Two-by-Four winter, 2014
Guide Dog Users of Canada
Newsletter, Published Quarterly
Contact Guide Dog Users of Canada, our mailing
address is:
Guide Dog Users of Canada
300 Hedonics Road
Apt. 1009
Peterborough, Ontario
K9J 7T1
Email to: guidedogs@gduc.ca
Telephone/Fax: 1-877-285-9805
Website www.gduc.ca
Editor: Penny Leclair
Vice-President GDUC
Email mail to: twobyfour@gduc.ca
Assistant editor Laurie Scott
Your suggestions or submissions are always
appreciated. Contact Penny at the address given
above.
In This Issue:
Editor's Notes
President's Report
GDUC Addresses, Committees and Representatives
Recipe For A Happy New Year
Project on Fake Guide and Assistance Dogs
Device makes life easier for guide dogs
Program teaches dogs to detect low blood sugar in
diabetics
Purina Hall Of Fame
Gone To The Dogs And Loving It-A CD of Poems
Unique Brochure From Pet-friendly Hotel
the Importance of Appreciating Animals
The wisdom of Nelson Mandela: quotes from the
most inspiring leader of the 20th century
Notice of AGM 2014
New Jersey Service Dogs Protection by Dusty’s Law
GDUC Gives Members the Opportunity to Evaluate
Their School
Editor’s Notes
Penny Leclair
As of
January 29, 2014 Guide Dog Users of Canada reporting system shows:
Active Memberships: 19
Associate Memberships: 2
Active Life Memberships: 37
* Members Who Selected No Communication: 1
Total: 58 paid
members. Each member is important to
this organization. If there is a reason why you joined,
then maybe a friend who is a guide dog user may
also join GDUC for the same reason you did, please
tell your friends about why you are a member and
how they can become a member too.
Refer a friend to:
https://members.gduc.ca/gduc/mygduc/memberregister.asp
Please contact the board members if you are willing
to work on any of the committees listed. GDUC can
only become more known if we all do the work it
takes to reach out to others. If you know of guide
dog users, please give them the information to join,
or if you know of a group that would like information
about GDUC, or would like to have a speaker come
talk about what we do, contact the board and we will
try to arrange for a member of GDUC to make a
presentation.
Thank you to all 70 members. Thank you everyone
who supports GDUC with your life-time and annual
membership. Annual Membership is due December
31, unless you paid at the annual general meeting
this year, or just prior, your membership is good until
December 2014.
Do you have a recommendation of a good book about
a dog? Send me the title of the best book you have
read about a dog or dogs, and tell me who the author
is. I will share the recommended books in the next
newsletter.
President’s Report January 2014
A few words from your president.
I'd like to begin by thanking Lui Greco for the hours
of time and effort he has devoted over the past three
years to bringing GDUC's books up-to-date, and
keeping them in good order. In the Fall of 2013, he
took Shep Shell under his wing to prepare him for
taking over the treasurer's position at the beginning
of this year. In addition, Lui has assured us that we
can call on him when necessary, so I feel quite
certain that the purse strings remain in good hands.
The board has decided that the next Annual General
Meeting will be in Toronto, but no date or location
has been determined as yet. Keep an ear on your
inbox for future updates. Regarding the AGM, we
have also decided that in future, Via Rail tickets will
not be issued to anyone until they become a member
of our organization, or renew their membership.
Both the Consumer Advocacy Group and the
Coalition of Blind Rights Holders of Canada are still
discussing the possibility of merging. Our vice-
president and esteemed editor, Penny Leclair is now
our representative to both groups, and she will
update us when a decision has been made.
The organizations which have been working on a
proposed suite of standards for assistance dogs
have concluded their report. If you want to see the
41-page document, contact me at:
president@gduc.ca
and I'll send it to you.
Your board would like to wish each of you and your
pups a healthy and happy 2014. Travel carefully, and
do what you can to stay warm.
GDUC Committees and Representatives
Guide Dog Users of Canada.
Guide Dog Users of Canada invites you to renew your
membership or become a member for $5.00 by
following this link:
https://members.gduc.ca
please do the following
1.
Log into the system with your email address
and password. If you cannot remember your
password there is a link that will email it to you
immediately below the Login button.
2.
Find and press enter on the Renew
Membership link.
3.
Fill in the resulting form and press enter on
the Renew Membership button.
4.
Follow the onscreen instructions to complete
your payment.
GDUC has a PayPal account so
the charge will show up as
guide dog users of Canada.
Memberships, and or donations can be mailed to
Shep Shell
744 Lindsay St.
Winnipeg Manitoba,
R3N 1H7.
all cheques should be payable to GDUC and if
possible, a note in braille telling Shep what the funds
are for.
Subscribe to Friends of GDUC email list:
Guide Dog Users of Canada discussion list
This is an open list sponsored by GDUC, Run by
volunteers, for guide dog users and those interested
in guide dogs. Members can subscribe by first going
to the following link
http://lists.gduc.ca/mailman/listinfo/gduc-friends_lists.gduc.ca
Here you will find information and a form to
complete, in order to subscribe to the list.
If you'd like to make a donation, we have a presence
on www.canadahelps.org. you just search for GDUC or
Guide Dogs of Canada and a page will come up with
our information.
pay pal works very nicely as it provides people with
an automatic receipt and leaves a good audit trail for
GDUC.
Current GDUC Board Members
Devon Wilkins, (President)
mailto:president@gduc.ca <mailto:president@gduc.ca>
Penny Leclair, (Vice-President)
Shep Shell, (Treasurer)
mailto:treasurer@gduc.ca
Bhakti Patel, (Secretary)
mailto:guidedogs@gduc.ca
Directors
Jerry Smith:
Shane Davidson:
Phil Goodwin:
Lynn Raloff
Vivian Sollows:
Committees
Lynn Raloff, Chair Wellness fund committee is :
assisted by: Laurie Scott, Betty Meacher, and
Margaret Thomson.
