[blindlaw] {Spam?} Re: Guidedog verses white cane

Tue Jul 26 21:34:38 UTC 2016

I've been using a guide dog since 1992, currently my fourth named Rebel. Generally, I've taken my guys everywhere with me and have not had any substantive problems. Have there been interesting incidents? Heck yeah, they each have their own personality and respond better or worse in varius social and challengeing situations, but I find that part of what keeps me coming back for each dog. Knowing when to retire them is usually the challenge as it is sometimes hard to tell when the dog is no longer accommodating you and you find yourself accommodating the dog. that is the right point to let them retire.

Comparing cane to dog? my independence, social aptitude, and quality of life rose considerably when I started traveling with my dogs instead of the cane. Faster, safer, ability to focus on more of the world around me rather than the tip of my stick, and generally people respond more affirmatively to the dog than the cane. There are those that try to engage the dog inappropriately but with a little practice and finesse, I've found that challenge to be very manageable. I've also raised three children with my dogs, my first dog came in when my first child was just 2 years old and my 2nd was a newborn.  The experience has been very positive for the family.

You've got to be committed though, you've got another living being in the program when you have your guide. That being requires love, care, attention, and consideration. If you are not ready to daily give of yourself to your pooch, you are not ready for using a guide dog.

, .  

Bill Spiry
Attorney at Law
Spiry Law LLC
Work (541) 600-3301
Mobile (541) 510-2623
Bill at SpiryLaw.com
Bill.spiry at gmail.com 

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-----Original Message-----
From: BlindLaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Angie Matney via BlindLaw
Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2016 2:05 PM
To: Blind Law Mailing List <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Angie Matney <angie.matney at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] {Spam?} Re: Guidedog verses white cane

I just retired my second guide after 8.5 years of service. She was semi-retired before that, though, because I found that she was getting more easily stressed in certain situations. I don't plan to get another dog right away because of my busy work schedule, and also because I have a young son who recently has developed a dog allergy.
Shelley is absolutely right--lots of people get dogs when they have young kids, and things are fine; but at this point in my life, after having used dogs continuously for 15.5 years, I'm just not ready to go through the process of getting a new dog.

As for professional events, your dog certainly can make you stand out!
Once, John Grisham came to speak on a panel while I was in law school.
My German Shepherd and I were sitting in the front row, and apparently she and Mr. Grisham made eyes at each other through the entire presentation.

I have also been to professional events where I decided not to take my dog, such as industry conferences with thousands of attendees. I might have taken my first dog to such events (I did take her to an NFB national convention, and she did quite well), but my last dog would have gotten stressed in those situations. Of course, I had the option to retire her and hope for a dog that could better deal with such events, but I chose to keep working with her because in many situations she really was a great guide.

Basically, it all depends on your schedule and your dog. I am going to see how cane use will work for me at this point. Maybe in a couple of years, after I've been promoted and my son is a little older, I'll look into a hypoallergenic successor to my shepherd.

Best,

Angie

On 7/26/16, Shelley Richards via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hello,
> I have used a guide dog for 13 years now.  Whether I chose to use my 
> dog or cane never seemed to matter professionally either in law school 
> or while working as a lawyer.  The only difference is that I find I 
> meet more people with my dog at events because people are curious and 
> want to come over and ask questions.  For me this is wonderful, since 
> I am shy about approaching people myself.  Neither my dog nor my cane 
> has ever caused any inappropriate disruptions in any professional 
> setting though.
> I also have a child, and a second one on the way.  My dog never had 
> any trouble with the baby, and hopefully she will still be with me in
> 6 months when number 2 comes.  She got a little jellous at first 
> because I spent so much time with the baby, but I found that she got 
> over it quickly once I let her hang out with me and the baby.  I also 
> know several other handlers who have children, and I have never heard 
> of any of them having had problems with their dog and the babies or 
> older children.  Also, if the school knows you have small children 
> they will usually keep that in mind when choosing your match.  Of 
> course there are dogs out there who do not like children, but I have 
> not yet met a guide dog who is bad with children.  Just a guess, but I 
> have always figured that they need to be at least very tolerant of all 
> types of people including children in order to properly do their jobs 
> in public, so guide dogs are probably less likely than other dogs to 
> have a problem with children.
> Good luck working it all out
> Shelley
>
>
> On 7/22/16, David via BlindLaw <blindlaw at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Dear Paul,  I am partially sighted with about 5 degrees of central vision.
>>
>> 1.  I can't help with the crawling baby issue from a personal 
>> experience standpoint, but I've seen dogs around babies without 
>> issues.  Your question is a good one for your guide dog school.
>>
>> 2.  I used a white cane during the last 9 years of my career as 
>> general counsel of an insurance company.  I met with senior 
>> executives and general counsel of some of the largest corporations in 
>> the U.S.  My white cane was an issue for about the first 10 seconds 
>> of first meeting someone.  It is also a non-issue in court.  I 
>> traveled as much as 80,000 miles a year.  I did lose two canes to 
>> limo drivers in Manhattan.  The only other negative experience I had 
>> was one time when meeting a corporate general counsel, he shook my 
>> hand with his left hand. I stupidly asked him if he had hurt his 
>> right hand.  He raised a leather covered fist prosthesis and said, "Here."  The meeting was toast.
>>
>> In my opinion, your acceptance of the white cane by others depends 
>> entirely upon your attitude, how you feel about it, and how you carry 
>> yourself.  I find it is the same with a guide dog, but except for bar 
>> association and board meetings I have not used a guide dog in 
>> professional settings.
>>
>> David and Claire Rose in Clearwater, FL
>>
>> On 7/21/2016 11:13 PM, Paul Harpur via BlindLaw wrote:
>>> I have a professional and personal question I wanted to ask for 
>>> people’s views.
>>> I am totally blind and went from using a white cane to my first 
>>> guidedog back in law school in 2000.  Since then I have always used 
>>> a guidedog.  I tried for a while to use a white cane when my first 
>>> baby came home and now that he is 1 I put my name down for a dog 
>>> again.  I am not sure how:
>>> 1.	A guidedog will go with a crawling baby; and
>>> 2.	How I will be received using a white cane in the profession.
>>> Has anyone had experiences good or bad they could share with me?
>>
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>
>
> --
> Thank You
> Shelley Palmadessa
> shelleyrichards9 at gmail.com
>
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