[NAGDU] Gentle Leader

[Rachel Grider]

Hello, All:

I have a question about gentle leaders.  This last weekend, at 
our NFB state convention, I used my gentle leader with Demi while 
we were in the hotel because I knew that she would be very 
excited about all the guide dogs.  She kept trying to rub the 
thing off, which is not unusual, but then when I decided that she 
was calm enough and took it off of her, she still kept trying to 
rub her face on me for awhile.  She did the same thing the next 
time we used the GL, acting as if her muzzle was itching or sore 
because of the GL.

I got my GL from The Seeing Eye.  It is actually my second 
because I lost the first one they gave me and had to replace it.  
The first GL had padding around the muzzle, but this one does 
not; when I asked about this, I was told that they don't make 
this particular brand with padding anymore because the padding 
seemed to be irritating the dogs.  Demi definitely seems more 
bothered by this GL than she did with the last one, however.  I 
know that the problem isn't the tightness because I have tried 
loosening it with the same result, and it wasn't ridiculously 
tight to begin with.

Does anyone have suggestions on other gentle leaders which might 
work better? I don't think I want to use this one anymore.

Thank you, and all best!

Rachel and Demi, Who is Still Young and Excitable Enough to 
Occasionally Need a Gentle Leader