President: Sarah Calhoun
Editor: Andrea Giudice
Co-editor and GDUI Immediate Past President: Penny Reeder
Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)
A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972
Toll-Free: 866.799.8436
From the editor: Hello fellow GDUISters
Well, it has been a few months and lots has happened. It is all the happenings that have kept me swamped and away from this publication.
In early August I learned I had a class date, which meant that Mr. A would be retiring. While I wanted him to have his richly deserved retirement I struggled with the reality of his no longer being my partner. In some kind of cosmic twist, two weeks after the news of my early September class date my apartment flooded. This necessitated my relocation while my belongings were moved out, the flooring was removed and replaced, sanitizing occurred, and my stuff was moved back in (mind you nothing was actually put where it belonged). I guess the universe wanted to take my mind off of the whole retirement thing! *smile* A couple of weeks after the flood I left for San Rafael and training with my seventh guide. Upon returning from GDB I started packing up my stuff because an apartment in a non-flood zone building in my complex was available.
All of this is to say that I have been absent from pretty much everything. It has taken every emotional, and physical, resource I have to get through these three major life changes.
With Mr. A successfully ensconced in his retirement home, having graduated with my new guide, known here as Super T, and my apartment mostly unpacked I feel as if I am emerging from the fog and trying to catch the heap of dangling threads I last addressed in early August.
I am happy to have grabbed up this particular thread and hope you enjoy this issue.
Sending cyber hugs and wags, Andrea and Super T
From the President:
Greetings GDUI members and friends!
Welcome to fall and the fast-approaching holidays! With the cool days, a pleasant breeze, leaves twirling around it is a wonderful time to walk with our guide dogs while we listen to the changes of the season.
For the past few months, many GDUI committees have been quite busy! The membership committee, with the approval of the board, has lowered the annual dues to $15.00 from $25.00, affiliate dues to $10.00 from $15.00 and life time is $300.00 from $400.00! With rising costs of our day-to-day items, GDUI hopes the reduction of dues will help GDUI family and friends remain valued members and/or join this wonderful organization!
The advocacy committee is keeping up to date on the new rules and regulations from the Center of Disease Control (CDC), regarding returning to the United States after visiting a high-risk rabies country with your guide dog. These new rules went into effect July 14, 2021 and as of now will end on January 7, 2022. For more information please visit:
The GDUI fundraising committee can help you plan for the holidays with a fresh Holiday wreath and/or a fresh centerpiece! If you are looking for special sweets, GDUI has that covered as well! How about the chance to win $1,000.00! GDUI has a Thanksgiving drawing! For more information on how to participate and order holiday items, candy and a chance to win holiday money, please visit the GDUI website at:
GDUI is planning an after the holiday’s “Chatty Yappy” hour! We can gather by Zoom and tell each other about our holiday fun and surprises with our guide dog, family or friends! The Zoom information, date and time will be sent out soon!
Lakota has found retirement quite nice and is very comfortable living the work free zone lifestyle! Since sniffing anything and everything is no longer off limits, Lakota is catching up on all of the sniffing she passed up while working as a guide dog!
My successor guide dog will be from Gallant Hearts in Mississippi! The school will contact me when they find just the right dog. We all know it takes time, but it’s definitely worth it! I will keep you updated!
It has been fun learning about new guide dog teams from various schools! Please share your adventure’s and stories on the GDUI chat lists!
Enjoy the fall season and have a great Halloween!
Warm regards,
Sarah Calhoun & Lakota
Announcement: Totally cool shirt, only available until November three!
Hi GDUI Members and Friends,
I’m passing this along from another list — and another guide dog advocacy group. Although it’s a creative fund-raiser for the NAGDU chapter in New York State, and this is a GDUI list, I think it’s worth sharing the info with you. No matter our affiliation — or not — we’re all in the same proverbial boat, too often needing to remind the people we meet on route not to distract our working dogs! Enjoy!
