[NAGDU] Your Favorite Dog

Wed Apr 21 07:08:54 UTC 2021

I have good memories of all of my dogs except the first one that I only had
for a short time. She was really crazy and was given the name the black
devil, kind of affectionately, but she did come by it honestly, too. Poor
thing, I think she really hated being a guide dog.

Irish would always move out of my way, but not out of anybody else's even my
husband, who is also blind, he had to walk around him. He would steal food
from Milton, too, if he wasn't paying attention and it was in his easy
reach, but never from me. Funny how they differentiate between how they act
toward their person and the way they treat other people even ones that they
like. Irish was really good at remembering things after one or two times,
too. Sharon, you reminded me of another cool thing he did, as I had trouble
with curbs because of knee problems so when we'd get out of somebody's car
in a parking lot to go into a store or something, whoever I was with would
go to the curb close to the store but Irish would take off down to the
nearest wheelchair ramp or curb cut to make it easier for me. Friends would
ask me why he wasn't following them and then they'd see where he was headed
and leave us to do our thing. It's kind of cool when they take initiative
like that as it seems like they have some sense of knowing that it makes
things much easier and comfortable for us. 

So many good memories of such a special boy as Irish was!!!

Charlene

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Sharon S via NAGDU
Sent: Tuesday, April 20, 2021 8:21 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Sharon S <koala at areujoking.com>
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Your Favorite Dog

Hi, my favourite would have to be my first dog Lena. I walked her when I was
assessed and said right then she was perfect and I wanted her. At that time
she wasn't finished her training so they didn't know if she would make it. I
was glad a few months later, after training with a dog that failed, I was
matched with Lena.

Lena was one smart dog, she learnt in the early stage that I wasn't steady
on ruff ground so if there was a short cut across grass which is the normal
way the dogs go she wouldn't do it. Instead she turned me around and walked
back the way we came until we were level with the path and then she turned
down it. The trainer who was working with us at the time couldn't believe
what he was seeing, he knows of no other dog who had ever done that.

Lena also only had to go to a place once and the next time we went there she
knew exactly where we were going. The only down side to this was she also
wanted the same seat as last time no matter if someone was sitting in it or
not. She did this on the bus all the time and even though I would ask her to
find another seat she would just stand there staring at the person wanting
them to move. After a while most of the regulars got to know us so there
were times when I was climbing onto the bus and I could hear someone
explaining that that was the dog's seat so could they please move.

I worked Lena up until a few days before we had to put her down. She was ten
and I had already started the paperwork for my next dog but she didn't last
that long. The plan for her retirement was to become my dad's dog and since
she was already in love with him I didn't see any problems with that.

Lena was a lab retriever cross. My second dog was a lab, my third dog was a
golden retriever and now my new dog is a lab retriever cross but totally
different to Lena. All through my training the trainer told me Sherlock was
a pure golden retriever however we looked up the schools Facebook page and
found a picture of him as a new born pup and it had his dad as a lab.
Sherlock has the lab sort of head and my sister-in-law who works with dogs
says he is not a pure Golden retriever.

All my dogs have been good in their own ways. My only big issue is the
goldens don't get out of my way when I am walking around the house. Even
when I fall over them they just look at me as if they are asking me why I
did that. With the two labs they always moved out of my way. In fact Lena
was so good that she knew at the blind society who could see her and who
couldn't so she would only move out of the way for the people who couldn't
see her and the sighted had to find their way around her.

>From Shaz.
Canberra, Australia.

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Cindy Ray via NAGDU
Sent: Saturday, 10 April 2021 11:51 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] Your Favorite Dog

Good morning,
I love to hear our stories about our dogs. So I have some questions. I will
preface it by saying that once while I was training, probably with my first
dog, my instructor said that he believed everyone had a favorite dog, and
this would be true even if you truly love working with each of them. So tell
me:
Who was your favorite dog and why? This would include some of the little
things that made his work so good.
Did you train that dog? If not, from which school did it come?
How long did you have her?
Thank you.
Cindy Ray
cindyray at gmail.com <mailto:cindyray at gmail.com>

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