INCOMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How to Meet a Dog Guide Team 101.2

1. IGNORE JUNO. It's not rude, it's preferred that you pretend the dog guide isn't there while she's in harness. You can comment to the dog guide handler ABOUT her (how gorgeous or well-behaved she is :) ), but don't talk to her, pet her, make eye contact with her. This is distracting to her and will incur a leash correction and a pfui.

2. DO NOT FEED JUNO: While the church I attend is a Baptist church Prada is a GERMAN shepherd so she's probably Lutheran. This means that potlucks aren't always kosher. Please please please PLEASE do not give her table scraps of any kind at ALL. No doggy cookies, either. Most of them aren't good for doggies, anyway, but if she is accustomed to getting tidbits from other people she will develop a food distraction. This is one of the highest disqualifiers (especially for labs) for a dog guide.

3. DO NOT INTERFERE WITH A WORKING TEAM: If I look like I'm about to run into something, please don't move me. Prada either sees it and is planning a last-minute dodge (she likes showing off like that) or she will ignore it and run me into it. This is OK. This gives me an opportunity to remind her that I need a little more clearance on that side. The correction that ensues isn't a 'bad dog,' it's a 'pay attention, please.' If you interfere you will untrain my dog and make her very unsafe to work with. Grabbing a blind person's arm or their dog's harness to help them avoid something is as dangerous as grabbing the steering wheel in somebody else's car. BAD BAD BAD! pfui on he that does so. Ok, done beating a dead horse.

Those are the three most important rules when meeting and interacting with a dog guide team. When the dog is off harness and on leash, it's just like any other dog. "Can I pet your dog?" is always preferred for pets, always safer, same thing with dog guides. On harness? no touchy. There i s a video that covers all this information and then some in a bit more of an interesting format. I have permission from TSE to put it up here so I'm going to take it home and figure out how to do that because i think it would be a great educational opportunity for dog guide teams. Show it to the kids, friends, family, whoever. Share this link, and anything I put up here that you think they'd find interesting. The more people that know how to deal with us, the easier and SAFER our lives are :)

I'm flying home tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Should be back on the West Coast by shortly after noon. I'll be sure to let y'all know how Prada handles her first flight!