WAGGIN TAILS

President's Message

Holiday Greetings to all!!

First, let me start by welcoming all of our new members to our GDUA family! We are thrilled to have you all on board! Several people opted to join or re-new their GDUA memberships at our fall gathering but for those of you who were not able to attend, I want to let you know that GDUA dues will remain $10 for the year 2003. If you choose to join or re-new your membership through the national office, however, you will be required to pay $15 for your 2003 year dues. (Please note that the $15 fee will not include membership in our GDUA affiliate.)

This year's fall gathering was a great success! GDUA's first annual PAWS Awareness Walk,) Promoting Access, Well-being & Safety) attracted over 130 participants! Many thanks to everyone who helped to make our walk a reality! The Burton Barr Public Library, particularly the Special Needs Center staff was an absolutely fabulous support and the many puppy raisers that showed up to support our cause with all the well-behaved pups in training were awesome! Special thanks to Guide Dogs for the Blind for sponsoring Mike Hingson and Roselle's trip to Phoenix as well as that of GDB's Don Frisk who has done a tremendous amount of work on preventing guide dogs from attack. GDUA gave out over 100 really cool t-shirts sporting the message, "Please Don't Take Chances With Our Safety - Practice Responsible Pet Ownership". If anyone needs info on how to get one of these tees, please contact our GDUA treasurer, Don Noller.

I also want to share a little about the work that GDUA has done with Sky Harbor Airport. In August, I arrived home with my new dog guide and was told by the taxicab starter that drivers with dog allergies did not have to transport service animals. I immediately contacted Kevin Chinn, GDUA's advocacy representative. After discussing my options with Kevin, I chose not to file a complaint with the attorney general if the airport would agree to educate their staff on the rights of guide dog handlers. Sky Harbor was very cooperative and invited Seeing Eye field representative, Mike Moran, to conduct a series of training sessions for the ground transportation crew. I am pleased to report that when Mike's co-worker Chelsea Morrow recently arrived into Sky Harbor and attempted to catch a cab at the very stand where I had been denied access, it was the starter who informed the taxi driver that he was violating the ADA when he refused to take Chelsea and her dog guide because of his so-called "allergies. It may be interesting to note that the driver later confessed to Chelsea that he really didn't have any allergies but was not comfortable around dogs since he had been bitten when he was younger. This brings me to an interesting point that Mike Moran brought to my attention after his sessions with ground transportation. It seems that some drivers are frightened of the dogs, especially if the dog's head is near them. One way we can help alleviate this fear is to make a conscious effort to keep our dog's head away from the driver and not allow our dogs to peek their heads up between the seats when riding out back.

GDUA congratulates Sky Harbor for their sincere desire to improve airport access and extends our deepest appreciation to The Seeing Eye for sponsoring and facilitating the Sky Harbor ground transportation crew trainings!

Before I sign off, I would like to take a moment and give a big thanks to our GDUA secretary RaLynn Harris for agreeing to take on the job of editor for "Waggin' Tails"! Please don't hesitate to contact RaLynn if you have any submissions or ideas for upcoming issues. RaLynn is just one of the many board members that volunteer to further the work of GDUA. You don't have to be on the board to help though! New member, Scott Learned, jumped right in to assist with the awareness walk announcements while Janice Williams headed up the refreshment committee with scrumptious contributions from Lenora Williams, Liz Carabine and Desi Noller. River Forest and Larry Colbert contributed to the finer details of preparing for the walk and ASU students Kevin Montney and Ann Marie Mortonson assisted with walk programming. Tom Belsan, GDUA Webmaster, works tirelessly to keep our web site updated. Jon Steuerwalt utilizes his talents on the net to do extensive research for GDUA and Tim Renyer assists with the editorial duties of our newsletter. Don Frisk contributes greatly to our guide dog protection efforts and the list goes on! So please, let us know if you want to help, we will put you right to work!

Ginger Bennett
President, Guide Dog Users of Arizona

Responsible Pet Ownership and Guide Dogs

This fact sheet is intended to help you understand how important guide dogs are to people who are blind or visually impaired and to stress the importance of responsible pet ownership. Help us keep these valuable service animals from becoming injured or disabled.

Working Guides

Guide dogs have been used to enhance mobility for more than 80 years in North America. A guide dog is specially trained to lead a person in a straight line, stop for curbs and stairs and avoid obstacles. Their job is to help their human partners move about in the world safely and with confidence, whether they are going through crowds of pedestrians, across busy intersections, or facing other travel challenges. The job requires a lot of focus and distractions can endanger the safety of the team.

