[blparent] leaving family to get a dog guide

Thu Jun 7 03:20:24 UTC 2012

We don't live our lives in a vacuum, and I think training in a vacuum makes 
for a lot of follow-up visits when graduates and dogs go home.  When I was 
in class with my first dog, I talked to a woman who was on her fifth or 
sixth, I think.  She said that when she got her first guide, the schools 
wouldn't even let the handlers play with their dogs at all.  They were 
working dogs, and play was strongly discouraged.  Now the trainers say that 
the dogs deserve to play after all the work they do.  So bit by bit, maybe 
too slowly, the schools are catching up with the times.

Jo Elizabeth

"A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a 
song."  Maya Angelou

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Erin Rumer" <erinrumer at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 8:46 PM
To: "'Blind Parents Mailing List'" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blparent] leaving family to get a dog guide

> I hear what you're saying and I was thrilled to see how far GDB has come
> concerning those issues.  I can tell you that if we had a person coming 
> into
> training who has young kids, we would make sure to work the dogs while
> pulling a stroller to ensure the dogs had exposure and a chance to get 
> used
> to it before the client came into class.  We also worked dogs while 
> pulling
> grocery carts, walking with a support or white cane and more.  Slowly but
> surely some of the schools are coming around and seeing how crucial these
> aspects of our lives are when working a dog.
>
> Erin
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Tammy
> Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 7:30 PM
> To: Blind Parents Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [blparent] leaving family to get a dog guide
>
> Hi,
>
> Your idea about our kid's training with us is a very good one except that
> many of the schools don't believe our kids have any part in our training, 
> to
> the point where we shouldn't even be holding their hands or using a
> stroller.  These are all ridiculous things for the schools to think, and
> when I asked them what I was supposed to do with my child while I worked 
> my
> dog even at home after training, they said, oh carry him in a backpack or
> have someone with you who can take him.  That of course is not what I did
> because it was impractical,  I used a stroller and the dog got used to it
> and got really good at walking with the stroller behind us.  Unfortunately
> the school I went to did not give the dog enough credit, and also said I
> shouldn't let the dog and my son interact.  I did listen to that warning 
> and
> was very careful to let them play in a very supervized limited 
> environment,
> where the dog could go in to his crate whenever he felt the need to do so
> which wasn't often I can tell you.  But if we were allowed to train with 
> the
> dogs and our children the schools might get a really good idea some of the
> pitfalls of certain matches and it might result in less home visits after
> training ends.
>
> Tammy
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jennifer Jackson
> Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 2:59 PM
> To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [blparent] leaving family to get a dog guide
>
> Actually I have always thought that a couple of the bigger schools should
> offer a program once a year where our kids could attend with us. This 
> would
> let us work out any travel issues with our children while we have a 
> trainer
> there. Obviously some kind of child care arrangement would have to be made
> for part of the day so we can focus on our dogs, but this just seems like 
> a
> workable plan. Especially for those people who live in a rural area and do
> not qualify for in home training.
>
> All that said, I did go for a dog when my oldest was four. I had planned 
> to
> hire someone to watch him during the day and make my husband juggle the 
> rest
> of the day. As it turned out, my mother found out about 6 weeks before I
> left that she was going to laid off right before I would be gone and she
> came and stayed at our home with him.
>
> The child who complained regularly about having to walk to school 
> apparently
> complained the entire time I was gone about his grandmother driving him to
> school. It was a little over half a mile one way to his school. She always
> acted like I should appreciate the opportunity to exercise when I 
> complained
> about the walk in August. :) I did not ask her why she was not 
> appreciating
> that opportunity in October. I also went to one of the two week training
> sessions. I think my son would have had a much more difficult time if I 
> had
> been gone longer, or if he had not been able to stay in his usual routine.
>
>
> Jennifer
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
> Behalf Of Erin Rumer
> Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 7:49 PM
> To: NFB blind parent listserv
> Subject: [blparent] leaving family to get a dog guide
>
> Hello list,
>
>
>
> Thankfully, my current guide is only 4.5 years old and doing well, but I 
> got
> to thinking about when it does come time to get a new guide, what will 
> that
> mean for my family and particularly my son.  Assuming my guide now works a
> nice long life and retires around the age of 10, my son will then be 
> around
> 6 or 7.  I know that in-home training may be a possibility depending on 
> the
> circumstances, but have any of you gone through having to leave young
> children with family or friends while off getting a new guide and if so, 
> how
> did your kids fair?  Working at GDB for 3.5 years before my son came along
> gave me the opportunity to work with lots of folks coming through for a 
> new
> dog who have kids at home, but since I rarely got the chance to speak with
> the grads after they went home, I never really got the full picture of how
> the separation affected the kids, especially if the parent leaving was a
> stay-at-home mom or dad.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Erin
>
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