National Association of Guide Dog Users
Harness Up!
Harness Up! is the official newsletter of the National Association of Guide Dog Users (NAGDU). Published biennially, Harness Up! contains information of interest to guide dog users and others associated with the guide dog movement and the organized blind. Unlike many other publications on the subject of guide dogs and their use, articles appearing in Harness Up! are written from the standpoint of guide dog users themselves. Most other literature about guide dogs is published by guide dog training schools, which promote their particular programs through their publications. Well-known books on the subject have been written by individual guide dog users and by others interested in the guide dog movement. Few, if any, such publications portray the efforts of guide dog users working together through organizations such as the National Association of Guide Dog Users and the National Federation of the Blind.
Harness Up! fills this void by offering its readers a chance to read and appreciate the hopes and aspirations of individual guide dog users, as well as those of the organized blind movement where guide dog-related issues are concerned. In its pages you will learn
- why some blind people decide to use a guide dog for independent travel
- what training programs are available for teaching dogs the art of guiding their blind handlers and teaching blind people how to work successfully with their dogs to realize the maximum benefit from them.
Other topics include
- the human/animal bond and the roll it plays in shaping effective guide dog teams,
- information on the care, feeding, and veterinary care of guide dogs,
- stress management,
- and issues related to the retirement of a beloved guide
- as well as retraining with a replacement guide.
Harness Up! also contains information about the activities of the National Association of Guide Dog Users and the National Federation of the Blind. Efforts to improve a guide dog team's right of access to public accommodations and the protection of guide dogs from harm by malicious individuals along with reports on the activities of NAGDU and the NFB are also featured. As you can see, issues covered in Harness Up! run the gamut. If it's guide dog-related, chances are you will read about it in Harness Up!.
A Brief History
Harness Up! began life in the late 1980s as the Newsletter of the Guide Dog Users Committee of the National Federation of the Blind of New York State. It was offered in print, and on audio cassette and was published biennially as it is today. It became the official newsletter of the National Association of Guide Dog Users in the early 1990s. It was one of the first NFB-related publications to be offered in an electronic Braille format via the International Electronic Braille Library (IEBL.) With the launch of NAGDU's web site, readers were able to read and/or download ASCII Text or electronic Braille editions of Harness Up! from the site. Complete ASCII and electronic Braille editions of Harness Up! can be downloaded by selecting the appropriate links below. You will be able to download individual issues in either medium from their respective pages. You can select the particular issue and the medium in which you want to read it from the table below.
Those who become members of NAGDU are eligible to receive Harness Up! in print or on audio cassette. It is our hope that you will find the information in this newsletter provocative and of assistance to you.
Article Submissions
If you have an article you would like to have considered for publication in Harness Up! you can submit it to the Harness Up! editor, Julie Johnson. Articles should be submitted in print, Braille, on audio cassette or on computer diskette. For more information, contact Julie at jlcrane@alltel.net.
Harness Up! is published biennially. The deadlines for submitting articles are as follows. Articles for the spring issue must be submitted no later than April 15th, and articles for the fall edition must be submitted by October 15th. A good way to remember these dates as their other significances. April 15 is the deadline for filing tax returns, and October 15 is known in the blind community as National White Cane Safety Day. Keeping these events in mind will help you remember the due dates for articles submissions to be in for consideration for inclusion in the up-coming issue of Harness Up!. Please also send in your comments as well as your suggestions, which will help our division and Harness Up! grow to represent and reflect what guide dogs are and what they mean to those who use them. But please always remember if you want to receive respect, we must have and show respect to others.
Who can receive Harness Up!?
Anyone who belongs to NAGDU and who is current on their membership dues is eligible to receive Harness Up! in print or on audio cassette. We want to thank everyone who has registered for the NAGDU division for getting their dues sent in to us. If you have not sent in your 2005-2006 dues you may do so by sending them to the NAGDU Treasurer.
There are those who have not paid dues for over two years. Those people, as well as those whose cassettes are returned with no change of address, will be removed from our listing. If you haven't sent in your 2007/2008 dues, please do so as soon as possible to avoid an interruption in your subscription. You can continue to enjoy the wealth of information contained within the pages of Harness Up!.
Archive of Available Issues
| Issue | Text | Braille | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 1998 | None | brf | compressed |
| Spring 1999 | txt | None | compressed |
| Fall 2000 | html html |
brf | compressed |
| Spring 2001 | html html txt |
None | compressed |
| Fall 2001 | html html txt |
None | compressed |
| Spring 2002 | html html txt |
None | compressed |
| Fall 2002 | html txt |
None | compressesd |
| Spring 2003 | html html txt |
None | compressed |
| Fall 2003 | html html txt |
None | compressed |
| Spring 2004 | html html txt |
None | compressed |
| Fall-Winter 2004 | html html txt |
None | compressed |
| Fall-Winter 2005 | html txt doc |
None | compressed |
| Entire archive of available issues, (ASCII.) | |||
| Download as ASCII Text Files | |||
For more information, contact
Marion Gwizdala
President
National Association of Guide Dog Users
(813) 626-2789
president@nfb-nagdu.org
©National Association of Guide Dog Users, (NAGDU), All
Rights Reserved
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