[NAGDU] Travel and ESA's

[Sandra Johnson]

Hello:

Why would you need to use a cane if your dog is a well trained safe guide? 
In your case with some sight it seems that the cane would not be necessary. 
Those of us who are totally blind do not use a cane with our guide dogs. 
Didn't we get dogs so we can put the canes away?

I do agree that something must be done about all the untrained dogs out in 
the public, especially in airports.  As Jenine said the rules are there but 
not enforced.  So, as NAGDU is an organization of guide dog handlers, what 
can we do about this issue?

Sandra

-----Original Message----- 
From: Peter Wolf via NAGDU
Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2018 2:32 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: Peter Wolf
Subject: [NAGDU] Travel and ESA's

Wow guys.  It was just a couple of hours after writing to you all about how 
important it has been to me for us in our family to hold a balance between 
impeccable training and performance with ‘ambassadorship’ as a working team. 
It included some of what I consider somewhat intimate sharing about the bond 
and love side of being a team in our own personal style that meets what we 
feel to be authentic to us (my wife and i both).  And how well it works.

Now I’ve read the heads up messages from many of you about the recent 
disgusting TV show about buying ESA status for pets.  I am just incensed.  I’ll 
bet many of you can share experiences like ours, of having been snapped, 
barked and lunged at in airports and other places, or worse.  It now happens 
every time we fly, which is probably 8 times a year.  It’s not enough that 
our dogs ignore it.

If any of you remember, I’ve written that with spatial as well as sight 
issues, I often have my cane working, even with my dog.  And, I am quick to 
swing a floor arc around my dog, to arrive the tip on the floor between an 
incoming fake service dog and my dog.  That’s about all it takes,  No 
hitting, no violence - just movement distraction and a physical object 
quickly placed between the dogs as a separating deterrent with lateral 
movement that seems to be an effective distraction.  It seems to be 
disorienting to an aggressive dog to encounter an object suddenly appearing 
from the side.  We keep moving forward, or my dog stops and sits while I 
address the problem.  I’m vision impaired, not totally blind, so I don’t 
know how well this would work for some of you.  I can say at the least, this 
poor dog behavior startles me, and we've been fortunate that none of us have 
been hurt before.  When was the last time we dealt with this?  Let’s think 
back…actually…yesterday afternoon.

I am formal calling on all of us to put our collective foot down about the 
lack of training for ESA’s.  Who is the best, most potent place to begin 
this process, who do we talk to?  This ethical and behavioral problem has 
hurt enough of our real working dogs as a group of individuals, and will 
only make life worse for us as people who have bona fide reasons to work 
with them.  How can chip in here and name individuals in positions of power 
to create a change, calling for initiating the necessity of ESA’s to adhere 
to the same code of conduct that we do?  Let’s do something about this.

My best,
Peter



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