[nagdu] Where's your leash?

Mon Mar 9 22:30:37 UTC 2009

Hey Ann,
I had a similar thing happen to me when I was getting Landon at Seeing Eye. 
I was in the upstairs lounge helping someone get a VCR working so we could 
see a movie.  I had Landon lying on the floor next to the couch and there 
wasn't anything to tie him to.  Well, while I was on the step stool to reach 
the VCR, someone new came in the room and Landon was off and running!

There were some stuffed puppies on the other side of the room with the stuff 
we could look at for sale. Landon ran over there and grabbed a stuffed 
Golden retriever pup and ran around and around the area with that toy in his 
mouth!  Meanwhile, one of the instructors happened to come by and saw Landon 
racing around the upstairs lounge and hallways.   The instructor cracked up 
laughing and caught Landon's trailing leash as he raced by and got him for 
me.  We just all had a great laugh over that one!  Next time I was in that 
lounge, I sat in a place where I could tie him up. I made alot of use of 
that weird tie-up device on the wall near the refrigerator when I was making 
myself a cup of tea!

So, this sort of stuff happens to all of us at one time or another (grin!). 
Another thing that can happen is you accidently dropping your leash while 
out and it's real cold out and you're all bundled up and have heavy mittens 
on. I'm glad that many times the dog hasn't realized that the leash has been 
dropped!  This would happen to me when I was living in New England - and 
will happen again when I move back there.

Cheers,

Linda and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ann Edie" <annedie at nycap.rr.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 07, 2009 1:42 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Where's your leash?

> Hi, All,
>
> That story reminds me of when I was at TSE getting my first guide.  My 
> roommate's dog, a tall German shepherd, slipped out of the room when 
> someone opened the door, and he went running through the building, tearing 
> up and down the hallways, just having a grand lark, until he was finally 
> captured!
>
> My own dog, who was, by the way, a chocolate Lab, was very mellow and 
> stayed close to me at all times.  Of course, I still made sure that I had 
> his leash attached to some part of my body at all times, and that he was 
> in contact with some part of my body also, usually with his head resting 
> on my feet. He was so calm and well-behaved that we used to joke that he 
> was actually a ten-year-old dog whose gray muzzle had been masked with 
> brown shoe polish. We figured that he had been a drug squad dog, and that 
> now he was in the witness protection program and was assuming a second 
> identity as a guide dog.  He was a great dog, very mature for his 21 
> months of age.
>
> Another incident that occurred during my class serves as a reminder of 
> another famous trainerism.  One evening during a lecture, when all the 
> students and dogs were gathered in one of the lounges, one of the dogs 
> quietly got up and wandered across the room to go socialize with another 
> dog.  When the handler realized that his dog was gone--I think the 
> instructor had to inform him of this--he spluttered out the dog's name 
> several times, with ever-increasing desparation in his voice, hoping that 
> this would bring the dog back to him.
>
> The handler was dismayed when this did not produce any noticeable effect 
> on his errant dog.  After a dramatic pause, during which I'm sure the 
> handler saw his life pass before his eyes, the instructor said quietly, 
> "You might try 'Come.'"  And sure enough, when the handler said the dog's 
> name again followed by the magic word "Come", the dog went right back to 
> him.
>
> This was an excellent demonstration to all of us of the usefulness of 
> using those command words to let our dogs know what we wanted them to do. 
> For the rest of that class, when anyone got flustered and forgot to 
> correctly cue their dog, and wondered why they got no response, the 
> phrase, "You might try 'Come,'" would immediately bring them back to 
> earth.
>
> Best,
> Ann
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Charlene Ota" <caota at hawaii.rr.com>
> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 10:45 PM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Where's your leash?
>
>
>> Gee, when I was at Seeing Eye, my fourth dog, mind you, a shepherd didn't
>> need any coaxing, he snuck away from me I think twice and did it so
>> stealthily I never knew, and went back to his trainer, good old Lucas 
>> Frank.
>> It sure taught me in a hurry to keep track of my dog!
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
>> Behalf
>> Of Jenine Stanley
>> Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 2:04 PM
>> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
>> Subject: [nagdu] Where's your leash?
>>
>> OK, this is one of those stories old fart guide dog handlers tell about 
>> the
>> bad old days.
>>
>> My first class, at Pilot and then again first class at GDF featured
>> instructors who were vicious about you knowing where your dog was, and 
>> hence
>> where your leash was. Before we got the dogs, at Pilot anyway, we had to
>> carry our leashes around with us and keep track of them. There are a 
>> couple
>> trainers at Pilot who can sneak a leash and/or dog away from you without 
>> a
>> sound or touch. It's scary. I've also watched while one of them coaxed a
>> fellow student's large female Dobe out from under his chair while he
>> snoozed. That dog  crept out without touching his legs and crawled along 
>> the
>> floor.
>>
>> If you forgot your leash or if you were unlucky enough to have it sneaked
>> away, you owed a nickel. Fines went up as time went on. There were also
>> fines for missing dogs during that first class. I think only one person 
>> had
>> his dog spirited away.
>>
>> What this taught us was that you pay attention to where your dog and 
>> leash
>> are at all times. Now this did get a little out of control with some 
>> fairly
>> humiliating exchanges and tears from one person which were totally
>> unnecessary.
>>
>> At GDf it was a little tamer, no fines and no pushing it to the 
>> humiliation
>> level, but you'd still better be aware of that leash and dog, lest they
>> suddenly be gone.
>>
>> I've heard over the years of things like this rigid teaching of dog
>> awareness going too far and becoming spiteful nasty ways for trainers at
>> some schools to tease people. That said, I'll put on my old fart hat and 
>> say
>> I'm glad it was drilled into me when it was and I think a little more of
>> that kind of dog awareness emphasis would not hurt people.
>>
>> Jenine Stanley
>> jeninems at wowway.com
>>
>>
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