Most guide dogs are Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, or German Shepherds, although other breeds are used as well. These dogs are well-suited to their work as guides and are bred for their excellent temperament, intelligence and health. Guide dogs are allowed by law to have access to all public places including: restaurants, businesses, stores, hotels, busses, taxis, trains and airplanes, etc.

Dog Attacks

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association and insurance company statistics, there are over one million dog bite reports filed annually. This is a serious matter for the general public and is even more so for blind or visually impaired persons who choose to use guide dogs as their primary means of mobility. Loose dogs can be a significant threat to guide dog teams.

Liability

A guide dog that is attacked or intimidated by an aggressive or unruly pet dog may become damaged for life and unable to work as a guide. An attack can take a huge emotional toll on the guide dog user. In many states, laws are being introduced which protect guide dog handlers and their dogs from attack and harassment by errant dogs and people. The irresponsible dog owner can be held financially liable for the actions of their unsupervised pets, and may be accountable for the replacement costs of thousands of dollars for the guide dog. Under certain circumstances the pet owner can also be incarcerated for up to six months.

Tips on Responsible Dog Ownership

Please do not allow your pet dog to roam freely in your neighborhood or to be unsupervised in an unfenced yard. Educate your family about how to prevent your pet from escaping from your yard and roaming in your neighborhood. Self-closing gates can be the answer to keeping your dog at home.

If you have your dog on leash, make sure that he is under control. Do not allow your dog to be walked by a person who is not strong enough to control or restrain him. Learn about canine behavior and take obedience classes with your pet dog. Be sure your dog is well socialized around other animals and people. Be aware of your own dog's temperament and potential for biting. Even an overly friendly pet that jumps on people or other dogs can cause serious problems. Dogs are often territorial in their own yards, and sometimes even beyond the boundaries of their own homes. Irresponsibility or apathy in this regard may cost you dearly!

When choosing a pet dog, research the breed before you bring the dog home. Some breeds require more exercise, attention, control, and leadership than others. Although any dog or breed of dog can become aggressive, there are certain breeds that are more prone to problematic behavior than others. Be aware of your city and county leash laws and obey them. Take pride in being a responsible, intelligent, and capable pet owner. If you witness an attack on a guide dog team, please call animal control and the police to report it. Include as many details as possible. Even though the guide dog user may be blind, they are perfectly capable of noting identifying information and reporting an attack.

GDUA wishes to thank Guide Dogs for the Blind for the use of this article.
Guide Dogs for the Blind is a nonprofit, charitable organization
http://www.guidedogs.com
National Office: (800) 295-4050
P.O. Box 151200
San Rafael, California 94915-1200

California Campus:
350 Los Ranchitos Road,
San Rafael, CA 94903
(415) 499-4000

Oregon Campus:
32901 S.E. Kelso Road,
Boring, OR 97009
(503) 668-2100

Arizona's New Service Animal Protection Law
Submitted by: Kevin Chinn, GDUA Advocacy Chair

Once again GDUA is pleased to announce that Arizona has a newly amended guide dog/service animal protection law. Arizona Revised Statute 13-2910 was signed into law on May 23, 2002 and officially went into effect on August 23, 2002. Please take time to read the new language in 13-2910. You can find this information by going to the GDUA website at www.gdua.org and clicking onto the guide dog protection page. For those of you without internet access, you may receive a copy of the new law by sending a self-addressed envelope to:
Kevin Chinn
8350 W. Bloomfield Rd.
Peoria, Arizona 85381

From the National Convention
Submitted by: Janice Williams

At our May meeting, which took place in conjunction with the AZCB/GDUA state convention, Janice Williams was voted the delegate to the ACB/GDUI national convention, Dave Rutledge was voted Assistant delegate to the convention also. Here is a letter to GDUA from delegate Janice Williams letting our membership know about the activities she and Dave attended for GDUA:

As the Guide Dog Users of Arizona delegate to the 2002 GDUI convention, I would like to fill you in on the happenings during the week. This was my first national convention, and, my first response was overwhelming. Once Minnie and I found the park area and we found our room, I felt like we were in much better shape.

The convention opened on Monday afternoon July 1 with the GDUI affiliate roundup. This was an opportunity for the affiliates to brainstorm on activities for their chapters. Discussed were loose dog legislation, fund raising, and how to use the GDUI web site to the affiliate's advantage. Also that afternoon was a session presented by Guide Dogs for the blind, moderated aptly by our very own Desi Noller. The session called "The team and the attack" was done by GDB field rep Don Frisk, who discussed dog attacks and interference and what to do if this happens to us.