Penny
Greetings. The New York Association of Guide Dog Users, is currently selling t-shirts with a meaningful message, wrapped up in a little bit of attitude and a little bit of fun. The t-shirts are a dark but vibrant blue, with bright yellow writing. The message “Sure, of course you can pet my guide dog… just as soon as I am done test driving your car.” Is presented in print, with the first portion in a smaller font, such that the eye of the reader does not catch the first line and immediately result in distracting of the working dog. Rather they catch sight of the second line, glance up to make sense of the phrase with the first line, and get the message loud and clear. The sentiment is repeated in contracted Braille below the print. These shirts are being sold in order to raise funds for NYAGDU to engage in advocacy and educational efforts, but the name and logo for NYAGDU, NAGDU, the NFB, etc., do not appear on the shirt. We are proud of our division and of the NFB, but these shirts are great, and the message is an important one, so we want to ensure that anyone who wants one of these shirts will feel free to purchase and proudly wear the shirt, regardless of their affiliation(s). Further, these shirts are not school or breed specific, intentionally so. While the delivery of this message is a little sarcastic and certainly fun to wear, it is a very real concern, as interference by the public with guide dog teams constitutes a very real problem, an annoyance for sure, and sometimes a legitimate danger. We view these t-shirts as a combination of a public service announcement, an educational effort, an advocacy tool, and, yes, a fund-raiser to help us to do our work on behalf of guide and service dog handlers across New York State and across the country, regardless of which school they attended,, whether or not they owner-trained, and no matter what blindness organizations they choose to, or not to, belong to.
The shirts are $22.00 a piece, which includes shipping, to anywhere in the contiguous United States. Shirts are available in youth and adult, as well as plus sizes. Youth and plus sizes cost a bit more for us to order, but we are not passing along this cost to you, and the $22 includes whatever size you would like, shipped to anywhere within Conus. We are taking pre-orders from today, up until Wednesday, the third of November. Please send PayPal to nyagdudivision@gmail.com in the amount of $22 times the number of shirts that you would like. Then please send an email to the same email address nyagdudivision@gmail.com with your name, the address where you would like your shirt(s) to be sent, the number of shirts you would like, and what size(s) you require. Please email any questions to heather.l.bird@gmail.com or you can call, or text, (585) 739-6473.
Please note, this is a pre-order process. We want to be kind to the environment, and efficient with our own time, space, and efforts, so want to avoid the all-too-familiar situation where several dozen shirts are ordered in a range of sizes, but demand results in a surplus of one or two sizes and a dearth of others. We will take pre-orders for the next two weeks, then place the order for exactly the quantity and sizes of shirts desired, and the printing company has given us a turn-around time of two to three weeks. If you are intending to purchase any shirts for holiday gifts, they should arrive in plenty of time, even with the pre-order process.
Heather Bird, President
New York Association of Guide Dog Users,
Announcement: More about that drawing President Sarah mentioned:
The GDUI Thanksgiving Drawing: Here’s what you need to know!
A donation of just $10.00 to purchase a drawing ticket could make you the winner of a cool $1,000.00 on November 29, the first Monday after Thanksgiving Day! (Think about what you might be able to do with those thousand dollars while browsing all of those tempting cyber-Monday deals!)
Even if yours isn’t the winning ticket drawn that evening, you’ll feel good about contributing to this Guide Dog Users, Inc. fund-raising event, which will help GDUI keep our comprehensive and helpful web site updated with information that’s crucially important to every guide dog handler.
Tickets are $10 apiece, and you can purchase as many as you wish. The more tickets you buy, the better your chances of winning those thousand dollars! Anyone can win, so please encourage your friends to participate, as well.
To purchase your tickets online visit
https://guidedogusersinc.org/gdui-thanksgiving-drawing/
Click the Purchase Tickets button to pay via PayPal (You don’t even need to have a PayPal account!).
If you experience any problems online, call GDUI’s toll-free phoneline at
866.799.8436, and speak to our GDUI Office Manager, Lynn Merrill. She will be happy to help!
The cut-off date and time for purchasing tickets is Noon, ET, November 22. The winning ticket will be drawn at a special ZOOM event at 7:00 PM, ET, on Monday, November 29.
Announcement: the GDUI Holiday Wreath and Centerpiece Fund-Raising Project, also mentioned by our fabulous president-
This year, Guide Dog Users, Inc. is selling beautiful holiday wreaths and sweet-smelling holiday centerpieces to raise funds which will support our universally accessible elections during the coming year.
These Sherwood Farms Holiday Wreaths are created from an aromatic combination of Noble fir, berried Juniper and incense cedar. Touches of color are provided by red faux holly berries. Each wreath Includes a deluxe, pre-tied checkered tree bow. Price: $45
Our Sherwood Farms Centerpiece is created from
Cedar, noble fir, pine and berried juniper that’s arranged in an oasis block and bowl (approximately 12 inches in diameter) for your table. Faux white snow berries and red holly berries are included for you to customize your arrangement. Each centerpiece also includes a 10-inch tapered LED candle Price: $45
These items will be delivered fresh from the Pacific Northwest directly to your door and make wonderful gifts for friends and family. The last day to order is November 10, 2021. All items will be delivered during the first two weeks following Thanksgiving. Payment can be made through PayPal.
Visit this link to learn more and to place your orders!