Vivian Sollows, chair of the bylaw committee:
assisted by Penny Leclair
If you have experience with bylaws and are
willing to help please let the board know
Shane Davidson, chair of the Membership
Committee: with help from Penny Leclair, Chris
Schiafone and Paula Crebbin.
Shane Davidson chair of the Tech committee:
assisted by
Anthony Tibbs and Vic Pereira
Phil Goodwin chair, Fund development: assisted by
Jerry Smith Needing more help
Devon Wilkins chair Advocacy committee: assisted
by Penny Leclair Juliette Cyr,Lynn Raloff, Patti Ellis,
Alan Conway
This committee has the Project under Alan Conway,
issue fake service animals
Assisted by: Patti Ellis, Joyce Main, Chris Schiafone,
Lynne Raloff, Teresa Eaton, Sharon Ruttan, Christine
Duport-Switzer, Anthony Tibbs, Heather Watkus,
Susan Neveu-bhatti and Kevin Frost. Kevin
specifically volunteered for media related
assistance.
The second project Guide Dog protection.
If you have an interest in either of these issues
please let the board know.
Conference and AGM 2014 committee chair Bhakti
Patel, members Chris Shiafon, Shane Davidson, Phil
Goodwin Marc Proulx and Penny Leclair
Representatives for GDUC
Alan Conway will attend Canadian Transportation
Agency Advisory Committee, which meets annually.
Penny Leclair and Denise Sanders will attend The
Coalition of Blind, Deaf-Blind and Partially Sighted
Rights Holder Organizations Of Canada Together
they take responsibility for the communication
component of the coalition.
Penny Leclair is our GDUC representative of the
consumer Advocacy group.
Recipe For A Happy New Year
Take twelve whole months, clean them thoroughly of
all bitterness, hate, and jealousy, make them just as
fresh and clean as possible.
Now cut each month into twenty-eight, thirty, or
thirty-one different parts, but don’t make up the
whole batch at once.
Prepare it one day at a time out of these ingredients.
Mix well into each day one part of faith, one part of
patience, one part of courage, and one part of work.
Add to each day one part of hope, faithfulness,
generosity, and kindness.
Blend with one part prayer, one part meditation, and
one good deed.
Season the whole with a dash of good spirits, a
sprinkle of fun, a pinch of play, and a cupful of good
humor.
Pour all of this into a vessel of love.
Cook thoroughly over radiant joy, garnish with a
smile, and serve with quietness, unselfishness, and
cheerfulness.
You’re bound to have a happy new year.
___________________
Project On Fake Guide And Assistance Dogs
The committee for the project on fake guide and
assistance dogs have had some media coverage. The
committee has 15 members, some of whom are very
active. There is a lot of work to be done, so having
so many interested members will help us to succeed.
newspapers in Ontario have not yet been contacted
because the person who offered to do it also had to
juggle that work with many other personal matters.
A letter for guide dog schools has been drafted. In
it’s present form, it will be useful for contacting
Canadian schools, but will have to be modified
slightly for those in the US. A somewhat different
letter will also have to be drafted for the government
of Quebec and the letter for Canadian guide dog
schools will have to be changed to congratulate Mira
on participating in the French-language interview
that Christine did on Radio Canada.
A letter was also circulated intended for the
business community This letter will go out soon.
To some extent, we have figured out who will deal
with the various provincial governments. A text is
ready to circulate and probably send, but it was
decided to delay sending anything out because of
the holiday season. I think it’s now time to start
getting back to work on this. Since we don’t know
when all the provincial legislatures start sitting, I
think we simply have to go ahead and send out our
material. Those dates may vary considerably; there
seems no point in waiting.
Device makes life easier for guide dogs
BY GABRIELLA O'GRADY
republican herald.com, December 25, 2013
I normally do not let Toga in the basement when I am
using some of the power tools. I wear hearing
protection and so should toga. Not sure but with
these mutt muffs she can come down with me.
Lenny McHugh, Pottsville, puts a set of Mutt Muffs on
his guide dog Toga's ears Monday at his home. The
muffs reduce noise but still allows Toga to hear
McHugh's commands.
Lenny McHugh can now easily go to concerts.
The 67-year-old Pottsville man, who is blind due to a
genetic disease, depends upon his guide dog, Toga,
to help him walking. However, while the dog makes
up for his lack of his visual sense, the animal's keen
sense of hearing usually kept him out of musical
performances.
"I never went to concerts," McHugh said. "I would
ask, should I take Toga or shouldn't I? I can now.
"I went to a Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert and
put cotton in Toga's ears, but the cotton wasn't
comfortable for her," McHugh said.
McHugh would have to leave Toga, 7, or his previous
guide dogs, Michah and Indy, at home or he would
not go at all.
Recently, he learned about Mutt Muffs and bought a
set two weeks ago for his dog.
Mutt Muffs, which harness to the animal's head and
look like headphones, muffle sounds but do not
completely eliminate noise. Toga can still hear
commands.
Mutt Muffs normally cost $50 to $60 and are sized
from extra small to extra large to fit any type of dog.
Mutt Muffs were created in 2005 by Safe and Sound
Pets when the founder, Michele Mcguire, decided to
start taking their dog on airplane rides and the
question arose, "How loud is your cockpit?"
After a few prototypes, the final design of Mutt Muffs
was created in 2005.
The first time McHugh used Mutt Muffs on his guide
dog was at a Pottsville Area High School band
concert earlier this month.
McHugh bought Mutt Muffs about two weeks ago
after he found out about them on a guide dog user
list. Those on the list use Mutt Muffs for different
types of occasions, including hunting, fireworks and
for those who are in bands.
McHugh was born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, which
affects a person's night and peripheral vision. For
much of his life, McHugh had relied on his cane
rather than a freedom guide dog to get around.
"I always liked dogs, but I was a little skeptical
about trusting one with my life," McHugh said on his
website, www.lennymchugh.com.
McHugh finally looked into a guide dog after a
surgery made his arms much weaker. After a year of
physical therapy, he had only gained 40 percent of
his movement back in his left arm and realized that
in order to gain his independence back, he would
need to have a guide dog. McHugh obtained his first
guide dog, Indy, in April 1998.
