[nagdu] dogs and canes

[Debby Phillips]

Hi Raven, many people learned cane technique when it was called 
the "touch technique".  But even so a cane does not have to be 
lifted really high off the ground.  It's pretty interesting 
traveling with a sighted person at convention.  I learned a lot 
about how some blind do things.  Lol.  Some of it amused me to no 
end-a person holding their cane high in the air-it never touched 
the ground).  People with partial sight rushing here and there, 
sometimes bumping into people, sometimes coming oh, so close.  A 
person with a dog holding the harness with the left hand, but 
pulling the dog by the leash (yes, I said, pulling the dog).  The 
person held the leash out in front of her.  The dog looked 
totally stressed out.  My husband has been around blind people 
now for sixteen or so years, knows what is good cane use versus 
not, and also has watched plenty of dog and person teams, both 
good and bad.  His commentary amused me, sometimes disturbed me, 
but was always informative.  (Some things I would have preferred 
not to know).  Ah well.    Debby and Nova