[NAGDU] How are guide dogs receaved at national convention?

[Heather Bird]

Hello, list. I am interested in any experiences that any of you can 
share regarding treatment of guide dogs at the NFB national conventions. 
I have never been to an NFB National convention. I've never been to an 
ACB national either. I have been to our New York state NFB convention, 
and that went very well, but it was much smaller, being a state 
convention, and from descriptions others have given me, that state 
convention was on the small side. I think there were a grand total of 
seven service dogs there, funnily enough, four of them were ` and five 
of which were all from the Seeing Eye. I have been given to understand 
that many state conventions are much, much larger than ours and that 
national is larger still. What I am asking, and what I am concerned 
about is how, generally, guide dogs are received by the membership. I've 
heard a few horror stories from guide dog users over the years, but as I 
wasn't a member of either of the two major blindness organizations at 
the time, it all blurred together and I can't recall now which stories 
were NFB national and which were ACB national, or which were from the 
sixties and which from the 90s on, and of course that all makes a big 
difference. So, I want to know from any of you who have attended 
convention, how did people react to you and your dog? If your dog 
misbehaved in a minor way and you immediately corrected the behavior and 
reestablished control did the other person let it go and move on, or did 
they get into your face or gossip about you and your dog? If another 
service dog handler's dog caused a problem for your dog, were the two of 
you able to work it out respectfully, or did things deteriorate? If 
someone accidentally stepped on your dog, hit them with a door or 
whacked them with a cane, did they apologize to you and inquire if your 
dog was alright, or did they blame you and curse you out? I'm sure that 
every one has had at least one good and at least one bad experience, but 
I am interested in whether the majority of the incidents were positive, 
or negative. When a negative incident occurred was it major or minor? 
More importantly, how was it resolved? Were you able to get help with 
moderate to major problems from your mentor, your chapter or affiliate 
leader or another person in authority? Were concerns over any incidents 
taken seriously, or brushed aside or was there victim blaming? I like to 
think that I am a great handler. I know that I am a good handler, and I 
think I can say that I am a great handler. Perfect? No, the best? again, 
no, but pretty darn competent and responsible. Ilsa is an excellent dog, 
but she is also pretty young. She will be about two and a half at the 
time of national. Realistically I know that she is likely to misbehave 
in very tiny ways, very frequently, but never or only extremely rarely 
in a more serious way. She is quick to sniff or wine or to start pulling 
my arm off, lots of energy, but she is also very quick to be corrected 
or re-directed, often purely verbal and she has no serious issues such 
as dog aggression, relieving accidents outside of illness, barking, etc. 
Any information, experience, feedback or wisdom that y'all can share 
would be very much appreciated.

Thanks much.