Toga was sponsored by the Saratoga Lions Club. The
club, who named the dog, thought Sara was too
common of a dog name and decided on Toga.
"I'm glad they didn't name her Saratoga because it
would be a mouthful to direct her," McHugh said.
"Saratoga sit, Saratoga right, Saratoga left, you
know?"
http://republicanherald.com/news/device-makes-life-easier-for-guide-dogs-1.1
606731
Program teaches dogs to detect low blood sugar in
diabetics
CTVNews.ca Staff, November 13, 2013
A special class of canines is about to graduate from
a new program that trains dogs to detect when their
owners are experiencing dangerously high bloodsugar levels.
Four dogs and their owners have completed training
at the Lions Foundation of Canada in Oakville and
are ready to graduate as official "diabetic alert guide
dogs" on Thursday - fittingly world diabetes day.
The dogs are trained to detect sudden changes in
their owner's blood sugar through scent and alert
them, so that they can take measures to normalize
their levels.
According to the foundation, the guide dog's ability
to detect changes in its owner's breath can help
patients avoid slipping into diabetic comas and other
life-threatening effects.
The canines can also run and seek help from within
an owner's home and even activate an alert system
if needed.
"It's a gradual realization that dogs can do so much
more," said Ian Ashworth, director of program
development at the Lions Foundation of Canada.
The dogs are trained to assist people with Type 1
diabetes who breathe into a special container when
they are having a low or high blood sugar episode.
The dogs are then exposed to the smells, learning to
respond appropriately by either warning the adult
patient or fetching a parent for a sick child.
Jade and Brooke Boardman are 11-year-old twins
who are living with Type 1 diabetes. They have been
paired with a guide dog named Nettle.
Brooke says she feels Nettle will become a valuable
friend by her side.
"She can smell there is something wrong then she
goes into my dad's room and jumps on the bed and
warns them and wakes him up," she explained.
Terry Boardman, Jade and Brooke's father, said he
and his wife often stay up all night checking on their
daughters' blood-sugar levels.
He said having this new canine companion will help
give him and his family peace of mind.
"It's very tough at times. The girls are always at risk
so having another tool like Nettle to help with this. I
can't explain it, it just means a lot to us," he said.
The dogs are bred by the foundation and are offered
at no cost by the Lions Foundation to patients who
qualify, a relief for many families since similar
diabetes alert dogs can cost up to $25,000 in the
United States.
"Hopefully we are flooded with applications," said
Ashworth.
Linda Brown, a diabetic who suffered from weekly
blackouts when her blood-sugar levels would dip too
low, said her new dog Wilf has given her a new sense
of independence.
"He offers me a lifeline, giving me a chance to get
back to doing what I did before and feeling safe,"
Brown said.
There are currently about a dozen patients across
the country waiting for the next class of diabetic
guide dogs to be trained.
_______________________________________________
Purina Animal Hall of Fame™
For more than four decades, the Purina Animal Hall
of Fame™ has honoured an elite group of pets and
service dogs for their extraordinary acts of heroism
and bravery, which have saved human lives. From
sensing deadly medical conditions to saving their
owners from wild animal attacks, more than 150
inductees have been recognized including 132 dogs,
26 cats - and one horse!
Since 1992, the program expanded to specifically
recognize the key role of service dogs in protecting
the public and providing independence, comfort and
hope to so many Canadians. To date, 18 service dogs
have been honoured for their acts of extreme bravery
and courage.
New pet heroes are inducted annually into the Purina
Animal Hall of Fame™ at a private ceremony in the
spring
The bond we share with pets can be lifesaving and
inspiring. Come and learn about all the pet and
service dog Inductees at PawsWay Pet Discovery
Centre located at Harbour front Centre in Toronto,
and the permanent home of the Purina Animal Hall of
Fame™. Open year-round, general admission is free.
The 1997 Purina Animal Hall of Fame™ Inductees
Whiterock, British Columbia — BRIGITTE and BAMBI
, eight year old Great Danes alerted their owner,
Karin Bjerk-Lisle that her 13-month-old
son Forrest had fallen into the family pool. Brigitte,
the smaller of the two dogs,
squeezed through a sliding door and leapt into the
pool, while Bambi barked frantically.
Drawn by the commotion of the dogs, Karin found her
son, lifted him from the pool
and artificial respiration was performed to revive
him.
Calgary, Alberta — MANDY
, a five-year-old Yorkshire-Terrier saved the life of
Joyce Hart after she suffered
a serious heart-attack while visiting her daughter,
Sue Parker. Mandy's persistent
barking alerted Sue, who had been working
downstairs. When Sue discovered her mother,
she quickly dialed 911 and the emergency operator
led her through CPR while she waited
for the paramedics to arrive.
Lac-à-la-Tortue, Quebec — POLUX
, a two-year Bouvier-Bernois came to the rescue of
Mario Fontaine when he fell through
the ice on the St Maurice River. Mario had been
taking Polux for a walk on the river
when the ice cracked around him and he plunged
into icy-cold water. Mario was able
to keep his grip on the lead and Polux pulled him to
safety.
Toronto, Ontario - KENO
, a five-year-old German Shepherd, owned by
Constable John Gerrits, suffered severe
Injuries in his successful attempt in capturing a
breaking-and-entering suspect. Constable
Gerrits and his police service dog Keno answered an
emergency call about a breaking-and-entering
in progress. When they arrived at the scene, the
suspect had already begun to escape
from the crime area. During the chase, Keno rounded
a corner and was struck by an
on-coming car. Despite Keno's severe bleeding from
the accident, the canine continued
to chase the suspect. Keno quickly caught up with
the suspect and tackled him to
the ground. He then gripped the criminal's arm,
allowing the officers to arrest him.
As a result of the accident, Keno required stitches in
his leg and suffered head
injuries.
