass (which Jenny doesn't seem to like).  I'm not sure what's on the other side of the street, but whatever it is, it's LOUD!  There's a bunch of offices and industrial buildings.  I might just head down that way and see what's there.
> 
> Thanks, Julie!
> 
> Daryl
> ----- Original Message ----- From: Julie J. via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org> Cc: Julie J. <julielj at neb.rr.com> Sent: Wed, 01 Jul 2015 05:44:21 -0600 (MDT) Subject: Re: [nagdu] Sidewalk-less walking?  Daryl, I do quite a bit of sidewalkless travel, nearly daily. I've not had a dog who was skittish about it. If it's possible, it's easier to walk with the curb/shoulder on your left, so the dog is nearest the edge. If you're not sure about your distance from the edge, you can cue a left turn and work the dog to the edge, or if you use a folding cane you can use that. I do this a lot in the beginning, but haven't done either for some time. When approaching a parked car, I teach the dog to move around the car on the street side, but to stop before entering the actual lane of traffic. This puts us at the corner of the car. I listen for traffic and cue my dog to proceed around when I don't hear any traffic. When doing this I wait until traffic is clear both ways, even the far lane which we shouldn't be near. I do this because if I miss hearing a car I want there to be room for the drivers to move. They won't be able to do that if there are two cars passing plus the parked car. After passing the car, the dog will pick up the line of travel at the curb again. With a new dog I offer a couple of reminders and double check when I think we should be back at the curb. If traffic is really heavy or I can't hear well because of wind or construction or whatever, I will go around parked cars on the yard side. I cue the dog left, work to the curb, cue a right turn, go a bit and then turn right to the curb again. For me this is a more difficult procedure because of mailboxes, trees and several cars parked in a row or trucks connected to trailers. My guess when we've passed the vehicle isn't always accurate. It's not so bad with Monty because he's had enough experience he can figure out what to do easily. Jetta is more likely to follow my direction more closely or refusing, but not knowing what to do instead. It sometimes means we employ trial and error to figure out what to do. There have been a couple of times when the road has been too narrow for my comfort with a lot of traffic. I have walked on the yard/grass side of the curb/shoulder of the road instead of the street side. My dogs catch on to this really quickly, but that could be because they have a lot of experience with sidewalkless travel.  It's a bit slower going because of the uneven footing and the need to weave around trees and bushes and whatnot. I listen to the traffic to keep me oriented in the correct direction. I haven't had a problem with either Jetta or Monty wandering off into random directions though. I do remember that Belle would move to the absolute edge of the road or even up into a driveway and stop when she thought a vehicle was approaching too closely.  After the vehicle passed she'd continue on. Monty and Jetta don't do this, but generally if a dog suggests something that is reasonable I encourage it.  So they all develop their unique style of working particular situations. Anyway, I hope there's something useful in there somewhere. If you have other questions, please ask away.  I'm happy to bounce ideas around until something clicks! Julie  _______________________________________________ nagdu mailing list nagdu at nfbnet.org http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu: http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/crazymusician%40shaw.ca
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