[NAGDU] General public advising me and Alec

[S L Johnson]

Hi,

You are dealing with two different issues here.  First the employment 
classes are designed to get you prepared for job interviews, preparing 
resumes, being ready to seek employment and  and interacting with co-workers 
and supervisors.  The rehabilitation counselor/employment specialist might 
really feel you could benefit from the classes so that you are better 
prepared to enter the job market.

The second issue is your guide dog's behavior.  All of  us with guide dogs 
expect our dogs to behave themselves during classes or long meetings and 
during the long work day.  You have to work on his behavior so that he knows 
he must stay quietly by your side or under your chair at all times.  Some 
dogs do like to position themselves so they can see out.  If that happens to 
be on your right side or in front of you, that is fine as long as he stays 
quiet.  Some dogs will be more relaxed and fall asleep if you can put them 
under the desk or table where they cannot be stepped on when people are 
walking around.  It is very important that you and your dog become 
comfortable moving around in a group setting and that you can keep the dog 
under good control while interacting with people.  In other words, you 
should finish the classes since it is only a few weeks.  You and your dog 
will both learn from the experience.  You cannot get out of doing things 
just because your dog dog will not behave himself.  It is your job as the 
guide dog handler to insist that he remain under good control.  Him being 
young is no excuse.  My current dog graduated at 14 months old and she 
behaved perfect in public right from the first day we got home.

Sandra and Eva
SLJohnson25 at comcast.net

-----Original Message----- 
From: Jordan Gallacher via NAGDU
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2018 12:29 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Cc: Jordan Gallacher
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] General public advising me and Alec

I would say NO.  Do what is best for you and your dog.  I have done that
many times.
Jordan

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Andy B. via NAGDU
Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2018 10:25 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Andy B. <sonfire11 at gmail.com>
Subject: [NAGDU] General public advising me and Alec

Hi,



I came across an interesting predicament. At this time, I am working with an
employment specialist that works for my state blind rehab agency. During our
normal mettings, he advised we attend an employment class taught by another
state agency. We agreed to attend a session or two for the general
experience. During the first session, which lasted about 1.5 hours, Alec
tended to be somewhat annoyed that people were required to get up and move
about to interact with each other during an ice breaker activity. The
conference room is small and contained about 20 people.

While everyone was sitting down during lectures, Alec whimpered every so
often. He also wanted his space and moved his back end out away from my left
side. I only assume he wanted to face the direction of the speaker. I
attempted to get him back to my left side. In most cases, it worked.
However, a few times it didn't work very well. After a point, I let him lay
where he was at the time. Besides, he wasn't bothering anyone or getting
into trouble. When the session finished, I informed the specialist that the
class probably wouldn't meet my needs, and we most likely shouldn't
continue. The employment specialist disagreed and started telling me that I
should attend the remaining 3 weeks because it is good practice for Alec to
be involved in social events such as employment class, staff meetings, job
interviews, and the like. Naturally, I agreed that Alec needed to be
involved in social events. On the other hand, seeking them out just to get
practice is not what we need right now. Alec gets enough practice in
interviews, staff meetings, and committee meetings to understand what I
expect. I attempted to explain that dogs will do what dogs do the best. The
main concern is keeping them under control at all times, not expecting them
to act like robots. He will never stay perfectly quiet during a meeting, he
will never lay down and be perfectly still like an inanimate object, and he
will most likely want to visit other people for some time. Unfortunately,
the specialist insists on the practice and doesn't understand how dog
guide/handler relationships work. What do I do to put out the burning flame
of this problem?

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