(VICT) Re: Alex outing
- From: "Ann Edie" <annedie@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <vi-clicker-trainers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 23:32:31 -0400
Hi, Sandy,
I sympathize with your situation that occurred with Alex on the bus. If she
was acting normally both before and after the incident occurred, I'm not
sure that you will ever figure out what caused her to vomit. But she'll
probably be fine the next time she rides a bus, and almost all of the rides
after that.
My Labrador guide, Bailey, once vomited while we were riding home in the car
of my friend. We were sitting in the front seat; Bailey was on the floor
between my knees, as usual. He was a large dog, and the car was a
subcompact Japanese model. We regularly rode with my friend, and since
Bailey could not easily curl up completely on the floor, he would always try
to rest his chin on the base of the gear shift lever. I always had to
monitor his head so that he wouldn't interfere with the shifting of the
gears.
Well, on this occasion, his head strayed toward the gear shift lever at one
point, and I nudged it back onto my side of the car. What I did not
realize, and neither did my friend, was that somehow, in the split second
that he had his head over the gear shift mechanism, he managed, without a
sound or any preliminaries, to fill the well in which the gear shift lever
sat with the contents of his stomach. And there didn't seem to be any
tell-tale smell to give him away either. I got out of the car never
realizing that Bailey had thrown up. And my friend didn't notice anything
until the next morning when she got into the car in the daylight. Imagine
how mortified I was when she told me! And I wasn't even there to clean up
after my dog!
There didn't seem to be any reason for him to vomit that night. He behaved
entirely normally both before and afterwards. It must have been just
something like a huge burp that brought up his entire dinner, but why, I
guess I'll never know.
Hey, I guess that's one more advantage to having a guide horse instead of a
dog, horses can't vomit!
But I think you handled the situation just fine. It's far from the worst
thing that's ever happened to the floor of a public bus, I'm sure.
I was interested to hear that you used Alex to guide you to work. I know
that you didn't use to take her to the hospital with you. Wasn't it because
one of your co-workers was highly allergic to dogs? Has that situation
changed, or was this a special case?
Ann
----- Original Message -----
From: <Infinitepaws@xxxxxxx>
To: <vi-clicker-trainers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 7:52 PM
Subject: (VICT) Alex outing
> Hi all, went to work briefly with Alex this morning. Got on bus to come
> back
> and was intending to go to the hardware store for some stuff for repairs
> on
> the house. On the way back she got sick on the bus.. no retching or
> anything..I quickly cleaned it up and got home instead.. she seemed ok
> both before and
> after. I was mortified.. I sure wish I knew what caused it.. She has
> ridden
> the bus more times than I can remember and this is the only time we have
> ever had a problem.. any ideas? Could I have handled this any differently
> or
> better? I couldn't think of anything..
>
> Sandy Foushee
> Infinite Paws-Abilities Training and Service Dogs
> Teamed with Alexandra Guide/Service Dog
> Adopt a Great Dog, adopt a Great Dane!- Colorado Great Dane Rescue, Inc
>
>
> ************************************** Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL
> at
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>
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