***
Years ago when I was still living in Montreal I
belonged to a group that met weekly at the Montreal
Association for The Blind but was not directly
connected with them. Twice a year we went out to
lunch at Christmas and in June when we closed for
the summer. I and one other lady in the group had a
guide dog. One June I was being given a lift in by
one of the sighted volunteers who worked with us,.
It was the morning of our end of year lunch and she
was describing the difficulty she'd had in booking us
a table because many of the local restaurants did
not serve lunch. I mentioned one in particular (an
Italian restaurant) that had been open for many
years and that I had lived literally next door to and
visited often (we are talking about a good fifteen
years here) before and after I had a guide dog. She
said that she'd phoned them but when she'd
explained that two members of the party had guide
dogs they'd refused to book a table. I was very
annoyed but she'd made the decision and it was too
late to deal with that. However, it had been
arranged some time in advance that a sighted friend
and a blind couple we both knew and I would be
going to dinner at said restaurant that evening.
Since all three of us had dogs I was Really looking
forward to that night. I and my sighted friend came
in first, and it is in a sort of semi basement so you
come down a steep flight of stairs as you enter. The
person creating problems was first on the scene and
started to tell me I'd have to leave (needless to say
this was a newer person who I had not been so lucky
as to run into before), then he looked up and passed
me and trailed off in horror as he spotted our two
friends with their dogs coming down the stairs. It
was really a moment I would have adored seeing the
expression on his face. He was going to continue
but spotting the manager at that point he called him
over to tell us to leave. He was a gentleman I knew
and as soon as he got close enough to understand
what the waiter was on about the man was promptly
told to be quiet and find a good table for our party.
They were particularly fortunate that it was so
quickly and easily resolved since one of my friends
with a dog that night, was more than willing to speak
out for the right to take his dog where the dog had
the legal right to go. To be quite honest, he took it
further than I would, since a really angry cab driver
isn't one who's car I would want to be in. But that
three dog moment was priceless.
a
I might add the volunteer having a somewhat short
term memory forgot her previous experience and we
ended up lunching there as a group the next
Christmas. It is amazing what one uninformed
employee can do for a business' reputation though,
... if I hadn't known them for so long and been sure
she'd just come across one loser on the phone who
knows.
One of the best experiences I ever had was in a little
sandwich place in Montreal, on St. Catherine's right
in down town, the last place you'd expect a problem.
We went in and first the young man behind the
counter asked us to please leave because of “the
dog.” I'd only had her a couple of months so was
surprised but still really patient. (Afraid years of
these sort of scenes have worn away at the
patience, ... this time I was glad.) This was
obviously all news to him. He then asked if we could
sit further away from the counter where the food
was displayed because of public health. Again we
explained that no, the dog and we could sit where
we wanted. I'm not quite sure what happened, I
think he thought about it for a bit (by this time we
had our order and were sitting where we wished and
must confess we sort of thought he was sulking), but
after a little he came over and began asking all kinds
of questions about guide dogs, what they could do,
where they could go, everything. He was sincerely
interested and since it was coming up to the annual
fund raising walkathon for our chapter I invited him
to come to it where he'd have a chance to learn
more. When he heard the date he said he couldn't
come because he was working but insisted on
making a donation. I have to say I was and am still
touched that after his little lesson he was so
interested and impressed that on his very minimal
salary he donated twenty dollars. It was one of the
most positive pleasant experiences I ever had. (And
I'd like to add that he was a Canadian with no
accent, had no national or religious background on
which to pin his ignorance.) I think of him still as a
sad but inspiring example both of what education
Can accomplish, and how uninformed the public still
is! Absolutely nothing pleases me more than to be
somewhere like a store or public building and
hearing a child proudly explaining to another child or
an adult that there is a guide dog you can't pat him
because he's working! Second best is hearing a
parent kindly explaining to a dog obsessed child that
the dog is doing his job, and what that job is.
Juliette
Thunder storms scary for some dogs
Jamie Hall
Edmonton Journal, Aug. 5, 2013
The first clap of thunder always sends Scout
scurrying for his toy basket in search of his favourite
squeaky, a plush red bone. Once found, the five-yearold miniature schnauzer picks it up in his mouth,
runs into owner Jackie Dawson's bedroom and noses
it under one of the pillows on her bed.
"It's like he's protecting it," says Dawson, "which is
hilarious considering how scared he is. If I'm in bed,
he's usually curled up next to me, shaking like a
leaf."
On the other hand, Riley, an eight-year-old golden
retriever, builds a nest for himself when thunder
starts, systematically dragging the mats from the
laundry room and bathroom into the adjoining family
room and placing them in a heap on the floor.
"Our other (golden retriever) Catie used to jump into
the bathtub," says Carmen Mc-Connell, Riley's
owner.
"We went looking for her one day and there she was,
peeking out from behind the shower curtain."
Thunder and lightning - particularly the former terrifies many pets, especially dogs, who often pace,
whine, howl or drool and do seemingly strange things
to escape the fury and noise of electrical storms.
This summer, light shows have become a daily
feature of the weather, the words "chance of a
thunderstorm" practically a mantra for Edmonton
area forecasters.
So, what is it exactly that dogs find so frightening
about storms? And what, if anything, can pet owners
do to help them? Belinda Wagner, Edmonton Humane
Society animal behaviour consultant, says just like
people, some pets respond to the changes in
barometric pressure that often precede a storm, and
to the noise and vibration that accompanies it.
"Some animals are really sensitive to touch and
sound and smell," says Wagner, "and the big thing is
that once a storm hits, you can't desensitize them in
the moment because it's so loud."
She says dogs naturally try to escape the static
charge in the air by moving toward items that are
electrically grounded. Many thunder-phobic dogs
seek shelter in the basement, around the toilet,
shower, near pipes, or, like Catie, in bathtubs. They
may also try to get underneath something, or find a
place to hide, typically small enclosed spaces.
One alternative is a sort of limited personhood for
animals that show neurobiological evidence of
positive emotions. Many rescue groups already use
the label of "guardian" to describe human caregivers,
binding the human to his ward with an implicit
responsibility to care for her. Failure to act as a good
guardian runs the risk of having the dog placed
elsewhere. But there are no laws that cover animals
as wards, so the patchwork of rescue groups that
operate under a guardianship model have little legal
foundation to protect the animals' interest.
