[NAGDU] convention thoughts and a huge thank you!

Tue Jul 17 04:30:53 UTC 2018

Julie, I totally respect your decision and what you're going through! Working with a guide dog is a very personal choice each of us makes; retiring them is even more a personal decision and one of the most difficult ones of all!  With my boy as old as he is, he's 13 and ahalf now, his arthritis is so bad that I've pretty much retired him completely now. I remember a couple months ago running into an acquaintance on the Paratransit bus on the way home from work. He was trying to be chatty, I guess, and he started to ask me when I was going to put Irish down. At least he had a little bit of sense to stop in the middle of the question!  If I could see, I'm sure I would have been staring daggers at him! I felt his question didn't even deserve a response, so it was a quiet trip the rest of the way home. I know the insensitive things people can say sometimes!

Charlene
-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Julie Johnson via NAGDU
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2018 10:10 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Julie Johnson <julielj at neb.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] convention thoughts and a huge thank you!

It was good to see you too!  I hadn't thought that I felt I owed anyone an explanation, but perhaps it was there lying under the surface.  Retiring a dog is hard, retiring a young dog is really hard and because of my very odd circumstance I have done both in the past few months.  It's been a struggle for sure.  Perhaps I wanted to explain to end the criticism or keep it from starting.

I have been told that I should just get rid of Jetta and get a new dog. 
Ouch!  I have been told that I should just go through a program, with no 
inquiry of whether or not I want another dog right now.   Perhaps I'm a 
little sensitive about all of this, that could be part of it, but I do hope to avoid any further insensitive commentary.  Working with a guide dog is a personal choice and where that dog comes from is likewise a personal choice. 
I have made my choice.  Convention confirmed it very clearly for me.  I appreciate that you, Jenine, and others who attended convention respect my choice.  Not everyone has.

Julie
On The Go with Guide-and-Service-Dogs.com http://www.guide-and-service-dogs.com
also find my products in the Blind Mice Mega Mall <https://www.blindmicemegamall.com/bmm/shop/Directory_Departments?storeid=1916046>
-----Original Message-----
From: Jenine Stanley via NAGDU
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2018 9:34 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Cc: Jenine Stanley
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] convention thoughts and a huge thank you!

Julie,

It was awesome to see you at convention this year and share a row with you! 
We were a couple tables down from Julie and NAGDU.

I loved getting to take your sport harness for a spin.

Please don’t think you owe anyone an explanation for why you do not have a guide dog right now. Believe me, we get it, and I at least, support whatever you choose to do.

> On Jul 15, 2018, at 9:01 AM, Julie Johnson via NAGDU 
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> wrote:
>
> Thank you to everyone who stopped by my table in the exhibit hall or 
> who attended the NAGDU seminar or board meeting.  I appreciate your  
> support of my business, On The Go.  If you were not able to make it to 
> the exhibit hall, still have questions or I didn’t have the product 
> you wanted, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  I’m happy to help! email:
> julielj at neb.rr.com phone/message: 402-363-8997 I’m sorry, I’m not able 
> to take calls after 7 pm central time.
>
> General convention thoughts...I thought all the dogs were really very 
> good this year.  I did not personally witness any barking, growling, lunging or
> inappropriate relieving.   Lots of the dogs were super friendly and 
> willing to visit with their dog neighbors in the crowded exhibit hall. 
> Most handlers were aware and addressed the situation appropriately. 
> Thank you, I appreciate responsible handlers!
>
> As many of you may have noticed, I had no dog at convention this year.  
> I anticipate this will be the case for a few years.  I appreciate that 
> I was welcomed by other guide dog users and not criticized for my lack 
> of a guide.  Here’s the situation...Monty is very close to 11.  He’s a 
> good guide and still does a good job on the short, fairly basic walks 
> I take him on.  He is considerably slower than in his youth, is very 
> affected by the heat and is not able to mentally process complex 
> situations with the same speed as in his youth.  He still enjoys 
> guiding, as in it’s his next best thing to do after eating.  So I 
> still take him on our short walks around the neighborhood because it 
> makes him so happy.  However, I do not believe it is fair to him to 
> expect him to guide for hours at a stretch, endure the heat or 
> navigate complex situations with lots of moving obstacles.  So I 
> choose to enjoy him and what he can give while respecting his advancing age.
>
> Jetta, my younger dog, is no longer working.  She has had issues with 
> other dogs for a long time.  More recently she has developed a number 
> of other fears.  She is an excellent guide in regard to the mechanics 
> of guide work, but is really not equipped to handle the stresses of 
> the ever changing environment.  I made this decision this spring and 
> have noticed a significant change in her personality and day to day 
> stress level.  She is all around happier, more at ease and I am enjoying her as a pet very much.
>
> My personal commitment to my dogs is for life, with only a very few 
> exceptions including biting, inability to provide for medical care or 
> some other pretty serious events.  I am keeping both dogs and do not 
> wish to add a third dog to my household at this time.  This, of 
> course, means I will have no guide dog for a while.  I struggled with this for months.
> This spring was a really difficult time for me.  Then there was 
> convention.
>
> My big take away from convention this year was that while I prefer 
> working a guide dog and will definitely owner train another guide in 
> the future, now is not the right time.  My cane skills are a bit 
> rusty, but they are coming together decently.  I am not afraid to go 
> out with my cane.  I have noticed that I use auditory cues a lot more now than before dogs.
> Convention helped me to have complete clarity that I have made the 
> right decision and am in the right place.
>
> Thanks again to everyone!  I hope to see all of you in Las Vegas next 
> year!
> Julie
> On The Go with Guide-and-Service-Dogs.com 
> http://www.guide-and-service-dogs.com
> also find my products in the Blind Mice Mega Mall 
> <https://www.blindmicemegamall.com/bmm/shop/Directory_Departments?stor
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