[NAGDU] Question for GDA grads, Dogs and canes and curbs

[Dan Weiner]

Oh my,  Lisa, sorry that's happening, similar things have been happening in
my community in sunny Florida actually the place isn't called sunny, it's
Winter Park, so now all of you know where I am  and can track me down and we
can all make difficult crossings together.... They replaced curbs with
tactile domes, the intention is good I know )though it doesn't help at all
in my opinion)  but the problem is that you have to be quite careful about
alignment because if you think the tactile dome is a curb to square off of
you ewill go in to the  middle of the parallel street.  Happened one time
and I'm still hearing everyone and his uncle comment on it, apparently I was
very visible--lol  love that so many saw and I'm a source of amusement and
wonder for them all--lol. Even some jerk went to my sister's house in the
neighborhood and told her they saw me crossing diagonally...that actually
was going to far as they could save themselves the trip by talking to me but
you know, if you are blind even though you are forty-six, world-traveled,
holder of a degree and so on you are a grown-up kid--smile. Rant over. I
mean, I can always have respect for someone who asks me about something
directly, right?--smile but going to the relatives...hmmm...

But anyway, this crossing difficulty   as you described it it is something
that seems to happen and I hope it is working better for you.

Unfortunately I only hear out of one ear so some of the pointers you
mentioned on traffic are more difficult for me, but we keep on trucking and
building our teamwork.

Best wishes and always glad to see you on different tlists.


Dan and His Royal Majesty, Parker

 

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lisa Belville via
NAGDU
Sent: Thursday, March 10, 2016 12:58 PM
To: national guide dog
Cc: Lisa Belville
Subject: [NAGDU] Question for GDA grads, Dogs and canes and curbs

Hi, all.

I've been unexpectedly off line for a bit, so I'm just going through the
NAGDU archives and noticed the thread about dogs going into the street
instead of turning onto a sidewalk. I don't remember who the original poster
was, but I'd encourage you to call your school and get some on sight help so
they can see exactly what's happening in real time and give you tips as
things are happening.  Even videos and phone calls aren't a substitute for
that kind of assistance.  I know it's scary/frustrating and depressing to
have a dog and have this happen, so that's why I'm urging the school
contact.

I've had this issue in varying degrees with all of my dogs, but it has been
way worse with my second and current dog because over the past few years the
city has been changing most of their old school curb cuts to this blended
and rounded style.  The curbs that aren't blended are still rounded, but
there's plenty of slope or rough concrete, so it's a bit easier to
distinguish these even if there's not traffic noise.

A dog can learn to navigate these, but it's really frustrating to have to
direct the dog accurately especially if you can't give very specific
directions due to not having reliable tactile feedback from the
concrete/asphalt.  I try to use traffic sounds to pinpoint when we're
actually at the curb rather than using what I feel through my feet.    We
have a few curbs here that are all concrete and even using my long cane in
an arc doesn't really help me find the curb unless I have some traffic
sounds.  It's really frustrating

We had a  situation recently where we crossed one of these rounded
intersections and rather than  continue straight along the sidewalk, we
wound up in the parallel street.  This is a farily busy street for us, but
there's parking and bike lanes on the west side of the street, so even
though we were technically in the street, we weren't in traffic.  I figured
this out and told Paige to move over to the right and we treated it like a
country walk until she could find the first open right turn and get us back
on the sidewalk.  I don't consider this good guiding behavior, but at the
same time we did recover successfully without injury or stress, Well, Paige
didn't seem stressed.  I, on the other hand, was a basketcase.  LOL

Part of the problem here is that this is a mismatched intersection in that
the curb we came from is very sloped and obvious while the one we were
crossing to is extremely flat and blended, so there's really nothing for me
to feel.

I've been in touch with GDA where I got Paige and they've given us ideas,
mostly involving someone sighted helping us to pattern Paige to these areas.
They said she's looking for a change in elevation more than anything else
when finding curbs, and that's hard for those flat curbs and we have tons of
those.  I'm lucky in that the person helping me is my original O&M teacher I
had back in third grade.  Seriously, I've known this person for that long.
She's open to learning how dogs work and is actually going to a workshop
later this year sponsored by a guide dog school, sorry, don't remember which
one.  Just saying that while I'm not getting on sight help from the school
yet, finding the right person really does make a difference.

The other recommendation is to use my cane in these areas so I know them
well enough to direct Paige accurately.  I have mixed feelings about this.
I don't mind the cane, but I have a horrible left veer, which is why when I
have to use a cane, I use a long cane.  This isn't an NFB style cane, but
I'm using the NFB recommendation that the cane come up to at least my nose.
I'm five foot one, and this cane comes up to just past that point.  This
really does help with veering and recovering from it, especially at street
crossings.

Now when I leave with Paige, I've got my Trekker Breeze, my cane folded in
my right hand and my iPhone with the compass app running and calibrated.  I 
have had to use all of these to get us out of travel jams.    I'd use the 
iPhone for GPS, but I have a lousy data plan, so it's not an option at this
point.

The advice I'm getting from GDA is to leave Paige at home and use my cane in
unfamiliar areas until I know how things feel so I can give Paige accurate
directions.  Guys, this frankly sounds unrealistic.  Sure, a cane is a
valuable tool to have in the tool box, and I have no problems using it if we
become disoriented for some reason.  But using it instead of the dog in
unfamiliar areas seems like it defeats the purpose of the dog.  What about
unplanned trips or or having one of those days where it's really nice out
and I think  "Hey, let's check out what's down that street."

I'm not bashing or saying anything negative about GDA or the staff, yada,
yada.  I'm only asking other grads how they handle their dogs in areas where
there aren't textbook curbs.
Any and all input is welcome.

Lisa


missktlab1217 at frontier.com

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth... After that,
everything else was Made in China.


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