If we went a step further and granted dogs rights of
personhood, they would be afforded additional
protection against exploitation. Puppy mills,
laboratory dogs and dog racing would be banned for
violating the basic right of self-determination of a
person.
I suspect that society is many years away from
considering dogs as persons.
However, recent rulings by the Supreme Court have
included neuroscientific findings that open the door
to such a possibility. In two cases, the court ruled
that juvenile offenders could not be sentenced to life
imprisonment without the possibility of parole. As
part of the rulings, the court cited brain imaging
evidence that the human brain was not mature in
adolescence.
Although this case has nothing to do with dog
sentience, the justices opened the door for
neuroscience in the courtroom.
Perhaps someday we may see a case arguing for a
dog's rights based on brain-imaging findings.
Gregory Berns is a professor of neuroeconomics at
Emory University and the author of "How Dogs Love
Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode
the Canine Brain."
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/opinion/sunday/dogs-are-people-too.html
A Guide Dog’s Prayer
Please do not pet me or attract my attention when I
am wearing my harness! My work requires much
concentration and any distraction could endanger
my blind friend.
Please ask my blind partner if we need help and how
you can best do so. Touching or holding the harness
makes my companion and I feel insecure. You are
most welcome to offer your help, but do not be angry
if my partner refuses. We are very independent.
Please tell my partner the number of the bus that’s
coming or if the traffic light turns green. I certainly
am intelligent, but reading or interpreting traffic
signals are beyond me.
Please stop where traffic signs indicate you should
do so. If you park your car on the sidewalk, I must
go into the street to go around it and that could be
dangerous.
Please allow me to enter food stores. The law is
definitely on my side but In spite of that, some
people still complain and refuse me entry. You
would not leave your eyes outside a store would
you?
Please do not frighten me with firecrackers or other
such things. In doing so, you compromise my ability
to work and my blind partner loses a reliable guide.
Please restrain your dogs and pass by without
stopping. I am not allowed to sniff or play when
working. That said, when I have free time, and I
have plenty, I am always ready to run around and
have fun.
Please do not feed me. I was trained to refuse food
from strangers. Each of your attempts makes me
less obedient, which rightly irritates my blind
partner.
Thank you very much for your attention!
Guide dogs; safe and reliable guides for the blind.
Note: This text was originally found in a German
guide dog handlers’ discussion. The author explicitly
requests the distribution of this prayer.
NTD: This text was translated from the French
version of the original German. I do not speak
German and could not have used the original text.
Alan Conway
God Made A Dog
This was a U-tube with pictures all one after the
other. I asked a guide dog user with time and good
hearing, to type the words that were said as the
pictures of dogs flashed across the screen.
Thank you Bob Berrigan
And on the ninth day, God looked down on His wideeyed children and said, “they need a companion”, so
God made a dog.
He Said, “I need somebody willing to wake up, give
kisses, pee on a tree, sleep all day, wake up again,
give more kisses, then stay up until midnight basking
in the glow of a television set.” So God made a dog.
God said, “I need somebody willing to sit, and stay,
and roll over. Then, with no ego or complaint, dress
in hats they don’t need and costumes they don’t
understand. I need somebody who’d break wind
without a first care or second thought, who can
chase tails, sniff crotches, fetch sticks, and lift
spirits with a lick. Somebody who, no matter what
you didn’t do or couldn’t take or didn’t win or couldn’t
make, will love you without judgement just the
same.” So God made a dog.
God said, “I need somebody strong enough to pull
sleds and find bombs, yet gentle enough to love
babies and lead the blind, somebody who’ll spend all
day on a couch with a resting head and supportive
eyes to lift the spirits of a broken heart.” So God
made a dog.
“It had to be somebody who’d remain patient and
loyal, even though loneliness, somebody to care and
cuddle, snuggle and nuzzle and cheer and charm and
snore and slobber and eat the trash and chase the
squirrels, somebody who would bring a family
together with a selflessness of an open heart,
somebody who would bark, and then pant, and then
reply with rapid wag of tail, when their best friend,
says, "Let’s go for a ride in the car.”
So God made a dog.
Prairie Dogs' Language Decoded by Scientists
Human-animal translation devices may be available
within 10 years, researcher say.
Did that prairie dog just call you fat? Quite possibly.
On The Current Friday, biologist Con Slobodchikoff
described how he learned to understand what prairie
dogs are saying to one another and discovered how
eloquent they can be.
Slobodchikoff, a professor emeritus at North Arizona
University, told Erica Johnson, guest host of The
Current, that he started studying prairie dog
language 30 years ago after scientists reported that
other ground squirrels had different alarm calls to
warn each other of flying predators such as hawks
and eagles, versus predators on the ground, such as
coyotes or badgers.
Prairie dogs, he said, were ideal animals to study
because they are social animals that live in small cooperative groups within a larger colony, or "town"
and they never leave their colony or territory, where
they have built an elaborate underground complex of
tunnels and burrows.
In order to figure out what the prairie dogs were
saying, Slobodchikoff and his colleagues trapped
them and painted them with fur dye to identify each
one. Then they recorded the animals' calls in the
presence of different predators.
'With a sudden intuition, I thought, "What if they're
describing the physical features of each
predator?"'—Con Slobodchikoff, biologist
They found that the animals make distinctive calls
that can distinguish between a wide variety of
animals, including coyotes, domestic dogs and
humans. The patterns are so distinct, Slobodchikoff
said, that human visitors he brings to a prairie dog
colony can typically learn them within two hours.
But then Slobodchikoff noticed that the animals
made slightly different calls when different
individuals of the same species went by.
"With a sudden intuition, I thought, 'What if they're
describing the physical features of each predator?'"
he recalled.
He and his team conducted experiments where they
paraded dogs of different colours and sizes and
various humans wearing different clothes past the
colony. They recorded the prairie dogs' calls,
analyzed them with a computer, and were
astonished by the results.
