[NAGDU] When to retire your dog

[Cindy Ray]

Charlene, it sounds as if your decision to retire Irish was very difficult.
As I have said, mine was too quick and done out of anger and he was too
young. Now I've squandered the opportunity to have a good dog throughout his
whole working career. But onward I go.
Cindy Lou Ray
cindyray at gmail.com


-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Charlene Ota via NAGDU
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2018 6:16 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Charlene Ota <caota4 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] When to retire your dog

I have been trying to figure things out with retiring Irish during the last
9 months or so. Last fall I tried to retire him and he got so upset he
chewed up shoes and got into things when I was out and he got really
withdrawn and depressed, so I decided he wasn't ready to quit even though
his arthritis was getting pretty bad. I could tell he was really struggling
especially as the day went on.  Well, then he had a couple of instances
where he accidentally dropped his poop especially after he'd had a really
harad time getting up when it was time to leave work. Well, that of course,
didn't go over very well. But he's always wanted to go and his work is very
good.  Finally, a couple months ago, even the vet noticed that his left leg
was really dragging worse now, and he was having a much harder time at work
so I decided not to take him to work any more and this time he's been ok, I
think he knows he's having too hard of a time of it.  I still take him to
church and short trips like a doctor's appointment when we use the
paratransit so he can use the lift to get in the van. Well, this past
Tuesday, I took him to a doctor's appointment with me and I think it was
just about too much for him. I've come to sense when he starts panting a lot
for no other reason, it's not hot or anything, that he may be hurting some
and that's what I saw a lot of when I was at my appointment. I guess I'd say
in looking back, that I'm glad I was able to take my time and let us both
figure it out together and try to work through it so he wouldn't feel so
left out or left behind I suppose you could say. One thing I didn't really
realize until I went through it was just how much I would miss him just
being with me, and since we've worked through his retirement gradually, it's
given me the time to make adjustments and grieve so that I won't have to
deal with the lost all at one time. It's still really sad for me, of course,
but I've been able to get more comfortable with my cane through this time.

Irish is about 13 and a half now, he's been a wonderful guide, I couldn't
have asked for better and I know I'm blessed in being able to care for him
for the rest of his life and I will miss him terribly, but just need to
focus on all the good years we had together.

Charlene

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Cindy Ray via NAGDU
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2018 3:02 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Cindy Ray <cindyray at gmail.com>
Subject: [NAGDU] When to retire your dog

I have mentioned before that I had retired Fisher too young. Last summer he
seemed to want to work and I visited with my school about it. They said at
his age it might be better not to, but if I did it not to put him under much
stress. He worked a little last summer. I tried it today; we did a great two
blocks and then he began to wander around sniffing and acting like he had
little interest. When I got out the cane and started heeling him he was good
to go and stopped the sniffing. So I would say that Fisher is officially
done.

Cindy Lou Ray

cindyray at gmail.com <mailto:cindyray at gmail.com> 

 

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