[NAGDU] Dogs and National Conventions

[Becky Frankeberger]

As a training time, take your dog and walk around the mall or some busy
place where she has to think how to keep you and her safe. Another place is
somewhere where there are dogs around, like an outdoor coffee shop or
restaurant, Pet store. But first, she must tune into your voice, aka,
obedience on leash, then when she is solid, You take her off leash and
practice every day. By solid, I mean you say the command one time, and boom
her but is at a sit, for example. Juno sit, and her but is on the floor.
Juno come, her little but is at your side or in front of you, however you
were taught.

You are exactly right, if she is looking around interacting with other dogs
she is not paying attention to you. My first dog had a radius where he was
super well behaved, about three feet around us. If something or someone got
in that radius his little but would be at sit or I would have a problem with
him. If I were talking to someone, we would try to talk by a wall. He would
be by the wall and I in front of him so he would behave. In meetings he
would be under my seat and given enough slack in the leash to lay still. My
foot would be on the leash right against his shoulder. I knew he was
wonderful when his head would lay on my foot.

I got my first dog at thirty-four and fresh out of college. I was so brain
dead. Going to college as an adult was a great experience for me. Then
bringing my first dog to the college apartments was an experience of
educating the educators.

Becky in her Joy Wheels         

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Diane Graves via NAGDU
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2022 4:45 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: rdgraves2007 at gmail.com
Subject: [NAGDU] Dogs and National Conventions

Greetings NAGDU Friends,

 

I have a couple of questions that I want to pose, and I want to post them
separately to be sure nothing gets lost in translation as they are both very
important to me. True to the subject line, I want to start with a question
about national convention.

 

My girl has never been to a national convention. We've been together almost
five years but this will be her first convention. She is a major "sniffer"
and is easily distracted by other dogs. I have been working with her to try
to get her acclimated to the gentle leader, rewarding her with a treat when
I put it on, but she absolutely hates it. (She loves the treats, of course.)
After having the leader  on for just a minute or two, she starts rubbing her
face on me and everythin surrounding her trying to get it off. A little
embarrassing, not to mention the fact that I have to wonder how much she is
really paying attention if she is doing that.

 

This will be my first year serving as President of the Indiana affiliate,
and I'm not exactly sure yet what all of my responsibilities will be while
at the convention. I hate the tought of leaving my girl behind, but don't
want it to be overly taxing and/or stressful for either of us. So. my
question is this.

 

How many of you take your dogs with you to convention, and how many of you
elect not to do this? If you have a partner who is a major "sniffer" and
loves to meet and greet other dogs, how do you deal with these things?

 

Any feedback appreciated.

 

Diane Graves

 

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