[nagdu] Why, or why not?

[S L Johnson]

Hi,

Personally I don't find any negatives about having a guide dog.  There are 
so many positives that nothing is too much work in order for me to have a 
dog.  , I always ask for a golden so I have lots of hair.  I brush her every 
night to keep the shedding down.  It is possible your dog had a medical 
issue that contributed to her excessive shedding.  Also if she were under a 
lot of stress that could have also caused her to shed more.  Stress for 
working dogs can cause all kinds of problems.   If people don't want dog 
hair, then maybe a dog isn't for them.  If people don't want my dog hair in 
their car, then I don't go anywhere with them.  My dog is more important 
than that inconsiderate person.  I suppose you could say high vet bills 
could be a negative but, even that is worth it because the dog gives you so 
much more independence.  It is a tough question to answer because what you 
see as a negative might not mean anything to someone else who will do 
absolutely anything to have a guide dog.  As for access issues, I don't have 
any problems with it and feel it is just one of the responsibilities of 
having a guide dog.  It is a personal decision and only you will be able to 
weigh the positives against the negatives n the end to make your decision. 
Whatever you decide, good luck.

Sandra and Eva

-----Original Message----- 
From: daniel via nagdu
Sent: Friday, June 19, 2015 12:05 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: daniel
Subject: [nagdu] Why, or why not?

Hey guys, I haven't posted to the list in a while mainly because I don't
have my dog anymore; she was terrified of cars and couldn't do work properly
because of it. I know this is going to come off a bit negatively but I don't
mean it that way: I feel as if, guide dog users we have a tendency to extol
the greatness of using a guide dog, we always say how amazing it is and
wonderful having one by our side is but I feel that the cons aren't ever
really discussed. I retired my dog roughly a year ago and, at the time, it
was pretty tramatic (I literally cried for like an hour at a time). I'm now
really contemplating going back to The Seeing Eye again and am really
honestly wondering what kind of cons or negative things yall have ran into
while using a dog? I know there is a huuuge range of people from just
starting out to have had a dog for the past 20 years so I feel like I can
get some really good feedback. I know one for me was (and this may sound odd
or vain) was excessive shedding. I could brush and comb Irene for 30-45
minutes every evening and morning and yet, every time I got in a car there
would be fur everywhere and when I vacuumed I could've probably made a
pillow every time. I have literally never in my life seen a dog shed as much
as that and am quite frankly not sure where all the fur came from off a 45
pound dog. However, I think I could deal with it again if I were to get
another guide dog; I would just have to get even better at managing. I have
a few others but I'm wondering what are some for yall?

Again, I really am not trying to be negative just really trying to get the
whole story.again.

I'm also (obviously) trying to decide if I want to go back again (that's a
whole other post though, I think). I'm also not really trying to say (nor do
I want yet another debate) that canes are better than dogs or vice versa.

Thanks,

Dan.



P.s: This is a sort of spinoff from "would I ever give up having a dog?"

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