[nagdu] question about ownership and retirement

[Dan Sweeney]

Hello Tracy,
Yes, it is the same Daniel with the wild and crazy Leader Dog, Scout. I
never did return the little shit, much to my surprise. I had a trainer out
last January, 09. He admitted to me that I was not ready to leave the school
with Scout when I did. He told me that he even told my instructor this, but
it was ignored. But that is all water under the bridge now. He did show me a
few ways to get control of my little ever-ready bunny dog, and it has helped
quite a bit. The dog is still not the guide dog I imagined, nor I had
observed when I had some bit of sight. He still walks at a turbo pace, with
his head to the ground most of the time. As long as I  have tried to
"steady" him, it has been over a year and a half now, he will only comply
when he wants to. Other than that he is a great dog. He is a perfect guard
dog around the house, and has foiled 2 intruders. He is totally protective
of me, and will not leave my side when at home. 
He will belong to me in July, and I was considering attending a different
school, to get a real guide dog - now that I know what to expect from a
guide dog. I thought of keeping Scout as our family dog, which he has become
such a part of. He is absolutely wild when he is off leash, in the backyard
he runs laps continually, he never tires. He has more energy than I could
ever imagine a dog to have. The comments from everyone I know is "THAT is a
guide dog, you are kidding!"
So, that is the why the questions on retirement, ownership and the like.
Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.
Daniel and Scout


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Tracy Carcione
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 6:31 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] question about ownership and retirement

Hi Daniel.
Are you the Daniel with the wild Leader dog?  How's it going?

I have kept 2 retired dogs.  The first, Amba,  had to stop working because
she got cancer.  She lived only a few months after the diagnosis.  I could
have waited to get a new dog until she was gone, but I much prefer to have
a dog in New York City, and we kept hoping the treatment she got would
work, so I did not wait.  It did interfere somewhat with the bonding
process with the new dog, primarily because I was spending a lot of time
and energy caring for my sick dog, and spending time with her while I
could.  But after her passing, the bond between me and my new dog got
stronger, and everything was fine.  And, even before, we could work
together fine.

I also kept Echo (who was the new dog I was just talking about).  She
retired at age 11, and is still going strong 3 years later.  I had no
problem bonding with my newer dog, Ben.  My husband took over some of the
care of Echo, taking her for walks mostly, and she and Ben don't mind each
other.  They play sometimes, and steal toys from each other, but mostly
they ignore each other.  Sometimes Echo still comes to the door when I
pick up the harness, but really she seems happy to take life easy and let
the young dude do the work.

I think it really helps to have another person around when one has 2 dogs.
HTH.
Tracy


> Hello group,
>
> I am back on the list again because I missed all of everyone's helpful
> comments and suggestions in the past. I have a question. What is the
> earliest someone has retired their guide  which they received from a
> school?
> Upon retirement, did you keep that dog while returning to either to the
> same
> school or a different school to obtain another guide? And finally, was
> their
> any complications at home due to the fact that the new guide was replacing
> the previous guide when it came to developing a solid bond?
>
> Whew! I know it is a lot to ponder, but I figured since the conversation
> seemed to be around ownership issues, at least partly, I figured it would
> be
> a good time to ask.
>
> Daniel.
>


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