[Cagdu] FW: A Guide Dog With Clout Calls It a Day - New York Times

Sun Apr 20 21:11:03 PDT 2008

That was really cute.

On 4/20/08, tina thomas <tinadt at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Subject: A Guide Dog With Clout Calls It a Day - New York Times
>
>
>
>
> The New York Times
>
> April 20, 2008
> Murray Hill
>
> A Guide Dog With Clout Calls It a Day
> By ALEX MINDLIN
>
> THE retirement party, held in a back room at the
> Church of St. Agnes on East 43rd Street, had all the
> elements typical of such gatherings: teary
> photographs,
> a table piled with small gifts, even two cakes topped
> with the words "Happy Retirement," although the
> retiree was not allowed to taste them.
>
> That did not appear to bother the guest of honor, a
> squirmy, 11-year-old snow-white Lab named Ruger who,
> on Thursday afternoon, was snapping up chunks of
> diced chicken tossed at him by an admirer.
>
> Ruger is a guide dog, and for the past nine years, he
> has guided Kevin Coughlin, a 46-year-old resident of
> Murray Hill, around the city. Mr. Coughlin, who
> lost his sight in 1997 as a result of a genetic
> condition, has waged several high-profile fights to
> require businesses in the city to open their doors
> to guide dogs, as they are required to do by law.
>
> Mr. Coughlin has twice filed complaints with the
> Taxi and Limousine Commission
> against cabbies who he said had refused to allow Ruger
> into their taxis.
>
> In 2002, Mr. Coughlin filed a discrimination complaint
> with the city against a coffee shop from which he said
> Ruger had been ejected. In that year, he also
> let a news producer with a hidden camera trail him as
> he and Ruger were turned away from various businesses.
> ("No dog," said the tout outside a restaurant
> on First Avenue. "Maybe somebody no like dogs.")
>
> But Ruger is not as spry as he was. After nearly a
> decade of trotting around the city, Ruger has
> developed arthritis. "He has more trouble with stairs
> now,"
> Mr. Coughlin explained, rubbing the dog's back
> distractedly. Two days after the party, Mr. Coughlin
> and a friend planned to drive Ruger to his new home,
> a 30-acre spread with three ponds in Orange County,
> north of New York, where friends of Mr. Coughlin's
> live.
>
> "It's enormously difficult," Mr. Coughlin said of the
> move. "We have a very intimate relationship, because
> it's virtually 24/7. We've been in so many places,
> and done so many things."
>
> At the party, which drew 40 or 50 guests, the
> conversation naturally turned to Ruger stories.
>
> "Do you know the story about Ruger being attacked by a
> swan in East Hampton?" someone asked. Adam Brecht, a
> friend and occasional traveling companion of
> Mr. Coughlin's, recalled their stay at the Excelsior
> hotel in Rome. "Ruger loved it," Mr. Brecht said. "He
> had a 'forward my mail to the Excelsior' sort
> of attitude.' "
>
> As the stories unfolded, their subject lapped
> obliviously at a bowl of water. It was 6:30 p.m.,
> almost time to go, and the top of Ruger's head was
> stained
> with lipstick kisses.
>
> http://www.nytimes.
> <http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/nyregion/thecity/20dog.html?_r=1&ref=thec
> ity&oref=slogin>
> com/2008/04/20/nyregion/thecity/20dog.html?_r=1&ref=thecity&oref=slogin
>
> Copyright 2008
> The New York Times Company
>
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