Clothing colour, size described
"They're able to describe the colour of clothes the
humans are wearing, they're able to describe the
size and shape of humans, even, amazingly, whether
a human once appeared with a gun," Slobodchikoff
said.
The animals can even describe abstract shapes such
as circles and triangles.
Also remarkable was the amount of information
crammed into a single chirp lasting a 10th of a
second.
"In one 10th of a second, they say 'Tall thin human
wearing blue shirt walking slowly across the
colony.'"
Besides being a researcher, Slobodchikoff is an
author of the book Chasing Doctor Doolittle: Learning
the Language of Animals, in which he profiles many
other animals with complex language, including
crows and ravens, chickens and vervet monkeys. He
believes complex speech is probably common within
the animal kingdom.
"It's just that we have not looked," he said. He
blames the fact that humans have long assumed
animals are incapable of such intelligence.
Computer translation
Slobodchikoff said he has been working with a
computer scientist to develop a device that uses
voice pattern recognition techniques and artificial
intelligence to translate between human and animal
speech.
"We could potentially have something maybe the size
of a cellphone in five to 10 years where a dog would
say, 'Woof' and the device would say. 'I want to eat
chicken tonight" or a cat could say, 'Meow,' and the
device would say, 'My litterbox is filthy, please clean
it.'"
He thinks if humans and dogs could understand one
another more clearly, it would reduce the number of
animals euthanized each year because of
behavioural problems, which he blames on a lack of
communication. In the meantime, Slobodchikoff said,
he has found that just knowing that animals can
share complex ideas makes people more empathetic
toward them.
"When people realize that prairie dogs and other
animals as well can talk … suddenly they see these
animals with a new perspective," he said. "They're
actually thinking, breathing things not that much
different from us."
Many Veterinary Bills Include 'Inappropriate' Costs
Marketplace reveals that, despite evidence, some
vets continue to over-vaccinate pets
By Megan Griffith-Greene
CBC News, October 04, 2013
Despite guidelines that recommend vaccinating dogs
every three years, many veterinarians continue to
push annual vaccinations, a CBC Marketplace
investigation reveals.
And when dogs get annual jabs, pet owners may be
getting gouged.
"It's inappropriate and [veterinarians] need to get
with the current policies and guidelines," said Dr.
Jean Dodds, a California-based veterinarian and
researcher, who is an expert in dog vaccination
protocols and an outspoken critic of overvaccination.
Some veterinarians told Marketplace staff who
documented vet visits on hidden camera that they
recommend yearly vaccines as a way of making sure
that pet owners schedule wellness exams.
Other vets either were not familiar with or did not
trust research that says annual shots are
unnecessary.
Research in this area is "black and white," Dr. Dodds
said in an interview with Marketplace co-host Erica
Johnson for the show's season premiere, "Barking
Mad,"
"There's plenty of documented evidence that shows
that vaccines last much longer than we used to
believe, and from now on, vaccines should be given
less frequently to those animals that are properly
immunized when they were younger."
Hidden camera investigation
There are about 14.5 million dogs and cats in
Canada, according to research published in the
Canadian Veterinary Journal in 2009, and 50 per cent
of cats and 78 per cent of dogs saw a veterinarian in
the past year.
Money may be a factor: Veterinary costs in Canada
increased 90 per cent between 1997 and 2009,
according to Statistics Canada.
In its investigation, Marketplace took Marshall, a
healthy three-year-old English bulldog, to 10
veterinarians. During the exams, Marshall was
prescribed treatments and procedures that experts
say are not needed, including unnecessary testing
and a weight loss program.
The Marketplace investigation uncovered five ways
in which veterinary bills may be inflated, from
vaccines to the price of pet medications.
Despite being up to date on all vaccinations, six out
of 10 veterinarians Marketplace visited
recommended that Marshall be given at least one
vaccine during the exam.
Most veterinarians -- and veterinary medical groups -agree that all dogs should receive "core" vaccines,
which immunize against illnesses that are
contagious, widespread or very serious, including
rabies, distemper, adenovirus and parvovirus.
Guidelines released in 2011 by the American Animal
Hospital Association
(AAHA) recommend that dogs receive core vaccines
every three years, though some jurisdictions may
require that the rabies vaccination be given more
frequently.
The guidelines are based on "professional, scientific,
and clinical evidence, as well as published and
unpublished documentation," and note that
protection from the shots often lasts much longer
than three years.
Published research has demonstrated that the
protection offered by core vaccines can last seven to
nine years.
The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association
(CVMA) maintains that the research on vaccines is
still controversial, and that the vaccination schedule
should be determined on an individual basis.
"The decision on how often to vaccinate and what to
vaccinate for is a direct conversation between the
client and the veterinarian based on the individual
animal and the circumstances that that animal lives
in," said Dr.
Jim Berry, president of the CVMA, who notes that the
guidelines do allow veterinarians to determine their
own vaccination schedule based on the pet,
resources and other factors.
Over-vaccination increases cost, risk
But other experts maintain that annual vaccinations
are unnecessary.
"[Core] vaccines provide long-term immunity," said
Dr. Ron Schultz, who teaches veterinary medicine at
the University of Wisconsin and helped develop the
AAHA guidelines.
Dr. Schultz said that giving dogs core vaccines every
year is "like vaccinating a human for measles every
seven to 10 years for the rest of their lives."
In addition to the financial cost -- vaccines can cost
about $40, in addition to the cost of the exam -- overvaccinating dogs is not without risk.
"There is always the risk of adverse reactions, albeit
small," said Dr.
Schultz.
Annual wellness visits are important in keeping dogs
healthy, said Dr.
Schultz, but veterinarians shouldn't be using
vaccinations as a premise to book the annual exam.
