[nagdu] The new GDB

[Tracy Carcione]

Hi Deanna.
Do you remember what day you arrived at GDB, and what day you got your
dog?  (Well of course you remember what day you got your dog!  It's a
special day.)

I got 5 dogs from GDB at San Rafael.  The old place is still special to
me.  And I know more about downtown San Rafael than I'm every likely to
need again.
Tracy


> Hi everyone,
> I was actually in the trial class at GDB to see if the 3 week training
> would work for first timers. I went to the campus in San Rafael, CA in
> late April of 2009. Pascal is my first guide dog, so I can not compare my
> class with a previous one.
> At first, when I heard I was doing a three week class instead of four, I
> was worried I would not learn enough. But it was nice and I felt like it
> was almost too long by the end. We were running out of things to do and
> issues to address. My class of first timers was a group of 10, we lost one
> after the first week due to health problems. We had 3 instructors so, each
> instructor had 3 students.
> We received our class lectures on CD several weeks before class, so we
> could study and get familiar with owning a guide dog. Then every morning
> we had a class lecture together, broke into our training groups, and
> worked individually with our dogs and trainers. Most of the time, we only
> had to wait about 30-45 minutes for each group. In that time you could
> brush your dog, clean his teeth, catch up on email, eat, etc. We also went
> to fun places like coffee shops, and ice cream parlors to wait at. We
> would head back to campus for lunch then do another class lecture and
> workout. After dinner we had another class, usually care, like teeth
> brushing or dog massage.
> There wasn't a lot of downtime and I feel like I learned all I needed to
> by the end of the second week. The third week was just more practice. And
> if you need more training at home, they are more than willing to travel
> across the country to check on you.
> If anyone has more specific questions, don't hesitate to email me at
> deannakay618 at yahoo.com
>
> Thanks!
> Deanna and Pascal
>
>
>
>
>
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