u/kelpangler

I put this on YouTube over a decade ago… Chris’ guitar wasn’t hooked up so he just winged it. And did a mighty fine job, I might add. It’s a testament to who he was. We miss ya.

The T1 phones are finally shipping this week according to their FB page.

Question for iPad users, have you experienced issues with the zoom accessibility feature? I recently upgraded from the 12.9” 6th generation iPad Pro to the latest 13” version. At first, I got the model with the nano-tech screen because I felt like the display was more consistent across different lighting conditions. As I used the zoom controller to zoom in, sometimes the view would stutter in and out. Other times it would get stuck as I zoomed in and moved my finger to pan the view. It seemed like it wasn’t reading my finger presses correctly. So I went back and swapped it out for the regular glass screen model. It’s still happening though not as frequently. Has anyone experienced or heard of this? Is it a hardware or software issue? Please help.

Hopefully a lighter subject! For members outside the US, what things do we American handlers say or do that you think are distinctly American? They could be things that make you laugh, cry, or shake your head at. 🤔

Edit: Americans, don’t take any of this personally. We outnumber them 10:1. 😂

I came across an article regarding the rights of businesses and the ADA / service dogs. It mentioned a local service dog organization providing a class to address this. I looked up the organization just to learn more about them. They used the term “AD2” to refer to task-trained service dogs that didn’t have public access. I’ve never heard of this and I was confused at first. Is this an established thing? “Assistance Dog Type II” is very official sounding.

>An Assistance Dog Type II, or AD2, helps mitigate a Client’s disability within their home. Similar to an Emotional Support Dog, an AD2 does not have public access. AD2s require a minimum 10 hours of in-home task training with a [removed] staff trainer, and they recertify annually just as the Service and Facility Dogs do. AD2s are beneficial to Clients who need the assistance of a specially trained dog in their home, but they do not need them in public settings. Some examples of tasks performed by AD2s are: deep pressure therapy, behavior interruption, item retrieval, and more.

Hi, this is based on a reply I made to another member, but I think it’s worth sharing here. The topic was regarding an interaction between dogs.

I want to be real about this for the sake of educating others. Stop vilifying other handlers just because something is not exactly how you’d do it. It’s nonsense to say a team can’t be in a certain situation or can’t engage with other people or dogs. These things happen, whether you expected them to or not. If it’s a problem then manage your dog and move on.

If you or your dog can’t handle being near other teams then that’s how you operate. Me personally, I’m fine. My dog’s fine. We’ve actually been in lots of situations with other SDs, SDITs, puppies, and general pets. She’s been trained to settle with other dogs around her. If I were to show you all the other dogs we’ve been around, your heads might explode.

This isn’t a ding on what your specific needs are. I hope it’s a reality check on how you shouldn’t automatically expect or assume how other teams should work. Should we try and hope for the best? Yes! Will that always happen? No. Let’s build each other up when it comes to giving each other advice and feedback. Don’t try to judge too quickly or burn others down to the ground because it’s not how you’d do it. Give each other some grace.

(Mods, hope this is a worthy post, but if it’s wrong or controversial then let me know.)

Edit: Happy to know this has resonated with many of you!

Preface: Blog-esque educational post incoming.

Today I decided to get out and make some random connections with people to tell them about guide dogs. Like I was Jehovah’s Witness, but with a dog. I already had a doctor’s appointment in the morning so I planned out lunch and dinner for the rest of the day. Honestly, most of my interactions were with store and restaurant employees, with a couple randoms at the bus stop. While it was guide dog day that started the conversations, I found myself going into volunteer recruitment mode for my local service dog organization.

Lunch happened to be at a restaurant which was donating a portion of their sales to the org. I didn’t realize it but there were already puppy raisers there volunteering and preaching the good news about guide dogs. With the pups there (from 4 months to 15 months) It turned into a practice session for settling with other dogs. Gotta always take opportunities to train and practice. I had great conversations with my server and the manager. I think I might’ve even roped in the manager to raise puppies!

After that, I hit the Apple Store because I wanted to charge up my phone. I struck up conversations with a couple employees after they asked if I needed help. One of them told me he had a former co-worker who was visually impaired who brought her own guide dog to work. We also talked about Apple’s accessibility and I explained how it made technology so much easier for me.

Dinner was at a favorite restaurant chain who are very diligent when it comes to verifying service dogs. I told the manager how much I appreciated it and that I wished other businesses would do the same. Her explanation was that it’s good for all their customers and not just for service dog people. I couldn’t agree more. I had 2 servers who didn’t even realize my dog was there because she was curled up under my seat. Cue the opportunity to preach the gospel of guide dogs.

Lastly, I headed to my daughter’s dance studio to brave the hordes of ballerinas. The dance moms and dads all know us so they’re aware of the rules, although some the little ones still try to pet my dog. The parents and instructors usually block and tackle for me. It feels kind of cool that a generation of kids will grow up knowing how to treat handlers and their service dogs.

My whole journey was about 16 miles round trip and lasted from 10 am to 8 pm. A lot of those were bus miles but there was a lot of walking between transits, stores, and restaurants. We stopped at down-curbs and up-curbs, located crosswalk posts, located places to sit, rode elevators and escalators, got on and off buses, settled under seats and tables, passed multiple pets, ignored people, and more. We also threw in some obedience practice for the public to see. Working a guide dog is non-stop!

I hope I did some good today. It’s not like other days are so dissimilar, but this one was different because I had a purpose. And while today was guide dog day, I think I’d like to grab a friend with a service dog next time so people see service dogs in all shapes and sizes. But I gotta admit, today was exhausting… my pup was out cold on the bus ride home. She’s sawing logs as I write this.

Thanks for letting me share my day!

My try at sharing my sub was not a win at all. Here’s the tally of where I’ve tried sharing it. I’m trying to be conscious on how I’m sharing.

1 link in a post

2 links in 2 comments

3 direct messages

Just for reference, I’m posting links to my sub and the post that backfired on here. I’m not posting this here to self-promote or brigade. I just want feedback on what I did wrong. If this isn’t allowed, please remove it. Thanks.

My sub

r/GoodServiceDogs

The post

https://www.reddit.com/r/service\_dogs/s/ZVNGgLRZPu

Just wanted to share a nice interaction I had with another handler on a flight. We were actually in the same row, with them in the aisle seat and us in the window seat. After they both got some good sniffs in, they both settled under their seats for the rest of the flight. The other handler said this was the second flight together but you’d think they were pros. Her pup was a golden doodle. A positive experience that I hope others on the plane noticed (or didn’t notice!) https://www.reddit.com/r/GoodServiceDogs/s/sqyZ37QcZe

Sorry for asking about a pretty basic thing. I’ve tried hard to find the fade options but they’re nowhere. On Rush it was its own whole section. Please help.