[nagdu] Welcome and Halti use

[lindagwizdak at peoplepc.com]

Hi Wayne,
The Seeing Eye and most of the other schools only offer home training for 
people who are already graduates of their program.  Same goes for wheelchair 
training.  At TSE, Pete Lang does the wheelchair training.  I don't know 
what can be done for people who have never gone through a program for their 
dog.

I knew a woman here who got a guide from Guide Dogs of the Desert while she 
was still walking. When her illness made her be in a wheelchair, she got 
another small, local service dog program to agree to train her with her 
guide dog. That worled out well for her.  I don't know if GDD trains people 
in wheelchairs or not.

Linda and Landon


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <wcmerritt at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2009 11:25 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Welcome and Halti use


> Marti: have you checked out home training from The Seeing Eye or other
> larger schools? I know that The Seeing Eye does do home training,
> since I know someone that has had it done due to bad knees. I know
> that they're working on wheelchair training but don't know how far
> along they are with that.
>
> Hth,
> Wayne
>
> On 2/7/09, Mardi Hadfield <wolfsinger.lakota at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi every one,   Welcome  Doug and Lisa.Interesting to hear your input. I
>> live in Arizona. I have researched all of the guide dog schools that I 
>> have
>> found on the Internet, but I have never heard of Occupaws.  I suppose 
>> there
>> must be several small agencies that train guide dogs,but they are not 
>> widely
>> known out side there area.There is a school that trains service dogs and
>> guide dogs in Phoenix Arizona,called AZ Power Paws, but again they don't
>> train guide dogs for wheelchair users and I would have to go there and
>> stay.I tried to apply at the Eye Dog Foundation,hoping that they would 
>> train
>> a dog for me,but they are not training at all now and I don't know what 
>> will
>> become of that situation.Not being able to travel and be away for any 
>> time
>> and the fact that I am a wheelchair user,is the problem.I don't feel that 
>> it
>> is any harder to train a dog to guide from a wheelchair as I have trained
>> 2,with the help of a trainer so far.  My trainer mainly trains search and
>> rescue dogs. I don't mind having to train my own dogs, but It is 
>> expensive
>> and time consuming, and finding the right dog to train has not been easy
>> this time around.But when all is said and done, my dogs are customized to 
>> my
>> needs, and if I have a problem, My trainer lives in the same town and is
>> just a phone call away. I just wish it was not so time consuming. 
>> Nicole, a
>> Halti is a head colar.It is similar to a gentle leader except I prefer 
>> the
>> Halti as it is not tight around the dogs face. My dogs walk on a loose 
>> leash
>> and don't really need the halti, as it's main use is to prevent the dog 
>> from
>> pulling and it gives the handler more control of the dog by  controlling 
>> the
>> head rather than pulling on the dogs neck collar. I am deaf in my right
>> ear,and even though I can still hear, I can not tell what direction the
>> sound is coming from. By using the Halti, I can feel my dog move her head 
>> in
>> the direction of the sound of traffic, and that tells me where the sound 
>> is
>> comming from. It is easire to feel the leash in my hand move when the dog
>> moves her head with the halti than it is from just using a neck collar.To 
>> me
>> ,it is a very important piece of my dogs equipment. Yes I do use a 
>> regular
>> guide dog harness,from LDS leather. I use a combination vest/harness on 
>> my
>> trainees,and when the dog is ready to train with a harness, I attach a
>> handle on it.I got the handle from Julie's  ON THE GO. The training
>> vest/harness has a patch on bothe sides that says ,Guide Dog In 
>> Trainging,
>> Do Not Pet. I like to give most of my dogs Lakota names,because I am half
>> Lakota, and I want to keep the language alive. Too many Native Americans 
>> are
>> no longer able to speak there own language, and the language of some 
>> tribes
>> has been  lost forever. It is a part of my heritage.  Have a great day,
>> Mardi and Nala,semi-retired, and Shaman, Gdit.
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>> nagdu:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/wcmerritt%40gmail.com
>>
>
>
> -- 
> My blog:
> http://wayneism.blogspot.com
> My websites:
> www.wayneism.com
> www.whitecaneday.org
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nagdu:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/lindagwizdak%40peoplepc.com
>