GDUI Wreath and Centerpiece Fundraiser – Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI) (guidedogusersinc.org)
If you have any problem accessing the website or ordering products you can contact Denise Weddle at 310-306-8149. She will be happy to help.
Announcement: Missouri Guide Dog Users will be hosting the Top Dog Conference in 2022
Please take a moment to look over the following included information that fully describes the upcoming Top Dog Conference to be held in St. Louis Missouri.
The conference will be held May 19th through the 22nd; of 2022. We hope you will consider joining us for the conference.
Missouri Guide Dog Users, (MGDU), Top Dog Conference update!
Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, we decided in the best interest and safety of our friends and guide dogs, to reschedule the event!
Top Dog will now be held in May of 2022. The new conference dates are: Thursday, May 19, 2022 with check out on Sunday morning, May 22, 2022. Please mark your calendars and save your pennies to enjoy this friendly get together!
Whether you have a guide dog, cane, blind or visually impaired, sighted, a puppy raiser, or just want to join in the fun, everyone is welcome to participate! MGDU will be sending out Top Dog 2022 updates. If you would like to be on our mailing list, please send an email to: Topdog2021.information@gmail.com
Stay well! See you in Saint Louis in 2022!
Missouri Guide Dog Users
Editor’s note- I have been at three of these conferences, they are fabulous!
Article: Lisa Irving and Her Dog Won in Arbitration Against Uber
By Sean Hollister
(From the Spring issue of the FORWARD, newsletter of the Golden State Guide Dog Handlers, Inc)
Uber was sued in 2014 for discriminating against blind people and their guide dogs, and agreed to change that as part of a $2.6 million settlement two years later. But apparently, that didn’t entirely happen.
Uber will now pay an additional $1.1 million to a blind woman who said she missed work, missed her birthday celebration, missed Christmas Eve church services, and was left out in the dark, in the rain, and other such humiliations because Uber drivers refused to carry her and her dog on 14 different occasions — a number of which happened after Uber finalized its 2016 settlement.
“Uber allowed drivers who discriminated against disabled riders to continue driving without discipline,” an arbitrator concluded this week (via The San Francisco Chronicle).
This line from the arbitrator’s report is also worth considering: “When Uber did conduct an investigation, its investigators were trained, in some instances, to coach drivers to find non-discriminatory reasons for ride denials, sometimes even to ‘advocate’ to keep drivers on the platform despite discrimination complaints.”
Lisa Irving, the woman, isn’t suddenly a millionaire, by the way. The arbitrator awarded her $324,000 in damages, with the rest ($805,313) going to legal costs, including attorney fees. She spoke to the Chronicle about her dog and her memories, including one where a driver did pick her up, then got vocally angry about having a dog in the car and threatened to leave them on the side of the road. She says she was rejected at least 60 times.
Uber now has a dedicated support form for issues with service animals. “Was a service animal denied?” is the very first question. Here’s the link for the service animal policy
Article: Sleeping Positions for Dogs
(From the Spring issue of the FORWARD, newsletter of the Golden State Guide Dog Handlers, Inc)
Does Your Dog Sleep Like This? If you’re a dog parent, I’m sure you’ve noticed that your furry family member sleeps. A lot. Which is normal, by the way. Healthy adult dogs spend an average of 12 to 14 hours a day sacked out. Pups, seniors and dogs with health problems often need even more rest.
Since our dogs spend so much time sleeping, we’re familiar with the wide assortment of positions they take, and this goes double if your pet sleeps on your bed, lap or chest. What you might not realize is there’s sometimes an evolutionary force behind your dog’s body language while snoozing. The following is a cheat sheet for interpreting the meaning behind your pet’s sleep positions.
6 Dog Sleeping Positions and What They Mean
- Curled up in a ball (aka the donut or fuzzy bagel position) — Dogs often sleep curled up in a tight ball, with their nose touching their tail. Dr. Katherine Houpt, a behavioral medicine professor at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, has observed that this is the preferred position for dogs in shelters. “They almost all sleep that way when they’re undisturbed — in balls, curled up,” Houpt told PetMD. This sleeping position conserves body heat (which is why we tend to see it more often during the cooler months of the year) and also protects internal organs from predators, which is why dogs in the wild tend to dig nests and curl up in them for both warmth and protection.
- On the back (aka crazy legs) — This is probably among the weirdest, yet cutest sleeping position dogs assume. If you find your pup stretched out on his back, with one or both front legs stretched out, he’s exposing his belly, which is a sign of submissiveness and vulnerability. His willingness to fall asleep in this position means he’s feeling very secure and relaxed in his environment. On the other hand, he could also just be feeling a bit overheated, and exposing his tummy helps cool his body down. Dogs who sleep in this position regularly are typically independent and calm.