Monday evening was a round table discussion moderated by Jenine Stanley and GDUA's Kevin Chinn. The round table gave people information on how to file complaints with the DOJ, HUD and the EEOC. We had Jeanine Wordon from the DOJ and Ray Bautista from the EEOC there to help explain the processes.

Monday Night was the GDUI reception, cocktails, hors d'oeuvres and the 30th anniversary cake to celebrate the 30th anniversary of GDUI. It was quite a full day.

Tuesday was the business meeting and election of the officers.

President: Deborah C. Grubb
First Vice President: DeAnna Noriega
Second Vice President/Affiliate Liaison: Sheila Styron
Secretary: Rox'e Homstad
Treasurer: Jane Sheehan
Immediate Past President: Jenine Stanley
PAWTRACKS Editor: Kim Charlson
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Audley Blackburn
Susan Kamrass
Patricia Kepler
Mary Susan Orester
Mitch Pomerantz
Lisa Salinger

On Tuesday night we played a fun game of Jeopardog, moderated by Seeing Eyes Michael Moran. Questions were asked by an assortment of individuals. Jeanine Wordon from the DOJ asked question on the ADA, Becky Barnes from GEB asked question on body parts of dogs, Marlena Lieberg asked question on the history of GDUI, Greer from G.E.B. asked double dog dare questions and Walt Sutton from the Seeing Eye asked Guide dog Questions.

Wednesday July 3 was the GDUI 30th anniversary luncheon. The luncheon was delicious and exciting. The speakers all past presidents were inspirational. We also had audio presentation from Ex President George H. Bush, commending all of us as members of GDUI for the work done by this organization. Michael Lilly, the attorney who brought suit against Hawaii's quarantine law also gave an audio presentation which was informative and exciting.

Wednesday evening was a session called street smarts presented by field representatives Michael Moran and Chelsea Morrow from the Seeing Eye, moderated by GDUA's Kevin Chinn, this was the session that was held at our AZCB/GDUA state convention in May.

There were other activities I attended during the week also; a workshop on anger management; a board of GDUI directors meeting; AFB livability forum. I also attended some of the ACB general sessions and visited the exhibit hall. I would like to thank GDUA for giving me the opportunity to represent our affiliate at the ACB/GDUI national convention.

Sincerely:

Janice Williams
2002 GDUA delegate

Adding Some Beauty to the GDUA Website

The GDUA website is not only a place for members and patrons to get information about our organization it can also be a place for our membership to participate in making the website attractive. GDUA is calling upon its members to send in any adorable snap shots of their guides. The picture can be as simple as a guide sitting proudly by your side or as relaxed as him or her sleeping soundly on the floor. If you wish to submit a picture for the GDUA website you may email the picture to RaLynn Harris at azdopey@swlink.com or if you wish to mail the picture send it to:
RaLynn Harris
6810 N. 35Ave #L
Phoenix, AZ 85017

If you choose to email the picture in an attachment please first send an email letting RaLynn know that you will be sending an attachment, she does not open any attachments that she is not expecting to receive due to the threat of viruses. Also if you choose to mail your picture please send a copy as your picture will be kept on file for use on the website.

IN THE DOG HOUSE

The following excerpt was taken from a message posted to the Buddy-L list by Julie Acton tve830@ozemail.com.au on Saturday, March 16, 2002. The message was in response to a thread that discussed "doggie accidents in public".

