[nagdu] Drop-offs

[Wayne Merritt]

Greetings. I've never done drop offs at The Seeing Eye, but I heard
once of a friend who did something similar to a drop off. She was told
to go to a certain store in an area mall. I can't remember if she was
with another user or not, but I do remember that she said it was a
good confidence builder. I'm not sure I'd recommend drop offs at guide
dog schools, simply because you're only there for between 2 and 4
weeks. Not enough time to develop enough skills to navigate on your
own. Of course I say this with my experience at an NFB center in mind,
where they do give you drop offs, but that's only at the end of your
6-9 month training, after you've learned all the skills to travel
alone. I'm not sure I'd support drop offs for new students, since they
are for the most part being introduced to geting around with this new
dog whom they're not sure if they really trust. I think having the
drop off in a place like a mall or a certain store or shop in a small
radius would be fine, but not so much letting someone loose in a city
or area they've only been in a few weeks. Then again, as others have
noted, it would be a great confidence builder. I seem to recall Seeing
Eye doing drop offs for those who wanted them, but I didn't experience
this or the question of if I wanted one in the class I was in 6 months
ago. Frankly, I was too involved with making sure I was bonding with
this new dog and getting everything I needed before leaving to have
worried about being dropped off somewhere. If one were to be done, I
would think dropping the pair off in an area that neither the dog nor
the student had ben in before would be the best situation.

Wayne

On 3/10/09, Jenine Stanley <jeninems at wowway.com> wrote:
> Allison,
>
> What a great example of a drop off. Thanks for sharing that and I'm glad you
> found it helpful.
>
>
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