[nagdu] dogs and canes

[Debby Phillips]

Hi Jack, just seeing this.  We're home now.  Nova was a little 
freaked out by all the canes, too.  I just tried to talk softly 
to her all the time, telling her what a good girl she was, and 
encouraging her to keep walking.  Her biggest issue was other 
dogs.  She was always wanting to pull over to visit.  Who knows? 
We might have come across each other.

One suggestion for next time, and I did try to do this as much as 
I could, but it was more difficult, as my husband and I were at 
the Clarion.  That is, give your dog some breaks.  Go to your 
room and just give him some down time; play with him a bit.  This 
will relax him, and you too maybe.  Sometimes we would find a 
semi quiet place to sit and just be together.  A friend of mine 
also got an extra key to her room and we would go there sometimes 
too just to give Nova a time out.  It's hard to do with a busy 
convention schedule, but I decided a long time ago that if my dog 
was stressed out, it was worth giving her time to settle down and 
relax a little.  Before I came to NFB, I was in ACB and have been 
going to conventions on and off since 1981.    Peace,    Debby 
and Nova