[NAGDU] student eligibility

Wed Mar 13 20:50:43 UTC 2024

I walk a lot around my area also. I do a lot more walking lately...
Especially now that I am getting quite good at leading Moon around the
arena. The only thing I'm having a bit of trouble with is picking up his
legs to clean his hooves. I stand at his shoulder, facing his tail, I slide
my hand down his leg, on the inside, to the bottom almost to where the hoof
is. Then I grab onto the bulge on the back or inside of his leg, where the
heel would be. I push my elbow into the inside of his leg to get him to
unlock his leg.  When enough pressure is applied, he then lifts it. But my
problem so far, is when he lifts it, I let go. Then I have to find it with
my right hand, quickly switch to my left and hold the outside of the hoof
firmly, cupping it in my hand. Sometimes I'm not fast enough and he puts
his leg back down and I have to start over. My son told me I should be able
to do this with one hand and to not let go when he lifts his leg. It
probably didn't help that it was quite muddy out last week. The mud made
the texture of his legs and hooves a bit different. And it acted like
insulation, making the bottom of his legs warm. I think I just need some
more practice with this. My instructor said I'm doing good learning how to
put a saddle on, and that if I am to get a guide horse, that learning how
to put on a saddle will help me when it comes time to putting on a guide
harness. I completely agree with that. One thing I'm really good at is
staying in step when I am leading Moon. Walking at his shoulder and staying
in step just seems to come quite naturally to me. The only other mistake I
made was, about two weeks ago while walking, he turned to look at something
to his and my left. It surprised me and I stopped suddenly, pulling his
head in towards me. He then spun himself around in a kind of semicircle,
pushing me backwards a ;bit. I was told, and learned not to do that because
if he were bigger I may have gotten run over. But that taught me how to put
his focus back on me if he gets slightly distracted. So now if Moon does
that, I just push or pull his head straight with my hand or arm, and keep
walking, and he quickly gets the idea and keeps going the way I want. So if
he gets slightly distracted, I take the lead so to speak. I walk him
through the distraction while refocusing and leading him back to doing what
I want. I'm glad I get to work with Moon, though. He is more challenging to
work with because before he was purchased, nobody did anything with him for
two or so years. And everyone there knows that I want to somehow get a
guide horse or seeing eye horse. So by doing a lot of ground-work, they can
see how well I am at leading, staying in step and so on. I also love all of
the exercise I get. It takes a good bit of pressure to get him to turn.
He's getting better. But I used to have to push my whole body into him and
practically push him in order to get him to go right. He seems to be
getting better with that though. Then I do someone else a favor by bringing
him to the center, holding him there while someone else gets him ready for
their lesson. Then he generally just stands there because I give him lots
of pets and scratches. Sometimes he turns his head and tries to groom me
back  or he tries to groom the other person. But I refocus him back on me
by pulling his head back towards me, so he stays still so the next person
can get him ready.

Josh

On Wed, Mar 13, 2024 at 3:19 PM Tracy Carcione via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> Hi Josh.
> Yes, homemakers can get guide dogs.  A person just has to be active enough
> to give the animal a satisfactory amount of work, and that can differ from
> one dog to another.  The dogs I had when I was working full-time wouldn't
> have been happy with my quieter retired life, but the dog I have now seems
> quite content.
> Even not working, I take walks, run errands, visit friends, go to meetings
> occasionally, attend community events, and sometimes take trips.  Some days
> are quiet, and some days are busy.
> I know homemakers whose dogs probably get more work than those of people
> who are working, especially if the working person is being driven door to
> door.
> Tracy
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Josh Kennedy via NAGDU
> Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2024 2:35 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <
> nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Josh Kennedy <joshknnd1982 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] student eligibility
>
> Do people who are homemakers qualify to get guide dogs or guide horses?
> Because that is what I am, a homemaker. I live in a rural town, the
> nearest city is about an hour drive away and I have a farely large yard in
> back of my house that is partially fenced in.
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 13, 2024 at 1:54 PM Vanessa Lowery via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org
> >
> wrote:
>
> > I can only speak for The Seeing Eye, but they do want to know whether
> > you are working, in college, or homemaker, or retired, etc. It depends
> > on the individual whether working or not as to when they could be
> > called into class. A number of the people who were in my last couple
> > of classes were able to do work while at The Seeing Eye with their
> > laptops. In fact, there were a couple of attorneys in my 2023 class
> > who did work Using their laptops during some downtime. So it is not
> > unusual for some people who already work remotely to bring some of
> > their work with them. Same thing for students who are in class. It's a
> > little bit less likely that a student would be in class at any other
> > time other than the summertime, but there are exceptions. And my 2023
> > class, there were two high school students. I am assuming that they
> > did classwork online.  Both were seniors in high school.
> >
> >
> > Vanessa and the zoo
> > Sent from my iPhone
> >
> > > On Mar 13, 2024, at 1:46 PM, Julie A. Orozco via NAGDU
> > > <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > I thought they asked those questions to get a sense of when the
> > applicant
> > > might be available for class. Someone who works or is in school will
> > > be
> > less
> > > available than someone who isn't working.
> > >
> > > Is that incorrect?
> > >
> > > Julie
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Richard via
> > > NAGDU
> > > Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2024 10:38 AM
> > > To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
> > > <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> > > Cc: richardfiorello716 at gmail.com
> > > Subject: [NAGDU] student eligibility
> > >
> > > Hi;
> > >
> > > I have noticed that the first question that many schools ask is are
> > > you working.  As the bulk of the blind population ages I would hope
> > > that
> > schools
> > > would adjust their program to accommodate older students who may not
> > > be working but are still active.
> > >
> > > Richard
> > >
> > >
> > >
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