Great things about being blind. People giving you food for your dog.

When you have a guide dog, you take that dog everywhere in public. People ask me that. Yes, everywhere. It is the law. Hotels, trains, planes, buses, taxis, restaurants, grocery stores, other stores, camping, parks, museums, everywhere you go, they go. This means that guide dogs end up being around a lot of food. The grocery store, the restaurant, the coffee shop. all of my dogs have been pretty good around food. There is the odd slip up, (they are dogs not machines) but they are really very good. I never feed my dogs people food or if I do, it goes in the bowl. Gia loved carrots and got them. Tulia hasn't really had our food yet. I gave her one carrot and she nibbled it (she's a lab) but not sure she really loved it that much. One reason I don't feed my dogs a lot of food that is bad for them as it can make them sick. Another is that it can make them overweight which is bad for dogs. A third is that it can make them swipe food in public. Imagine a guide dog walking past you in a restaurant and stealing from your plate? Or grabbing things from grocery shelves. Many times, I've been in delis or restaurants and people want to offer food to my dog. I explain but once in a while they insist. They package something up. Once a huge piece of roast beef. guess who got a roast beef sandwich the next day? It sure wasn't my dog. It is kind of people to think of them but really it is important not to feed my dog. If you really can't resist giving my dog something, give it to me and I'll decide whether or not she gets it. Once a guy gave me a whole box of doughnuts. Wonder how heavy his dog was? I once had a server who kept wanting to give my dog chicken. She was very clumsy by the table (on purpose I think) and dropped food like crazy. All that happened was that my dog was covered in barbecue sauce and ended up getting a bath. Something she hated. Tomorrow I'll tell you about Gia eating my colleague's muffin. Just so you know these dogs aren't perfect! I'm hungry. Maybe we'll go out and see what food we can find. Big smile!
To find out more about my guide dog school and training and etiquette go to
www.guidedogs.com