"....Anyway, back to Josh, we were walking through the city centre one afternoon and making our way through an enormous crowd of lunchtime shoppers who were gathered in the middle of our largest shopping mall, watching a performance by some popular band. The crowd was thick as I said, leaving little room for Josh and I to make our way through, but blocking access to where we ultimately wished to go and so ensuring that we had to find a path through in the end. All was going well until Josh abruptly drew to a stop, one which my sixth sense, the one which is sensitive to dogs' bodily functions, immediately recognized and began hammering a warning in my brain, a warning which told me that this day as so often before, Josh's immediate cessation of activity had nothing to do with any impassable obstacle. Sighing with grim resignation and already beginning to fish around for a plastic bag while optimistically hoping that this offering would be a relatively well-formed one, I even took the time to feel slightly, and, I realize, perhaps illogically, relieved at the fact that he had chosen this most crowded area and this most preoccupied crowd, for his little emergency rest stop. After all, to my somewhat skewed way of thinking at the time, everyone was far too busy watching the performers to be worrying about the little whoopsy that the clever blind doggie had just done, and, what's more, the fact that the crowd was so tightly packed together, possibly indicated that my kneeling down in the middle of it to scoop and bag, would not be so conspicuous as if I had done this in any other place. Silly, naughty, foolish, fatalistic Julie!! Sure enough, I knelt down in the sea of legs, feet and shopping bags and reached for the spot where Josh's offering should have been. Sure enough, my hand made contact with the desired item, and, in the same second, with another object which definitely, absolutely, assuredly and unquestionably, should not have been there, something which sickeningly resembled... a foot!! It took a couple of seconds for the horror of what had happened to properly sink in, at which time, stunned with disbelief and dismay, I extended my hastily withdrawn hand for one more fearful, frightful confirmation that what I had discovered on first investigation was, in fact, still there. Sure enough, there it was again, Josh's little gift, perched quite innocently on top of a foot, which, on the balance of probabilities, seemed logically to have been attached to a leg, which must, therefore, ultimately belong to a person. If having your dog take a dump in a shopping mall is not bad enough, then having your dog take a dump on someone's foot would seem to be about as bad as it could get. But imagine, then, having your dog take a dump on someone's foot without their even realizing it, leaving you then with two options, the two options I dimly considered as I crouched there in the crowd and vaguely wondered if I could drop Josh's leash, slink away at ground level, and exit the scene without ever having been detected. As for those options... The way I saw it, I could bite the bullet, stand up, take an estimated guess as to the owner of the foot in question, attract his or her attention, (I refrained from investigating the foot in enough detail to have been sure which it was), and, with the maximum dignity and social delicacy possible in such a situation, inform this person that, while they did not seem to be aware of it, my dog had just committed something of an indiscretion directly involving a lower extremity of their person, that it was really best that they did not look down or attempt to investigate, that it was, above all, imperative that they not move and dislodge the indiscretion, and that, while I knew it was awkward, would they mind terribly if I was to attempt to scoop and scrape said indiscretion from their foot with a minimum of disturbance. Well, you know, I could have tried that one, and yet at the time, there struck me as something so horrifically disgusting and unbearable about the thought of shouting over the crowd to some overdressed businessman on his lunch break that I was about to start clawing at his feet in an attempt to remove dog crap, as to render me absolutely unable to go through with it. Sadly, the other, much more covert and cunning, much more appealing, and yet potentially much more risky course of action, concerned my simply taking a deep breath, saying a prayer that the unfortunate victim was not going to think I was attempting to mug, flirt with, or otherwise assault him/her, and simply making a grab for it so to speak. Ok, so it was a choice between the unthinkable and the unimaginable, and yet in the end, I figured that discretion was indeed the better part of valor, (which somewhat begs the question of what indiscretion is the better part of), and so I vowed to make this one a snatch and run. Alas, I was, as so often before, not destined to perpetrate my crime without conviction, for I had just reached out and taken a tentative grip on the deposit in question when the foot suddenly jerked backwards, sending the remaining portion of the prize skittering away into the crowd despite my dismayed attempts to capture it, and a shrill, distinctly alarmed-sounding voice from above me began exclaiming emphatically in a language I could not understand, a fact which may, in hindsight, have been a good thing. Frantic with humiliation and desperate to explain my downright bizarre antics before she should call the police, I sprang to my feet and began gabbling nonsensically at the woman in question, pointing emphatically at Josh who was gazing innocently up at us, repeatedly apologizing with much stuttering, gulping and choking, and ... oh man ... can I even admit to this ... holding out the captured portion of the prize for her to inspect, as though I thought that physical evidence of the crime and my voluntary confession, might lessen my charge and bring some leniency in my sentence. Oh yeah, sure Julie, if you thought the woman was ticked off with you in the first place, then waving a handful of dog poop under her nose is definitely going to win her over!! Not surprisingly, she shrieked in obvious distress and sprang away from me, turning on her heel and, to the best of my knowledge, scampering away through the crowd and probably leaving the mall, the city, and probably the country too. I was left gulping on what I had just done and vaguely wondering whether or not I should attempt to pursue the escaped morsel, a psychological debate which was finally won by the negative team who concluded that one invasive scrabble around on the ground in a shopping mall was more than enough for one day. I often thought of that woman you know, and wondered what it was that she was saying to me as I stood before her, pointing at a dog and holding out a handful of poop whilst ceaselessly apologizing. I at least wished I could have offered to buy her another pair of shoes... perhaps she could have the ones Josh peed on!! Oh now that was a really gross story wasn't it. Needless to say I think I'll hold off for now on the time Josh tried to take a dump on an escalator!!
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