[NAGDU] The first time you met your dog.

[Dan Weiner]

Cherry what charming reminiscences, thank you so much, I'd love to hear 
some of your journal if you ever want to share it...Well every time I 
hear of people getting guide dogs it does indeed bring me back to those 
magical moments when I got my first dog, or even my other dogs...I was 
23 when I applied to two schools really the only ones I knew about and 
24 when I got my first dog. I was really looking forward to it and 
hoping to start really stepping out and going  all sorts of places, 
there have been good days and bad days  I think like you, I didn/t  
really understand as much of the mobility aspect as I should have, but I 
made it work and on my fourth dog and 24 years later...I still find a 
long walk with my dog a thrilling thing... So let's see, my first dog 
was Grant. a black lab, Met him out in the lounge where trainers brought 
the dogs at that time and healed him n...I put him on tie down as I was 
told and sat down next to him, he panted a bit and then went to sleep, 
so much for how interesting I am, I petted him and talked to him and my 
roommate and I talked about our dogs. Anyway each time it was a little 
different. Dog number two, Evan, well I sat on the floor with him and he 
kept trying to run around me in circles and he just kept it up, so 
exciting, then he tried to chew on the sheet of my bed--lol then more 
circles and finally settling down.   His lack of settling down made me 
say something which I now find silly to the trainer: "Mike what's wrong 
with this dog is he wild or something he won't settle down?" He assured 
me that Evan would and yes indeed, Evan was a calm cool, and collected 
fellow who did anything I asked him. and then afterwards when we got to 
go to the dining room or whatever,

I love that moment when you get to talk to other fellow students about 
their dogs and their names. Anyway, it was always a good experience even 
if for example two of my dogs had to be retired early...and retiring a 
dog is really hard on me but I bounce back and give the new dogs all the 
love I can.

  I've had Grant, Evan, Carter and now Parker.


  I have vivid memories of all of them, and get misty  when I think 
about the ones who are no longer alive.



Dan



On 4/15/2018 1:14 AM, Sherry Gomes via NAGDU wrote:
> I got my first guide dog in August of 1975. I was not quite 18 and just out of high school. I kept a daily journal in braille, took my Perkins up to the dorm with me and a binder full of blank paper. I still have it. I lived about two hours south of GDB then. Anyway, I'd wanted a guide dog since I was 7, when I first read the book Follow my leader. Truthfully, what I wanted was my own dog. My dad had two dogs, but they were his hunting dogs, not family pets, never in the house, that sort of thing. Every year I'd ask for a dog. Then I heard about guide dogs. It was the sixties. I went to public school, but they didn't give blind kids canes until junior high back then. I got my cane in eighth grade. So, I didn't really understand the mobility aspects of what getting a dog would mean. I just knew this would be a dog that could lead me around and it would be all mine. I couldn't wait. So, for me, everything about that first time at GDB is magical. I remember the anticipation, how it felt so weird to be called Miss Gomes by the instructors, how I eagerly soaked in all the things we learned in the three days before we met our dogs.
>
> My dog was a tiny little female black lab, and I remember how small she was, how she licked my face and then ran over to the instructors because she knew them. I was head over heels in love with her from the first second. My personality is the sort that if I look forward to something the way I did with getting my first dog, everything would be wonderful, rainbows and flowers and stars and moons so to speak. Due to external sources it took a lot of twists to get to that first class, and due to other external sources, I only had that dog for a year. But that month in training is one of the top most joyful memories of my life.
>
> Sherry
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tara Briggs via NAGDU
> Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2018 9:42 AM
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Tara Briggs <thflute at gmail.com>
> Subject: [NAGDU] The first time you met your dog.
>
> hi all! I’m hoping that some of you will share stories with me about the first time you met your dog. What were you thinking and feeling before you met your dog? How did the meeting go? I remember when I met my second, and recently retired dog Emmy. Emmy was over the moon! She jumped on me and happily licked my face. It seemed like she knew that I would be her forever person. For those of you who have owner trained, I would love to hear your stories as well and how you made the selection  of the dog you would train.
> Tara
>
>
> Sent from my iPhone
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