Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!caen!ox.com!yale!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89!William.Wilson
From: William.Wilson@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (William Wilson)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: CANES VERSUS DOGS
Message-ID: <15338@bunker.UUCP>
Date: 2 Nov 90 04:00:17 GMT
Sender: wtm@bunker.UUCP
Reply-To: William.Wilson@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org
Distribution: misc
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA
Lines: 68
Approved: wtm@bunker.UUCP

Index Number: 11455

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

     Well, I'm doing my last minute packing (How do you fit 6 pounds of
poop in a 5 pound bag?) in preparation for my 8:40 AM flight to
doggieland east tomorrow, and this seemed like a good place to jump in
and give my parting thoughts.
    First of all, you're in Charge Gary!  I really have no idea how
often I'll be able to check in, and I have a feeling that a young pooch
is going to cause me to hit the sack at an earlier hour than I've done
in a while, so keep this roudy bunch in line, ok?
     I am, frankly, surprised at the anticipation I feel right now, as I
thought this would only be true with the initial dog training.  How come
none of you other "old timers" told me about this?  This image of me and
a French poodle keeps appearing in my mind's eye, and it's driving me
even crazier!
     Finally, I have to say something to you Vixen...

 V>  your message was posted more out of unnecessary defensiveness 
 V>  than from an "informed" point of view on what using a Guide Dog 
 V>  properly, is really all about. I see no reason for a cane user 
 V>  to feel defensive at all. It is not a lesser way to travel, it 
 V>  is just different! I hope my brother and sister dog users in 
 V>  this echo, who have been dog users much longer than I, will 
 V>  feel that I expressed what using a dog is all about, 

Not only do I think you described it quite well, I totally agree with
your analysis of the reasons for David's message!
    Vixen, I said this a long time ago when this thread first started,
and I'll say it again.  I have never seen an effective dog user who
wasn't an effective cane user prior to getting their companion, I have
never seen a guide dog user get defensive over their use of a dog when
unprovoked, but I've seen the opposite quite often, and basically
speaking, the same people who tell us what sighted people will think by
tactile strips in subway stations or audible traffic signals tell us,
the people who have used both canes and dogs for travel, what it is like
to use a guide dog!
    In your own words Vixen, it is LUDICROUS!  One of the best messages
in this thread, prior to yours, was posted by our pop, Walter!  He,
being the only one I think we've heard from that went from a dog back to
a cane, said that it was for reasons other than inconveniences imposed
by the dog, or that his mobility was less with the dog, but rather
because he simply didn't travel as much as he used to!  As all us guide
dog users know, Walter realized the same thing we do, that the primary
thing that determines whether or not a dog is a good guide or not is IF
IT IS USED!
     Just like putting on a blindfold for a few hours isn't going to
give a person an accurate perception of what it means to be blind, a
person telling us who have seen both sides of the coin what it is like
to use a guide dog or what sighted people will think without ever having
been in either position themselves is ridiculous!  I certainly don't
think a guide dog is necessary for every blink, or even that it would be
anything but wrong for some blinks, but the day I begin taking seriously
the negative dog statements made by those who have never used a guide
dog is the same day I quit chasing women and shave off my beard!
     Vixen, I have never been more sure about my decision to get another
guide dog than I am right now, and your message did that for me!  If
ever my new mutt and I make it out there to your neck of the woods,
we're going to buy you a couple, ok?
                                        Willie
    

... BlinkTalk, Dr. Deb and Silver in Pittsburgh!

--
Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89!William.Wilson
Internet: William.Wilson@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org