Hey there!! I'm Nicole, wife to one amazing husband, mom to two sassy, strong, spunky girls, and a lover of all things crafty, creative, artistic, and DIY! I also love "most" things organization, cleaning, and household management! And, I'm a blind chick! My blindness is just one part of who I am and how I do this life thing! Here you will find various DIY, budget, easy craft projects, as well as see some of the ins and outs of my day to day as a blind mom including household management and cleaning tips and tricks. I will also share content related to working with a guide dog, including things that will be applicable to those of you who have dogs as pets, rather than your working partner. I will share about the guide dog lifestyle in everything from preparing for a new guide dog partner, meeting and training with a guide dog, coming home, and excerpts of our work together as a team. If you have specific questions, please contact me or comment!
Hi Nicole it’s bliss Choi and I just wanna tell you I’m a huge fan of your videos even though you haven’t been posting a lot of your videos and 2024 but I just introduced you to another friend of mine who we are currently in buying training together and I would love for you to just reply to my comment right now I don’t know if you can see it but I want you to send me your email address and possibly your phone number if you’re able so we can communicate and contact and be friends thank you
Dogs, working dogs, tend not to take too kindly to being pensioned off. I’ve had tussles between my dogs, no-one was hurt, for primacy of place when walking to heel in the field. Also, major pouting if Stinker (i.e. the newbie) was told to go for a retrieve.
Oooh, hi Sweetpea! Thanks for commenting…. So, about a year ago! Was your vision loss unexpected or due to a known condition? That doesn’t make it any easier, I know. I hope you’re finding some resources and services in your area to help you adjust to blindness and gain skills and confidence to be your best, most confident self. Big hugs, and welcome. I swear I AM trying hard to get content made and out, it’s just been a slow process and a wacky few years.
@@theblindmomnextdoor it’s was unexpected and I didn’t know how bad it had actually gotten until just recently. I just graduated O&m and have applied for a guide dog through GDB. Still not sure about vr. I enjoy your videos.
It is FANTASTIC that you were able to get O&M training!! Congrats on your GDB application, that’s exciting!! I don’t know what state you are in, but VR can be a HUGE help as you work toward adjusting to your blindness and determining what your future will look like! It sounds like you have exciting possibilities ahead! ❤️
Do you have any advice for getting used to Holding the harness as apposed to the railing we’re going upstairs and for making sure your dog doesn’t get too far ahead when you’re just holding leash going down
Hmm. I hadn’t thought of this because my guide dog works on my left so I typically still hold the railing on the right when going up stairs. When we go down, I hold his leash, not his harness, and they’ll adjust to you…. I don’t try to slow him down, he’ll self-correct and adjust if he’s going significantly faster than I am, because that would be uncomfortable for him and he’d respond to the sensation of his leash tightening. I suppose you could try a command for your guide to slow down if you have one.
@@theblindmomnextdoor my dog works on my left as well, but we were told in training not to use both the railing and having them guide at the same time. I don’t actually have a word to slow down. I mean I say steady when she’s guiding, but that uses harness pressure as well. Maybe I’ll try to make one for when she’s just healing
Do you know if those kind of scanning devices are the same at majority of retail stores where the item number and where it goes are readable by screen reader.
I do not know. I do know that the actual program was/is proprietary to target, not the devices used or the accessibility features I had enabled, but the retail/merchandising program is proprietary.
Thanks Afron!! He is a fast-paced dog, but he is not the fastest guide dog I’ve had. Megan, my second guide dog, was like a freaking race car, it was insane!!
Megan worked most of a year. She experienced severe allergies in our area. It was so difficult to let her go, but she’s healthy and happy living with her puppy raisers and doesn’t experience allergies that at all. I will ask for a dog with a very similar pace to Figaro. So, likely faster than average, but NOT the fastest and unable to be experienced as a slow pace. Part of that for me is that I can walk fast when I’m on my own, but I spend a lot of time with my family, and I don’t want to be thirty feet ahead of my husband and kids all the time. 🤣
I believe I talk about that in the Guide Dog Fear video!! Basic Guide Dog Gear : Daily Tools for a Working Guide Dog ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XQ_zhvL4hno.html
This video just came across my home screen. I just saw that you went to the same rehab school that I went to. I had Melody for braille as well. I live two blocks away from that facility.😊
There's a big amphitheater in a park near me, kind of like the big "exercise" staircase you talked about. Going up or down means multiple sets of 3-5 stairs each. It's always fun for my guide to get so much praise for each bottom and top stair! 😂
Loved it I live in the MN area and I always like knowing that there are other guide dog users in our area. I would love a video of times maybe he made a mistake. I feel like sometimes people think our guides are perfect and i know like Maui made a mistake the other day It’s cool that you are back.
