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

[Raul A. Gallegos]

Hello Heather, thanks for asking. I would say that guide dogs and their 
handlers are accepted with no problems. Depending on the training you 
and your dog have received regarding stressful situations, it's best to 
keep in mind that the stress level can go up when in an area full of 
people, blind or sighted. You will have to keep in mind that you will 
encounter many blind people who are new to being blind. This means they 
may not be good travelers. You might also encounter people who are 
pro-cane and anti-dog users. However, all in all, people are generally 
good and regardless of the situation, it is totally up to you on whether 
you bring your dog to convention. I can share what I plan on doing and 
maybe you can do similar, or you can build your own strategy.


I plan on taking my black lab to convention. He is only 2 right now, so 
still very much a puppy at heart. In situations we have been in since I 
got him in February this year, he's handled himself well when it comes 
to large crowds. This past weekend I was in Austin for an NFB event and 
there were around 7 or 8 other guide dog users and my dog handled things 
just fine. Of course, that will be nothing to how national convention 
will go, but it's at least a smidgen of a start. In a couple of weeks I 
will take him for a 2-week trip where I will be one of the teachers for 
BELL academy and so he will be around many children. As for handling the 
stress, I will not work my dog from dawn until dusk. Instead, I will 
work him and give him breaks during the day. To do this, I will have my 
cane with me, so there may be times that I simply walk my dog, not have 
him guiding me. As a general rule, I carry a cane with me when I travel 
because I find it takes the stress of finding certain things that I may 
not be able to communicate to my dog, but which I can find quickly with 
my cane.


Now here is where many other dog handlers might differ from what I do, 
my dog was trained with some food rewards. So, this means that when I go 
into a situation where there may be distractions, I do some quick 
obedience commands with my dog, using the touch command and maybe a down 
and sit command and give him random treats. I make it a fun game and 
reward randomly with food, but mostly with a lot of positive praise. I 
have found that my dog will handle stressful situations full of 
distractions much better once he and I have synced up like this. 
Different schools and different handlers have different ideas on whether 
this is a good idea or not, so your mileage may carry.


I hope all of this helps, and I look forward to helping you or anyone 
else at convention.


Thanks.


--
Raul A. Gallegos
Board Member - National Association of Guide Dog Users
Assistive Technology Trainer - RGA Tech Solutions
Voice and Text: 832.554.7285
Office: 832.639.4477
Personal Email: raul at raulgallegos.com
Work Email: training at rgats.com
Twitter: @rga7285 and @RGATrainer

“Any teacher that can be replaced with a computer, deserves to be.” - David Thornburg

On 5/22/2017 3:10 PM, Heather Bird via NAGDU wrote:
> 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.
>
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