- The cuddler — Dogs who cuddle up with their humans, or sleep back-to-back with other pets in the household, are remembering their puppy pasts when they napped with their littermates to conserve body heat. If your dog likes to maintain contact with you while she sleeps, she’s showing she trusts you, and the feeling is probably mutual, since surveys indicate that 56% of dog parents sleep next to their dogs.
- The belly flop (aka the superman) — This sleep position is adorably funny, because what’s not to love about a dog lying flat on his tummy with his front and back legs extended straight out? Looking down at him, it’s easy to imagine he’s about to belly flop into a pool or fly away to save the day! Dog behavior expert Dr. Stanley Coren believes this position also relates to temperature. “The fur on the dog’s underside is not as deep and insulating as the fur on the rest of his body,” he tells PetMD. “What you call the ‘Superman position’ — with limbs outstretched and belly against the floor — is also a response to a warm environment, but usually occurs in situations where the surface that the dog is lying on is relatively cooler than the air around him.” Since it’s easy for dogs to get to their feet in this position, they tend only to use it for catnaps and not for serious snoozing.
- Side sleeping — This is the most common position dogs take for sleeping, according to Coren. And that’s a good thing, because when your dog naps lying on her side, it means she’s relaxed and comfortable in her environment. Side sleeping pups also tend to be affectionate and share a close bond with their humans.
- The lion pose — The lion pose is similar to the belly flop, with two important distinctions: the back legs are under the haunches instead of pushed out, and the muscles of the body are contracted, preventing deep sleep. Dogs generally get into this position to relieve stress and make themselves more comfortable. It’s often seen in dogs with lots of energy to burn, who don’t feel like sleeping and are waiting for an opportunity to leap into action.
Other Ways Your Dog’s Sleep Differs from Yours
Beyond sleeping positions, the major difference between human and canine sleep patterns is the amount of time spent in REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is the most restorative stage of sleep and plays a role in learning and memory. In REM sleep, the brain is active and there may be dreaming. Humans spend about 25% of their night in REM sleep, compared to about 10% for dogs. This means dogs need more total sleep to get adequate restorative sleep.
While humans tend to do best with a set sleep-wake schedule, dogs are much more flexible, so you needn’t worry about getting your dog to bed on time or up by a certain hour. Generally speaking, dogs follow their natural impulses, including sleeping when they need it, which is why they don’t often sleep for eight-hour stretches. If it seems your dog can go from deeply asleep to fully alert in the blink of an eye, and in response to even the slightest noise or disruption, it’s not in your head. One Australian study found that during an eight-hour nighttime period, dogs averaged 23 sleep-wake episodes, with the average sleep-wake cycle consisting of 16 minutes asleep followed by five minutes awake. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be aware your dog is awake — he’ll likely lie quietly. It also doesn’t mean he’s not getting quality rest, but if he seems especially restless or is unable to find a comfortable position to sleep in, you should have him checked out by your veterinarian to rule out pain or other symptoms or health conditions that could be keeping him awake.
Something I recommend for all pet parents is a grounding mat, which can help balance your dog’s circadian rhythm, particularly if he doesn’t spend much time outdoors. Wild animals are naturally grounded to the earth, which provides numerous benefits due to the transfer of electrons from the ground to their body. You can also unplug wireless routers at night to give your pet a break from electromagnetic fields (EMFs). For dogs who seem unable to settle down, a grounding mat can be very beneficial. In addition, be sure to provide a comfortable, adequately sized bed, made from natural materials, in a quiet, cozy spot. Depending on your dog’s favorite sleeping position, you can choose a dog bed to match. For instance, dogs who sleep curled up may like a round bed with deep sides, whereas side sleepers may prefer a cushioned, flatter surface to spread out on. For belly or back sleepers, an elevated bed may help keep them cool and supported. Turn off all lights and loud sounds (TVs and radios) when going to bed; this can disrupt your dog’s ability to produce enough melatonin to sleep soundly, but don’t forget to open your blinds and shades in your home the next morning (dogs need access to direct sunlight to produce healthy daytime hormones, too!)
Editor’s note:
announcements and articles, for GDUI- News You Can Use, are culled from a variety of sources; Hence inclusion herein does not imply GDUI endorses, supports or verifies their contents. Information, ideas, or expressed opinions are not advice, therefore should not be treated as such. Factual errors are the responsibility of the listed source.
Sincerely,
Sarah Calhoun, President
Guide Dog Users, Inc.
Andrea Giudice, Editor
Paws for GDUI News You Can Use
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