@@theblindmomnextdoor Maui is my first guide dog so I am still getting used to it even though I had dogs in the past. Maui made a mistake being distracted by another dog because it looked like a dog that had attacked her twice it wasn’t that dog but I just for me I feel pressure to make sure she is perfect and that’s not fair to me and its really not fair to her they have bad days too. You were one of the videos in the past that helped me decide to get a guide dog. I appreciate your videos.
Thanks’. The pandemic really kicked our family’s butt in terms of just living life day to day and finding my way back to this has been a challenge! I’m so excited to be back though!
I am legally blind (I have some vision with back lit things like phone or computer, but its not great. ) and I have a guide dog in training. I would love a video showing how a guide dog should ride a public city bus. Like how they should board, guide to a seat and where they sit on the bus as well as how to get off the bus.
Hi Nichole. I have a question. I’ll be going to GDB soon. I chose to train at the San Rafael campus. My husband and son want to attend graduation after watching this video. So my question is, do we leave training the day after graduation? We are trying to gage which day they should fly in to meet me.
Congratulations on attending training at GDB soon! Typically, students graduate and leave campus the same day-but I would REALLY encourage you to just give a call to your campus and ask 1. When you graduate. 2. If you are scheduled to leave campus the same day. And 3. If they’ve opened graduations to family, friends, and the public since covid…. I do not know if they have or not, and training for students during the pandemic has been VERY different than pre-pandemic!
Hello, I will be going to GDB soon to get my very first guide. Your videos are so helpful for prepping and just getting an idea of what’s to come. Thank you.
Hey Nicole, I just watched your video about when you received the Garg you were matched with during your training. I hope you and Kim end up being together permanently. I agree it is a good thing not to announce the dogs information until you know that you will be well suited for each other. Good luck with the rest of your training and hope to hear the good news soon.
So my boyfriend is getting a dog there right now and I have seen so many people just have tie downs instead of crates. But his dog has a crate. I am just curious if there is a reason some times it’s a crate and other times it’s just a tie down.
While we’re in training, GDB has both a tie down and a crate available for students to use with their new dog. They encourage us to utilize both as we get accustomed to our new dog and the dog gets used to us. In our day to day home life, we used a tie down immediately after training while Figaro was earning more freedom and establishing proper house behavior in our home (dogs are known not to generalize rules very well with different locations/places/people). And, we’ve utilized a crate when we were working at target and he would have his breaks while I used my cane to work. For the most part, at this point (he’s been in our home and my partner for over five years now), it is extremely rare we need wither tie down or crate for Figaro, but he doesn’t resist either when we do utilize them.
Hello there, I just watched your video about whether or not a guide dog is best for you. I am seriously considering getting a guide dog in the future, but I’ve never had one before. I agree with you that using a cane is a lot more effort worthy than a dog. But I am looking forward to the companionship and ability to independently travel on my own better. Keep up the good work in the excellent videos.
Hi there, I just started watching your RU-vid channel a few days ago. I love watching blind individuals work with their guide dogs. I was wondering what school you attend to get your guide dogs. The reason I am curious is that I am planning on getting a guide dog in the future. Keep up the good videos in educating the public on blindness and guide dogs. How are you
Hi Jennifer! Welcome! Figaro and I graduated from Guide Dogs for the Blind whose primary campus is in San Rafael, CA. I have trained with each of my guide dogs on GDB’s Oregon campus so far.
Hi there, I just started watching your RU-vid channel a few days ago. I was wondering what school you go to to get your guide dogs. The reason I’m asking is that I am planning on getting a guide dog in the future. Keep up the good work in educating the public on blindness and guide dogs.
Congratulations to you on plans to pursue a guide dog! It’s like nothing else if you decide it’s right for you. My guide dogs have all been through Guide Dogs for the Blind out of San Rafael, CA. I’ve trained with all of them on the Portland, Oregon campus!
Hello! Glad to see another video from you. 😊 I used to cashier at Target with my guide dog, but I was never brave enough to get her a name tag (I'm kind of nervous about strangers knowing her name). Getting to learn about other teams working at various human jobs is so cool.
I TOTALLY understand that! I have friends who don’t share their guide’s name at all, or they share a false name. This fits for us, or it did lol. I haven’t worked for TGT since the pandemic started, but I loved my experience there and LOVE the team we worked with.
At target or with content? I’m just starting to make more content again, so that will be coming! With target I stopped working with the pandemic start and likely won’t return at this time.
Honestly I just wish people would talk to me as a person first but it’s just not the case. I love that you are making this video and talking about this. I hope people understand and will actually listen
Can you tell me what you are sent home with when you get your guide dog? I’d like to travel with just a carry on but I’m not sure if I need bigger luggage.
I guess it depends on your needs during training. I wouldn’t be able to pack just a carry on for guide dog training, but I’m sure some people can. You need clothing appropriate for the weather and your own tolerances, though at GDB you’d have access to laundry facilities in your dorm if needed, so you could pack less clothing. There’s just not loads of down-time to do extra tasks.
