[Oagdu] {Spam?} Intro -- Hello to Ohio, from Ohio!

[Lisie Foster]

Hello! 

I'm Lisie, with my dual-trained hearing and guide dog, Finn. He's a 75-lb. (perfect weight and "all muscle" according to my vet...yay!), 18-month old Golden Retriever who was trained by a nearby program as a hearing service dog. I did his guide training myself. He's now a fully trained, working, dual-trained hearing and guide dog. 

About me: I can still see -- for now -- well above the threshold for legal blindness during the day and under ideal conditions. My best corrected vision with thick contacts is 20/30 (they can't get my vision back to 20/15 or 20/20 with best correction anymore, which is OK). But, at night, I have light perception only. If there's glare any time, I can't keep my eyes open because it's too painful. Sunglasses don't work for it anymore, so I just keep my eyes closed and hang on to the handle of my dog's harness, ha! I keep putting off my eye exam that I'm overdue for because I don't know what my acuity will be. I don't think I want to know, so I'm being quite mature by simply avoiding going to the doctor entirely. *laughs*

I've had high-degree myopia since I was around 7 (almost 30 years ago!) and it's always been progressive. My night vision is most affected, but now, so is my color vision and general acuity. Nothing is as bright as it used to be, colors are easier to mix up, and the astigmatism in both of my eyes can't be corrected anymore (which is really not helpful for depth perception). My vision loss is either a natural progression of high-degree myopia or it may be a long-term result of the radiation and chemotherapies I received six years ago for a fairly advanced, aggressive form of cancer. But, I'm cancer-free! So, if my vision suffers as a result of those treatments that saved my life, I'm not complaining! I'd much rather be alive, with lousy vision, than the alternative. My hearing loss is primarily a result of Meniere's Disease, though I've had a mild hearing loss and tinnitus as far back as I can recall. It's a strange hearing loss, though. I can hear people's voices (especially women's) better than I can hear high and low pitched sounds, like sirens, fire alarms, thunder, or dogs growling. My audiogram is very unusual, but is called a reverse cookie bite loss.

So, I wanted to say hi! We're from Ohio, about an hour west of Columbus. GO BUCKEYES! Haha, had to add that. My dad, grandpa, and 2 uncles all went to THE Ohio State University. I graduated from Wright State University near Dayton with a Bachelor of Arts, and then graduated from the University of Dayton School of Law. I actually was accepted by OSU's law school; now I wish I'd gone there, instead, just to experience Ohio State.

About my dog: Finn is an amazing, incredibly smart, funny, sweet, totally goofy dog. He's my son who happens to be a dog! He loves working. I don't believe he quite realizes he's working, though, because he loves to do it so much. He is fully trained as both a hearing service dog (and certified by our program, though I know that's not needed) and as a guide dog. I trained my first two hearing service dogs to work as guides, really as a challenge to see if I could do so, and also because I knew my vision could become worse in the future. 

Finn is an incredible guide and thrives on his work. A couple of months ago, we showed our program's director (who also ended up training us!) how we work together as a guide team. She, despite being the director and head trainer of a longstanding service dog program, had no idea guide dogs could do all that they do, with direction from their humans, *smiles*. I believe she was genuinely stunned after watching us work. I think what surprised her the most was watching from a short distance away as we walked a short route along country roads without sidewalks. Finn LOVES shorelining for some reason, so as usual, he guided me in a perfect, steady "shoreline" at our usual fast pace (this was during the day, with my eyes closed so I didn't give Finn any accidental cues or directions). 

At one point during our route, an SUV or pickup truck (something pretty heavy, from the way the blacktop on the road felt as it passed and from the sound that even I heard easily!) drove toward then passed us as we were shorelining. Neither Finn nor I flinched or worried about it because I knew exactly where we were (we were right along the place where the blacktop met the grass, taking up very little space), I knew the truck had plenty of space, and I trust my dog. I don't think our trainer quite realized what my dog, or the two of us together, could do until that point! Finn loves and takes the shorelining too far, sometimes, I think, like last weekend, when he was determined to shoreline in Walmart along the wide, front aisle by the checkout lanes and registers, LOL! He's a funny, funny and strange little dog!

I've encountered very few people with guide or service dogs nearby, though I've seen MANY more when I've been in Columbus! I know one woman nearby has a guide dog from GDB; the school was obvious because of the dog's harness *grins*. I think the dog was a yellow Lab or yellow Lab/Golden cross, and there may have been a trainer working with them, but I'm not sure. I wondered if she was doing GDB's "in home" training. 

Second, there used to be a man near me who had a Vizsla guide dog. I'm guessing they probably graduated from Pilot. They walked FAST! That dog was as focused and as quick as any dog I've ever seen *grins*! 

And, finally, the third guide team nearby is a woman I've encountered several times at my vet's office. She's had at least two owner-trained guide dogs. Both have been enormous, mostly-white, surprisingly gentle, adorable, and very well-trained Boxers. She's now working with her successor dog; I was at the vet's once when she had both her working guide and her guide dog in training (her husband, I assume he was, anyway) was with her, holding the dog-in-training's leash. The first thing I noticed was that her dog's harness was from Bridgeport Equipment. It may be a little sad that I recognize harnesses that well...LOL. 

If you've read this entire book, I mean message, thank you! Just wanted to introduce us to the list, say hello, and thank you for asking and letting us join! I've only been a member of the NFB for about two months, and I love it. I also love the NFB free cane program since the canes they give to you for free are my favorite type (I don't need to use it much anymore, thanks to my pup!). 
My current cane, which is little too short, once was all white, but now it's decorated with colored duct tape turning it into a purple and turquoise cane with wide strips of white reflective tape in four places. So, of course, my dog's harnesses (one for lighter use during the day, one with a rigid handle for guiding at night) match my cane, with touches of purple, turquoise, and white on them all. Our guide harness is black leather, as is the handle, but the handle has turquoise tape decorating it along with reflective tape, haha. Maybe I should've gone with scarlet and gray?

Thank you again!

Sincerely, 

Lisie and Finn, the Sleepy One





Lisie and Finn
lisiefoster at yahoo.com
Sent from my iPhone