Training The Dog.

[ralerin]

There was a dog being trained to aid blind people at my local breakfast place this morning, a beautiful black lab still young enough to try jumping on the tables. Everyone loved her, there were plenty of people smooching at her but the trainer telling them not to do that, she's in training.

However, the trainer was joking to the waitress. "If we can train her to steal the tips off the tables, then we'll be all set!"

Waitress was not amused.

[TelephoneAngel]

They are very clever, those dogs, I used to work with a blind girl who had a seeing eye dog.

Customers were constantly addressing questions to the dog!!!!!!!!!!

But she puzzled me once, she came in one morning and said "it's foggy out there"
I asked her how she knew, and she said because the dog was being very cautious at the roadsides as if he couldn't see very far.

[HorrorFrogPrincess]

Aid dogs are wonderful, and it's the perfect profession for canines. I used to think only the larger dogs could be aids, till I saw a show that featured a small, yappy dog that was an aid for a deaf woman.

That was a major DUH moment for me.

[PepperElf]

hmm.

although his comment wasn't nice... if any of the servers were trying to coo over the puppy after being asked not to... i won't fault him


and yeah they don't even have to be dogs either.
one of the gals i knew in va had a friend who had a service monkey to help her pick stuff up, etc

[Merriweather]

Aid dogs are wonderful, and it's the perfect profession for canines. I used to think only the larger dogs could be aids, till I saw a show that featured a small, yappy dog that was an aid for a deaf woman.

That was a major DUH moment for me.

You see a lot of the smaller dogs used by the deaf because they aren't required to "lead" the peson the way a guide dog for a blind person would, but instead are trained to alert them visually of things like sirens, smoke alarms, doorbells, etc.

One of my friends has the cutest little Schipperke as her guide dog.

[Seshat]

My best friend could use one of the aid dogs that can sense emotional change. And those can be any size.

[JoitheArtist]

One of the best books I ever read as a kid was about a boy blinded by fireworks, and his seeing-eye dog. It was fiction, but seemed to be pretty well researched. It was called Follow My Leader. Ever since I read it, I knew not to pet or distract any dog wearing that kind of harness or otherwise ID'd as an assistance animal!

[Hobbs]

Waitress needs to chill. What's wrong with that joke?

[Shalom]

One of the best books I ever read as a kid was about a boy blinded by fireworks, and his seeing-eye dog. It was fiction, but seemed to be pretty well researched. It was called Follow My Leader.

There was one quote from that book (which I read when I was about 8) which has stayed with me for my whole life so far. (inexact quote, I don't have the book here) The protagonist was in the dog-training school, and discovered that there was a protruding mantelpiece with a sharp corner. He asked the director why he didn't put some padding on that corner, seeing as there were many blind people around, and the director responded, "Jimmy, you can't go around expecting the whole world to pad its corners for you."

The book was published around 1957, and unfortunately this attitude has not persisted into the current era.

(Oh yeah. One other memorable scene.

"Hey, what's this stuff in the tube on the second shelf?"
"That's my brushless shaving cream, you chump, and don't go wasting it!"
"Oh, I just tried to brush my teeth with it."
"Well I don't think it will hurt you, but I bet it didn't taste all that good.")

[Erin]

Was the book "Follow My Leader" by James B. Garfield??

http://www.amazon.com/Follow-My-Lead...8551906&sr=8-2

I remember reading that when I was little. Really good book.

[Dreamstalker]

Waitress needs to chill. What's wrong with that joke?

The "stealing tips off tables" part. The waitress could have unfortunately dealt with that particular segment of people.

[JambaBamba]

One of my roommates trains guide dog puppies. She has one right now (Turner, aka wigglebutt) who is extremely well behaved, even when the people around him aren't. Seriously, I've seen parents encourage their kids to give the dog "treats" off their plates when eating out. Then roomie tells the kids they can't do that and Turner isn't able to play and the parents are upset like they just lost out on a free kid-minder for the next half hour.

[Sapphire Silk]

People should respect requests not to pay attention to service dogs. These are working dogs, and they are not allowed to play when on duty. A well trained service dog should ignore other people.

My best friend uses a service dog as a mobility dog. She has a well trained Carolina Dog (America's only native breed of dog) who helps her navigate through crowds, and to stand up after she's been sitting. Goldie is all business when on duty, and a lovable, playful friend when not.

There are a lot of different kinds of service dogs: some are emotional and mental service dogs, helping those with mental illness or emotional problems navigate their way through society.

[Hobbs]

The "stealing tips off tables" part. The waitress could have unfortunately dealt with that particular segment of people.

Yeah, but it's not like the guy was gonna do it. She seemed to be projecting those people's behavior onto this poor guy, which wasn't all that professional.

[Sheldonrs]

Was the book "Follow My Leader" by James B. Garfield??

http://www.amazon.com/Follow-My-Lead...8551906&sr=8-2

I remember reading that when I was little. Really good book.

That was the very first book I ever read. Every few years I go back and read it again. Still love it.