I guess it depends on your needs during training. I wouldn’t be able to pack just a carry on for guide dog training, but I’m sure some people can. You need clothing appropriate for the weather and your own tolerances, though at GDB you’d have access to laundry facilities in your dorm if needed, so you could pack less clothing. There’s just not loads of down-time to do extra tasks.
Hello my name is Sharon. Yes I am getting a guide dog I leave for guide dogs for the blind May 8, 2022 Mother’s Day what a wonderful day it will be. Can you please direct me to where you got that travel blanket I love that idea I watch your videos all the time thank you and please make more videos
Nicole you are just too cute I am also blind but I am totally blind I am due to get my guy dog hopefully in April or May don’t know if it will be in San Rafael or Oregon but I am excited I hope you get this message I would love to talk to you about my journey my name is Sharron Hoffman
Nice and inspire video...thanks for share this video...i tink can be inspire for my small laundry businness at kuta mandalika lombok indonesia...laundry today or naked tomorrow.. Moro Constantin Riung - RU-vid...so gratefully watch this video🙏🙏🙏
Ohh I'm so happy hearing you had so much fun!!! I love the fact that videogame companies are starting to make progress in terms of accesibillity, everyone deserves to enjoy videogames! 💞💞
So, it’s not that it’s offset exactly, it’s more like the part I hold onto as the blind handler is angled a little, so that it’s more like my arm would be naturally bent when walking. The original handle made me hold my hand/wrist/arm very straight and it caused a lot of discomfort in my wrist as I recall.
I totally understand this! There are a lot of techniques and tools to use to keep yourself safe, and I’ll admit I’m scared of burning myself also. I’m more scared of cutting myself because I have a clotting disorder and am on lifelong blood thinners, so I’m suuuuper cautious when cutting food. It’s very empowering to learn alternative techniques of blindness for cooking and other activities so that you can feel confident and find out what you do and don’t enjoy!
Hi, I noticed that we have not seen any videos from you for about seven months and I always found them quite enjoyable and great for entertainment and information about your guide dog. I hope everything is well with you. Are you posting on another service besides RU-vid? In any event take care and I hope you’re well the Lord bless you and your family.
Hi:)..I’m new to your beautiful channel and I enjoy very much watching your beautiful video and the music is so relaxing:). Thank you so much for taking the time to post this beautiful video..... I know is not easy, But you make it look so easy enjoy your beautiful walk with your beautiful service dog.
Figaro what an amazing dog! Thank you for sharing! Dogs are truly amazing animals! Also, Diana and I would like to invite you to a live stream blind Community open Panel chat and discussion. This Sunday September 6th 2020 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. I hope I see you there! m.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ka3svFm5PqU.html#menu
I want to get a guide dog but I think I will be denied one because I don't use a cane. But I am considered legally blind. I would love a companion with me because I have anxiety about going in public alone.
My first suggestion for you is to seek training to properly use a cane. If your functional vision I doesn’t impact your mobility enough to need a cane, or to be willing to begin using a cane consistently, you likely won’t qualify and possibly don’t need a guide dog either. Separately, a guide dog or service dog is and does so so so much more than offer companionship and security. They are highly trained and have so much responsibility and so many people contributing to their success both in terms of time and effort, but also in massive amounts of money. Please consider that as part of your decision making process also. If you really do want a pet for a companion and perhaps to help with your anxiety at home, there are MANY animals seeking a loving home capable of providing for them who will by their very nature give you love, companionship, and support. ❤️.
Thank you Nicole for taking us for a walk with Figaro! What an awesome dog! Please join Diana and I August second 20/20 12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time for a live blind community panel and chat discussion. The topic is. Are you a hero? Here is the link. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tqd56o61Fbo.html
Figaro’s “treats” or food reward are actually just a portion of his day’s kibble. In rare circumstances, he’ll get a high value food reward, but that’s mainly if we’re in a really difficult working situation or he’s learning a new complex task. He loves food reward-it’s a little like a paycheck with some added cheerleading. 😂
AMAZING! I am trying to decide I’d a service dog is for me. I don’t have any feeling in my feet and am constantly tripping over curs. Me wife usually tells me where the steps are. At one she doesn’t remember to tell me about small pot holes that can twist my ankle. She oftentimes tells me, “see I’m better than a guide dog. They can’t tell you where the pot holes are. I don’t use my white stick because it sets me up for aggressive people to aggravate me.
Man, I’m so sorry to hear about your experience with your cane. 😰. I definitely value my cane as a tool when I’m traveling without my guide dog. My husband will sighted guide me also, but I don’t like to feel dependent upon him sighted guiding me. Everyone does what works for them though, you know? And if what works for you and your wife is for her to sighted guide you and audio cue you to the areas your feet might encounter or have trouble with, then that’s great! Do you have neuropathy in your feet? That has to be so frustrating!
