I am not at all going to start the debate about which method of travel is best for the blind.  I can only say that a dog is better for me, but not every blind person can or should get a dog.  Not all blind people have the desire for one, are willing to put in the extra effort that guide dog travel sometimes takes, have the space and time commitment available to properly caretake the dog, or have the mobility skills to truly benefit from a dog.  I am by no means judging any of them, at all, period!

However, good, bad or ugly… the public does!  My friends who still use canes have received tons of impertinent questions as to why they don’t have a dog and they should get a dog (see this blog’s intro page).

Having traveled with a cane for 25 years, and a dog for just 1, I have noticed a marked difference in how I am treated with a dog than with a cane.  The assumption while I was a cane traveler was that I couldn’t possibly get along anywhere on my own, and if my cane hit a wall, bench, whatever, it was vitally important that a well-meaning member of the general public would just HAVE to assist the poor blind girl.  With a dog, it is much less so.  Occasionally I will tell my dog to find a seat on the bus, and someone will tell me “there’s a seat to your left,” but it rarely if ever goes beyond that (btw, this is helpful information!).

I remember once shopping with Meagan before I got Jenny, and to get to the mall we had to cross a parking lot to get to the mall.  One thing I used as a landmark was a low wall, which would help me orient myself through the parking lot to get to the mall.  My cane hadn’t even hit the wall – I must’ve been at least 5-10 feet away still) when this lady came out of nowhere just screaming, “WHOA! WHOA!”  If it weren’t so rude to do so I would’ve told the lady to chill out; this is sometimes how blind people navigate, but overreacting situations like that are not going to change by a comment from me.

That example is just one of many in my years as a cane traveler.  I had no idea how much it would truly have annoyed me until I didn’t receive it anymore.  Now, I receive many comments on my dog, kids coming up wanting to pet her, comments about other peoples’ dogs… but thank God for the most part people assume that my dog and I can get around on our own.

This is not to say that I have never had to ask for help because I’ve gotten turned around; this does not mean I will be a cow because someone dared to ask if they can help me…  I am simply addressing the perceived idea that guide dog travelers do not need assistance like cane travelers do.

I can’t remember where I saw this, but someone once described walking with a cane as having a microcosm view of the world; you “see” things like lightpoles, garbage cans, walls, doorframes, bus shelters, and other stationary objects through the tip of your cane and you use them to orient yourself.  Perhaps this is why the public thinks that we are about to bang into them, because a cane – an extension of one’s person – is about to hit the wall, bench, whatever.  With a dog, you avoid most of those things, and thus you don’t need those stationary objects to orient yourself – you feel it with your feet and with the movement of the dog.

I once had a conversation with InternetKing about this, and if I recall correctly, it really annoyed him, this perception.  Now that I have been on both sides of it, I can’t say I blame him.  We use what works for us.  Sometimes we will hurt ourselves (I have a HUGE scar on my forehead to testify to the number of walls/poles/doorframes I have hit, even with a cane), but walking with a cane is safer than walking without (see this article).

I don’t have any nice neat tidy answers for how to correct this misperception; until they invent more compact, practical and affordable object-identifying devices to avoid canes hitting poles/garbage cans/whatever, it is up to us – whether using cane or dog, to travel around the best way we know how… and smile at the occasional unnecessary freakouts after the fact.

In addition to living with a fantastic guide dog, my husband and I share our home with three kitties, who are all quite different from each other. Figured I would introduce them to you.

Annie

10-year-old Domestic short-haired
Nicknames: Pretty Kitty, the Fun Police, Dr. Annie
Hobbies: cuddling (only at night), tormenting the other cats, playing with her feathered stick
Quirks: If you are reading a book and she wants your attention, she will lay on the book so you can’t read it.
Things that annoy her: Anything with more than two legs, being closed up in closets

Dash

6-year-old Russian blue
Nicknames: Dasher, the Kitten, Houdini
Hobbies: playing with the boy (see below), cuddling, snuggling with Jenny, lounging around, general goofiness
Quirks: She loves to get outside, thus the nickname Houdini; she has the most pitiful meow if she wants it
Things that annoy her: Being caught once she’s done her Houdini routine, and she gets annoyed if she generally wants to be moody

Wayne
5-year-old tabby
Nicknames: The Boy, Boyo, Girlie-man
Hobbies: playing, cuddling, baiting the dog
Quirks: Many people think he’s a girl because his meow is so whiny; he likes to take my husband’s desk chair if he isn’t sitting in it Things that annoy him: not much; he’s pretty chill

Dash and Wayne are best friends

Dash and Wayne are best friends, and it’s not uncommon to see them snuggling or playing together.

That wraps up the menagerie!

Jenny in Montana

Just under one year ago, a little black Labrador retriever came running, barking, and snuggling into my life.  I remember the first week like it was yesterday, worrying whether we’d bond, and trying to convince her that the cats didn’t necessarily want to be friends with a little spaz bucket.  Since then, she has enhanced my life and added complicated dimensions that I never saw coming (see this blog post).  Since she goes pretty much everywhere with me, I figured I would introduce you to her.

Whenever I talk to someone about their guide dog, especially a new one, I ask these three questions:

1) What does your guide dog do exceptionally well?

2) What is a bad habit that drives you crazy about them?

3( What is something cute or adorable that they do that always makes you smile?

I ask these questions because I want new guide dog handlers to remember that the first year, though hard, does have redeeming qualities.  Their dog has good traits and weaknesses, like all people, and is neither the canine with a halo that the media likes to portray nor the little demon from hell that a bad day will make a new handler feel sometimes.  So let me answer the questions:

1) What is one thing Jenny does well?  Jenny can find an escalator at a hundred paces. She loves to find them, and will almost always wag her tail when she finds one.  If I tell her to find me an escalator and she takes me to the steps, I know that the escalator is not working or is blocked off.  Given a choice, she will find the escalator every time.\

She has also figured out that, in the absence of an escalator, an elevator is a happy place and a viable option to get from one floor to another.  With a cane, I always found finding stairs, elevators, and escalators a challenge; with only one or two exceptions over the past year, Jenny has nailed this, most notably going through a crowded mall food court to get to the elevator with only one brief detour to Starbucks (she has good taste).

2) Her bad habit that drives me crazy?  She is a scrounger!  She likes to pick up random food off the ground… I had NO clue how much food gets tossed on the ground until I got Jenny girl.  We do work on this regularly, and it is getting better, but like all things it is something to monitor.

3) Cute thing she does?  There are so many!  I would have to say that she loves to play. At home she’s always up to grabbing her toys or bones and showing them off.  At the offleash park, she will hoard her toys and even steal another dog’s toys!  Most people think it’s OK because she’s so darn cute when she does it.

A bit about guide dog etiquette here: I fully appreciate when people ask if they can pet Jenny.  I almost always say no, because for some reason I will never understand, people seem to have radar and ask this on a day when I’m pressed for time or Jenny has been super distracted.  Guide dog handlers generally do not say no because we purposefully want to be jerks; in fact, sometimes the opposite is true.  I felt like the biggest jerk in the world a few weeks ago in Dollarama when a little kid reached out to pet Jenny.  I said as kindly as I could that it was very very important that he not reach out and pet her because she has an important job to do, and that it is not a good idea to pet dogs he doesn’t know.

The first year with a guide dog has been both rewarding and challenging.  Jenny has allayed my worries about bonding with me; at least once a week on the bus I get a comment like “She is just so fixated on everything you do!”

And as for the cats… Here’s a cute picture of Jenny girl and her kitty friend, Dash, sharing the kitty bed!