"It's very difficult for me; I love my profession," said
Dr. Dodds. "Are we going to harm [pets] by giving
them something they don't need?"
from:http://www.cbc.ca/news/many-veterinary-billsinclude-inappropriate-cost
s-1.1876019
Gone to The Dogs and Loving It- a CD of poems
If you are like most of us, your family and friends
love dogs. Now you can give them a birthday,
Christmas or thank you gift that is unique and will
help Guide Dog users of Canada. Thanks to Devon
Wilkins you can purchase a ten dollar CD called Gone
to The Dogs and Loving It. The CD has poems about
dogs. Many of the poems are written by Devon
Wilkins, (current president of Guide Dog Users of
Canada). Several Poems have sound effects or
musical backgrounds. Every cent of the ten dollars
per CD will be used to benefit Guide Dog Users of
Canada. You can order CDs by contacting Devon at
theharness@bell.net
A work of love by a dedicated member of GDUC. Help
support this organization. Send a cheque to Devon at
the GDUC address given at the top page of this
newsletter. Include an envelope with your name and
address so that Devon can put the CD into the
envelope and mail to you. She included the poem
read at the AGM which everyone enjoyed so much.
Get your copy today, limited Cds available.
Unique Brochure From Pet-friendly Hotel
Evelyne and her guide dog Diva thought you might be
interested in this brochure from the Atlantica hotel,
the hotel Evelyne and her husband, Jack stayed in
Halifax, when Jack was in the hospital.
This hotel is pet friendly. It is rather pricy but,
through Hot Wire, it is possible to have very good
deals.
Text beginsWelcome to your home away from home!
We know those long plane rides or road trips can
take quite a toll and we want you to feel relaxed,
pampered and right at home while you are with us.
Make sure that you receive your welcome gift
including a clean up bag for your trips to the
restroom, a delicious treat and a walking map.
Please don’t stay alone in your room; we know this
might make you a bit nervous and cause you to
unwittingly disturb your neighbours.
Please don’t incur any damages to the room by
scratching, etc., as your Human Companion would
unfortunately be responsible for any charges.
Please don’t bathe in the hotel room tubs. Your
beautiful, thick hair can damage hotel plumbing.
Make sure that your Human Companion puts you on
a leash at all times when walking around in public
areas including the exterior of the hotel. We
certainly don’t want you to get lost or injured.
Please remember not to go into the restaurant,
meeting rooms, pool and fitness areas, etc. These
areas are exclusively for use by your Human
Companions and you probably wouldn’t find these
spots much fun anyway. Of course, if you are a
Guide/Companion dog, you are most welcome in all
areas of the hotel and grounds when you are
accompanying your Human family member.
Please ask your Human Companion to let the Front
Desk know what time would be convenient to have
your room serviced. If possible, it would be great to
have your room cleaned when you are out enjoying
some fresh air.
****
ATLANTICA
* * * * ATLANTICA
the Importance of Appreciating Animals
Cross-posted from TheDodo.com.
Arrianna Huffington
You can tell a lot about people from their
screensavers. Mine is a picture of gazelles: They are
my role models. They run and flee when there is a
danger -- say, a leopard or a lion approaching -- but
as soon as the danger passes, they stop and go back
to grazing peacefully without a care in the world. But
human beings cannot distinguish between real
dangers and imagined ones. As Mark Williams, a
clinical psychology professor at Oxford, explains,
"the brain's alarm signals start to be triggered not
only by the current scare, but by past threats and
future worries... So when we humans bring to mind
other threats and losses, as well as the current
scenario, our bodies' fight-or-flight systems do not
switch off when the danger is past. Unlike the
gazelles, we don't stop running." This is modern
man's predicament, perfectly summed up by Michel
de Montaigne: "There were many terrible things in
my life, but most of them never happened."
I've had gazelles -- and lots of other animals, actually
-- on my mind lately, because I just finished putting
the final touches on a book about the Third
Metricand about what makes life worth living. And in
the course of researching and writing it, I arrived at
a deeper understanding of all that animals can teach
us. That's why I'm delighted at the arrival of The
Dodo to lead the conversation on all the ways
animals are deserving of our respect and
compassion, at a time when the public is more
interested than ever before in understanding and
empathizing with animals.
While my two daughters were still in middle school,
they brought into our home a Maltese, who we
named Oliver Pistachio Huffington -- Ollie to his
friends. Having a pet reinforced one of my core
beliefs -- that one purpose of life is to expand the
boundaries of our love, to widen the circle of our
concern, to open up rather than shut down, expand
rather than contract. And every week brings more
stories and science about the amazing ways in
which pets open our hearts and enhance our lives.
Allen McConnell, professor of psychology at Miami
University, wrote in Psychology Today that it's well
known that our social network is important for our
emotional well-being. But that network is not limited
to people. According to research from McConnell's
lab, pet owners have higher self-esteem, fewer
feelings of loneliness, and are more physically fit and
socially outgoing.
In another study involving 97 pet owners, some in
the group were made to feel rejected socially
(sounds like high school all over again). Afterwards,
some in the study were asked to write about their
best friends, while others wrote about their pets.
What the researchers found was that thinking about
a pet provided the same power to recover from the
negative feelings of rejection as thinking about a
best friend.
Like spouses and close friends, pets can become
"included in the self," the core of our being that
forms our perspective. McConnell says "they become
as much a part of the self as many family members."
His conclusion? Pets are often "friends with
benefits" and our health and happiness improve in
meaningful ways from pet ownership.
But the benefits of pets go beyond the everyday.
"Pets offer an unconditional love that can be very
helpful to people with depression," said Ian Cook,
psychiatrist and director of UCLA's Depression
Research and Clinic Program. For those suffering
from depression, pet ownership can be an invaluable
source of healing.
The role of animals, and especially dogs, as roving
ambassadors of goodwill can be seen most clearly in
their role as therapy dogs. After the tragic massacre
in Newtown, Conn., in December 2012, therapy dogs
from all over the country were brought in to help the
community, and especially the children of Sandy
Hook Elementary School. Six months later Newtown
held a "Day of Thanks" to show its gratitude. The
gathering was attended by 50 dogs (and many more
owners and residents). One parent explained that her
daughter had had a rough time after the shooting.
"But when she talked about the dogs that she saw
every day at school, she lit up."
