[nagdu] the public and dog breeds

[Dudley Hanks]

I'm currently working with my third German Shepherd, a 29-inch, 95 pound
male, and have always had to field questions from interested members of the
public.

In fact, my wife claims she can't leave me alone for five minutes without
someone sitting down and striking up a conversation with me.

We've had conversations about all kinds of things, dogs, training dogs,
working with dogs, raising kids while working with dogs, blindness, raising
kids as a blind parent, etc.  We've even had conversations about the other
people's health problems (sometimes, I think others just think blind people
don't have anything to do, so we afford them an opportunity to perform a
good deed by sitting and chatting with us, even if they end up talking about
themselves).

Conversely, I've had people scream like a five-year-old as I've exited buses
and buildings with my Guides, because they didn't catch sight of my dog
until it was right in front of them.  Or, they'd cross the street in order
to get out of our way.

I don't think it depends so much on the breed as it does on what experiences
people have had with the breed we're working, or their unique psychological
makeup.

Regards,
Dudley, with Michener


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Pam via nagdu
Sent: June-22-15 3:18 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: Pam
Subject: [nagdu] the public and dog breeds



hi all. just going back to something which was discussed on another thread
about the public's interaction with guide dogs. just curious if any of u
think it depends on the breed of dog u have and the amount of attention the
dog gets from the public? i have a couple of friends that went from having
lab/retriever crosses to shepherd/retrievers and they have both said people
pretty much stay away from them now they have shepherd/retrievers. that they
seem to b more wary of them. i also have a friend that has a golden/doodle
and she is constantly being stopped by people. so i'm interested to hear
your thoughts on this ":) Sent from my iPhone
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