Comments for Safe & Sound blog

Comment on Always there by bethfinke

bethfinke — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:40:19 +0000

Trust me: it’s my pleasure!

Comment on A dog called Vondra by bethfinke

bethfinke — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:00:19 +0000

At the Seeing Eye, the dogs are *our* dogs once we bring them home. And since they are ours, really, we could call them anything we want to. The Seeing Eye discourages us from changing our dogs names, though: one, the dogs are used to their name by the time we are matched with them, and two, the Seeing eye keeps explicit records of all the dogs they train, and keeping their original name makes that easier to do.
It is my understanding that the Seeing Eye never has two working dogs out there that have the same name. If I were to call the Seeing eye and tell them, say, that Whitney is starting to cross streets diagonally rather than going straight across, they know exactly who Whitney is – she is the only working Seeing eye dog with the name “Whitney.” They don’t have to ask, “Remind me, is this the Whitney in Chicago or Whitney in Sioux Falls?” and until she retires, they wont name another dog “Whitney.”
I’m told that sticking with the alphabet system helps them keep track of which litter each dog was in. Hope this all helps explain why, right now, there are working female Seeing Eye dogs out there with the unlikely names Wispy and Windy. Apparently Wendy, Winona, Wanda, Willow and Wren were already taken. I know that Whitney is!

Comment on Always there by Mike

Mike — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:36:51 +0000

Thanks Linda. I try, but I think I swing and miss a lot.

Comment on Always there by Mike

Mike — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 05:08:48 +0000

Thanks Judy. See you soon!

Comment on A dog called Vondra by Hava

Hava — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 22:33:21 +0000

I feel your pain Heha! I wish Seeing Eye would let the raisers name the pups. The school I raise for does let us name them and they tell us to consider the end user when naming. Ideally it should be a no more than 2 syllable name. I think their system works better. That said, I know of a raiser who named her pup “Gasr” (Pronounced ‘Gasser’). Poor dog! And this name given to a noble shepherd!
Beth, do the students get to rename their dogs if they really don’t like the dog’s name?

Comment on A dog called Vondra by bethfinke

bethfinke — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:45:50 +0000

Oh, I so agree! Don’t you wonder why they don’t just skip the letter “X” altogether? And I’m curious: do you have any nicknames for “Vondra”? Kinda hard to think of one. Regardless of names, though, I want to THANK YOU on behalf of all of us who use Seeing Eye dogs –you puppy raisers are the best!

Comment on A dog called Vondra by HEHA

HEHA — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 20:40:50 +0000

Hi. I came across your blog in a google search when I read the name Vondra. I am a teenage Seeing-Eye Puppy Raiser about to get my sixth puppy to train, and I have not been lucky with names. I have raised

1. Veca
2. Tara
3. VONDRA(not the same one, however, as mine was rejected from the program and lives with me and my family)
4. Norm
5. Xinda(yeah…)
6. X….(all we know is that she is a female lab whose name starts with an X)

We are no happier about the names than anyone else and almost always groan when we find out the names of our new dogs. We often wonder how the dog-namers can do such a thing to an adorable little puppy.

Comment on Always there by Christina lucia

Christina lucia — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:08:28 +0000

Last four scentences, wow.

Comment on Always there by judy

judy — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 12:26:20 +0000

Mike, Loved reading about your dad and am sitting here with tears on my cheeks. You remind me of your description of him. happy fathers day.

Comment on Always there by Mary F.

Mary F. — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 04:26:07 +0000

Mike, I needed to hear those last two sentences today, and Beth, thank you for letting Mike be your guest author to write them.