Another young girl and a therapy dog developed an
especially moving bond. At a Christmas party for
Sandy Hook children just after the shooting, 9-yearold Emma Wishneski happened upon a therapy dog
named Jeffrey, whose nickname is the "Positively
Peaceful Pit Bull." Jeffrey was rescued from a New
York City shelter by Milford, Conn., hospice worker
Michele Houston. When Emma met Jeffrey, it was
love at first sight, and the two were inseparable for
the whole party. And since then they've had regular
play-dates. "It was still a really vulnerable time for
her, and she just was comfortable sitting next to
Jeffrey," Emma's mother said. "He's strong and I
think she just feels safe." Since then Emma has
begun to train her family's dog Jedi (also a rescue
dog) as a therapy dog. "Emma has a smile that could
light the world, and I feel like we used to see that
smile a lot more, but it's definitely still there," her
mother said. "And when she's with Jeffrey she
doesn't stop smiling."
Animals help us be better humans. Quite often, they
show us how to be our best selves. Always in the
moment, sticking their noses into everything
(literally), they see a world that we take for granted,
one we're usually just hurriedly passing through on
our way to lives we never quite reach.
The Dodo would not be launching if not for Izzie
Lerer, its co-founder and editor-at-large. Izzie is
wrapping up her doctoral studies in philosophy at
Columbia, where her research focuses on
animal/human relationships. I have known Izzie for
almost 10 years and know how passionate and
intelligent she is about this most important subject.
Her vision is nothing short of wanting to change the
world in the way animals are treated. I'm betting on
her, and I am sure she will become an important
voice in this country on this issue. And that The
Dodo, with Izzie and with Kerry Lauerman as its CEO
and editor-in-chief, will become a very important
vehicle in this conversation.
The wisdom of Nelson Mandela: quotes from the
most inspiring leader of the 20th century
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains,
but to live in a way that respects and enhances the
freedom of others.”
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling,
but in rising every time we fall.”
“Difficulties break some men but make others. No
axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who
keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will
rise even in the end.”
— From a letter to Winnie Mandela, 1975
“It always seems impossible until it’s done.”
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear,
but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who
does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
Notice of AGM
GDUC 15th Annual General Meeting
Coordinator Bhakti Patel
Committee members assisting Chris Shiafon, Phil
Goodwin, Penny Leclair and Shane Davidson
If you have contacts with business or service clubs
for donations please send a message to Bhakti Patel
bhaktiteen@hotmail.com
with the name of the person and their contact
information. The more donations or sponsorship we
receive will help to keep the cost down for the
conference and AGM.
If you have suggestions for a social activity while we
are in Toronto, send your ideas to Bhakti.
More information to follow in the coming months.
Dusty's Law makes it a criminal matter requiring
police response. It governs
an animal that attacks, injures or interferes with any
kind of service dog,including
during training.
Dusty's Law State Senate Trenton New Jersey
That includes attacks on any dog, horse or other
animal owned or used by a
law enforcement
agency, including search-and-rescue dogs.
The law is named for Dusty (
a German Shepherd puppy being trained as a guide
dog who was mauled by
a pit bull in Woodcliff Lake, requiring nearly 100
stitches, in July 2010.
Dusty’s law establishes criminal
Penalties for killing, maiming or interfering with a
service dog.
Before this law, police couldn't investigate such
instances as criminal acts
but, instead, must refer them to animal control
agencies who sometimes cannot respond
immediately on nights or weekends. The law was
crucial, proponents said, because of
the imminent danger to a blind person whose dog is
incapacitated or killed.
Dusty, who was nine months old at the time, lost four
teeth and suffered
emotional trauma that kept him from continuing his
work with The Seeing Eye program.
"Seeing eye dogs are especially vulnerable to injury
during an attack
because they've been bred and trained to be nonaggressive," Jim Kutsch, president and CEO
of The Seeing Eye, the world's oldest guide-dog
school.
They also "are unlikely to leave their masters' sides,
even to save
themselves," he said.
Dusty's trainer, Roger Woodhour of Woodcliff Lake,
who has volunteered
with The Seeing Eye for more than 20 years, noted
that nearly half of all guide dogs are
attacked at some time by other animals, ordinarily
within a half-hour walk from
home. The Seeing Eye published a survey that found
that 44% of 744 guide dog
users had experienced at least one attack by
another animal. More than 80% said
they'd had some kind of interference by another
animal.
Allowing an animal to kill a guide dog would be
punishable by up to 18
months in prison and a fine of up $10,000, or both,
under the law.
Allowing an animal to injure or interfere with a guide
dog would be a
disorderly persons offense, with the potential for a
six-month prison sentence.
The measure also requires restitution if a guide dog
is killed or
injured - including the dog's value, the nearly $60,000
it costs to train a replacement dog,
veterinary bills, and lost income.
State laws protecting the rights of guide dogs and
handlers vary, but few
provide real protection, compensation, and lawful
response. Dusty's Law would
offer round-the-clock police protection for New
Jersey's guide dog teams who need emmediate
assistance.
GDUC Gives Members the Opportunity to
Evaluate Their School
and share their ratings with others
You must be a member of GDUC Membership is $5
per year.
You must have a login password to rate your schools
performance!
We all love our schools, here is a chance to tell
others what is so good about the school of your
choice.
One more GOOD reason to be a member of Guide
Dog Users of Canada.
You can see what members have said about
their school.
In the following areas:
Admissions rating and comments
Training rating and comments
At school experience rating and comments
Field support rating and comments
To review and rate your school today, go to
https://members.gduc.ca/gduc/mygduc/memberLogin.asp
With this exciting tool you can enter on the link for
each school and get contact information for that
school. Great tool for people who are trying to
decide which school to apply to! You can go directly
to a given school's web page with our new tool.
Share this with your friends.
We thank Greg Thompson for his time, skill and
creativity to this new feature of our membership
system. Only available to members of GDUC.
Try this today and let us know what you think?
If you have any problems please contact
Membership chair
Shane Davidson
shane@shaned.net