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The Service and Therapy Dog forum is for all service and therapy dogs regardless of whether or not their status is legally defined by federal or state law, how they are trained, or whether or not they are "certified." Posts questioning or disputing a person's need for a service or therapy dog, the validity of a person's service or therapy dog, or the dog's ability to do the work of a service or therapy dog are not permitted in this forum. Please keep discussions fun, friendly, and helpful at all times.
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Mordecai-SD
www.humboldtserv- icedogs.com
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 | | Barked: Sun Jul 5, '09 11:14pm PST | |  | |  | | I love it when people think Mord's a guide dog. I guess he could be if you were about 3 ft tall. Or when people ask me if he's a guide dog while I'm reading a book.
I was once visiting a friend in TN. We stopped at the gas station and went in while her husband filled the tank. The cashier watched me the whole time. After he left he said to my friend,"Yer friend don't look blind." To which my friend replied,"That's because she isn't." |  |  | |  |
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Ginger- ♥ my- angel
My Angel
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| | Barked: Mon Jul 6, '09 1:15pm PST | | | | | | I had someone ask me if my dog was blind once but I don't remember the context (they obviously meant 'guide dog' though.) It was probably when Ginger was wearing her seatbelt or her pulling harness. For some reason people always thought her seatbelt meant she was a service dog. 
I remember once in Petsmart someone asked me if she was a therapy dog and I said yes, but I didn't know how they could have known that... Later I realized they must have thought the seatbelt harness she was wearing meant she was a service dog and they really meant service dog, not therapy dog. | | | | |
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Karla (Guide- Dog)
Gotta luv me! |
| | Barked: Mon Jul 6, '09 5:44pm PST | | | | | | Barkley, was your trainer's sheltie program trained? If so, where was he/she trained? Is your trainer totally blind or partial?
When I trained with my first guide dog many many years ago my roommate was matched with a Border Collie. Jack was about 45 lbs I'd guess. Border Collies are a rarity however in guide work. In fact, breeds other then Labs, Goldens, GSDs & Poodles (and a variety of crosses of these breeds) are the "norm" in guide dog work.
A few schools occasionally use Boxers, Weims, smooth Collies, Vizslas. I know of one lady who trained her own guide at one point, and it was a Husky. (it was after she'd handled a program trained guide for several years; after a couple yrs trying to work with her owner-trained Husky she went back to program trained guides).
Karla is 43 lbs, only 19 inches tall. She's the smallest guide I've ever worked (my past dogs were all in the 70-86 lb range). Smaller dogs aren't common as guides, but certainly can do the job. | | | | |
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Sati
Li'l Miss Woo- Woo |
| | Barked: Mon Jul 6, '09 11:49pm PST | | | | | | I don't think I could ever train my own dog for guide work. It just seems like there are so many little details the dog would have to learn. I can't imagine what it takes for the dog to grasp that concept of not only navigating themselves around obstacles, but their handler too. It's so impressive. | | | | |
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Spike
Don't Berate,- Educate! |
| | Barked: Tue Jul 7, '09 2:36am PST | | | | | | I'm planning on training my new dog to do basic guide work (ie, navigating around crowds, stopping at curbs, that sort of thing), and I'm sure it will be very tough. I was watching a video on how to train guides, granted it was for mini horses but I'm sure the concept is the same, and I thought I'd try it out with my foster dog. He actually got it pretty quickly; I was very surprised. Now he won't do things that he used to, like going underneath my legs when I have them propped up. He won't even go through narrow openings now (we've been moving our furniture around and have several things positioned in such a way that he could easily fit through the opening but I can't). Haha, if I didn't have to give him back at some point and didn't have so many behavioral issues, I might just keep him for myself. No, I wouldn't, because he's much to small for what I need (less than 40 lbs, I think), but it still amazed me how quickly he picked up the idea.
BOL, Marlo! Your post reminded me of this "strange news" story that I read some time ago. There was this sight-impaired guy in South America that had a guide dog. He had apparently trained it (no clue how) to give him signals while he drove! Of course, this story came out after he was in an accident (minor, I believe) and they took away his license (how in the world did he get one to begin with?). But I thought the story was very strange indeed. I wish I could find it again...
I'm loving this thread. ^.^ I don't really have any stories of my own; I mostly just think "Stupid human" when someone says something about my dog.
Oh! There was this one time I was in the Wal-Fart (I think this might explain the incedent) that a guy asked me in all seriousness if Spike was a guide dog. I know smaller dogs can be guides, but he's five pounds! I stared at him blankly for a minute before I said "Umm, no. Do you mean a service dog?" And he's says "No, a guide dog, because you're blind." I stared at him a minute before I said that he's a medical alert dog. And the guy says "Oh, okay. So he keeps you from passing out." | | | | |
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Rani
923859 |
| | Barked: Tue Jul 7, '09 8:50am PST | | | | | | I never, never never lose my temper at people when I am out with my SD. I want to educate people as much as I can in this small minded area of the world I live in; however, last night I came so close okay I was rude-ish. I was at the pharmacy talking about my prescription and there was this young man about 21 in line maybe 5 yards away from me at first I did not pay any attention to what he was doing as my mind was on what I was talking about and thank goodness Mali paid him no heed either. He was standing there whistling to her a high-pitched whistle, not loud, but repeatedly trying to get her to pay attention to him rather than to me.
When it finally caught my attention, I stopped what I was doing, looked him straight in his eyes, and said to him, "What are you doing? This is a SD, her attention is supposed to stay on me not be on you." He and his girlfriend backed off and went away.
I felt bad for all of one second and then looked in my purse for my dos and don'ts cards for SD's, but I was all out or I would have made sure to give him one before he was to far away. Usually I have a smile on my face when I do something like that, but last night there was no smile and my words were not soft and educational, and I still do not feel badly about it. | | | | |
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  | (Page 3 of 5: Viewing entries 21 to 30)
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I was like, 'Uhh.. Thank you' and she walked off. I realize now that wasn't very good etiquette, but it made me feel good knowing that there are people out there willing to lend a hand. 
