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

[S L Johnson]

Hello:

I agree with what Michael and Cindy said.  In the eighties and nineties NFB 
had a very bad attitude about guide dogs.  However, I was very pleased to 
find that is no longer the case when I attended the NFB 75th convention.  My 
golden was only two that year and she handled it very well.  You will want 
to give your dog lots of extra praise and times to step aside to a quiet 
place for some rest too.  Add to that plenty of water and relief breaks and 
you should do fine.  Remember Orlando Florida is extremely hot and humid so 
you and your dog will definitely feel the effects.  At first my dog was a 
bit concerned about the long canes swinging toward her but after the first 
day she seemed to tolerate them.  Convention crowds and hectic schedule of 
activities can be stressful for the dogs and they will pick up on your 
stress too so try to relax and enjoy yourselves.

Sandra and Eva

-----Original Message----- 
From: Michael Hingson via NAGDU
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2017 4:33 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Cc: Michael Hingson
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] How are guide dogs received at national convention?

Hi Heather,

You ask a lot of very good questions. In general, the ultimate answer as to
whether or not you should bring your guide is something only you can decide.
As you know our dogs follow our leads. In my experience, and I have been
using guide dogs since 1964 and often take them to conventions, I would say
if you are calm, focused and can handle large crowds then so will your dog.
Yes, the NFB National conventions are quite large and have up to 400 guide
dogs attending. So long as you stay on top of your dog's behavior and do
what you were trained to do everything should be fine.

There are always a few people who simply think canes are better than dogs.
That's ok since the opposite also is true.

The NFB, in the past, had a pretty bad reputation concerning its attitude
toward guide dogs. Some of it came from comments by the leadership, and some
of the bad concepts came from people who simply had no idea of what a guide
dog does. Today, guide dog users and their guides are welcomed and included.
I think that the Federation has grown quite a lot in this regard. By the
way, Melissa Riccobono, the wife of our National president, is a guide dog
user.

Bring your guide dog if you wish. If you are relaxed and plan to have fun
and, possibly, work hard then so will your dog. If you want to chat please
feel free to give me a call. My contact information is below.


Best Regards,


Michael Hingson
Vice President, NAGDU

The Michael Hingson Group, INC.
"Speaking with Vision"
Michael Hingson, President
(415) 827-4084
info at michaelhingson.com
To order Michael Hingson's new book, Running With Roselle, and check on
Michael Hingson's speaking availability for your next event please visit:
www.michaelhingson.com

To purchase your own portrait of Roselle painted by the world's foremost
animal artist, Ron Burns, please visit http://www.ronburns.com/roselle

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Heather Bird via
NAGDU
Sent: Monday, May 22, 2017 1:11 PM
To: NAGDU at nfbnet.org
Cc: Heather Bird <heather.l.bird at gmail.com>
Subject: [NAGDU] How are guide dogs receaved at national convention?

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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