[nagdu] Fwd: 5 Reasons Why Guide Dogs Are a Terrible Idea!

[Debby Phillips]

Well, I wasn't able to read the whole article, so in a way I'm 
commenting out of the blue.  But I can imagine some of the 
terrible things.  On the other hand, I know the wonderful, too.  
The terrible for me: dogs aren't always convenient.  They have to 
be taken out to relieve, whether it's 0 degrees or a 100.  You 
have to pay attention to them even when you're busy, because they 
require a certain amount of petting and playing with.  Friends 
and family don't always like them.  Some cars (if you're going 
somewhere with friends or family) are hard to get a dog into.  
And yes, they get distracted, don't always obey, have bad days, 
and sometimes don't work out.  You get attached, and then they 
have to go away.

But here goes: I'm an okay cane user, better after graduating 
from CCB, but I love that feeling of walking down the street when 
my dog and I are in tune, that sense of being helped when my dog 
turns in at a door that is familiar to both of us, knowing that 
we've arrived at our destination; the way ow feel when people say 
to me, "You look good together".  That sense of being a team, 
knowing that I call the shots about where we go, but that my 
partner may figure out a better way to get there then I 
can-seeing a way through a crowd that I can't, etc.  Yes, their 
having vision and me not, does help sometimes.  And dogs use 
their other senses, too, that annoying or wonderful sense of 
smell that gets dogs in trouble or maybe helps when my dog picks 
the right car in a parking lot full of other cars.  (No, that 
doesn't always happen).  But it does enough times that I've grown 
to love that.  And I love the feel of my dog's head on my foot 
when I'm riding the bus home after a long, difficult day, knowing 
that she or he is just as glad to be close to me as I am to him 
or her.  So even today as I'm still missing my Neena, I can feel 
my heart stirring with the question of who my new dog will be, 
male, female, Lab, Golden, probably not Shepherd, but maybe it 
could be.  And I do wonder now when my class date will be.  
(Smile).    Debby