[NAGDU] Boarding buses.

[S L Johnson]

Deanna,

The process you describe sounds like the way some schools teach the students 
on class to get into the vans.  When taking a van, I work my dog up to the 
van, let the dog get up into the van and then I get myself in.  This is 
opposite from what the schools teach but, I have a good reason for this.  I 
once had a dog seriously injured when I was getting into a van the way the 
schools teach.  As I was getting myself settled on the seat, Cinnamon was 
sitting quietly on the curb in front of my apartment building.  Suddenly a 
boy racing along the sidewalk on a skateboard slammed into Cinnamon knocking 
her off the curb onto the driveway under the van.  She sustained cuts, 
bruises and a serious ACL injury to her right knee.  This incident also left 
her afraid of anything on wheels coming too close to us.  She also developed 
anxiety if we had to stand on the sidewalk for our ride to show up.It took a 
lot of careful training with positive rewards to get her to be less stressed 
out.  The knee never completely healed and resulted in chronic stiffness, 
swelling and pain.  This injury resulted in her early retirement.  So, as 
you can see, I will never get into a car, van or bus first and leave my dog 
alone outside where she could be hurt.      I do the same thing when getting 
in a car.  I let the dog guide me up to the car door, open the door and have 
the dog get in and sit on the floor.  Then I get myself in and shut the 
door.  When getting out, I always get out first and then have the dog get 
out.  I always work my dog on and off a bus.

Sandra and Eva

-----Original Message----- 
From: Deanna Lewis via NAGDU
Sent: Friday, February 26, 2016 9:13 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog 
Users(nagdu at nfbnet.org)
Cc: Deanna Lewis
Subject: [NAGDU] Boarding buses.

Hi all,
I have a question on how to board a bus/van when travelling with a guide 
dog. I was reading a friend's training blog, and she described how the 
school she is at teaches boarding the bus with the dogs. She said that the 
student has the dog sit outside the bus doors, makes a long leash, then the 
student boards the bus and then calls the dog on. The way it was described 
reminds me of how someone would walk through airport security. I know when 
I've trained in the past, we have been told to heel our dogs onto buses, but 
I've almost always worked my dog onto buses, paratransit vehicles, and 
subways. By working my dog, I can tell if there are steps, how many, and so 
on. I would think it would be kind of dangerous to step "blindly" onto a 
vehicle and then call your dog onto it. So, my question to you all is, how 
do you board buses?Do you also exit the bus in the same way?
Thanks!
Deanna and Mambo

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