[nagdu] The Truth About Guide Dog Awareness Month

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

I guess that's to be expected...  Natural Balance and Petco awareness month
in disguise.

What gets me is that since January, I've been buying Natural Balance from
Petco.  Apparently, it's not even possible to find the right allergy formula
for your dogs without risking a major moral dilemma.  Do I switch food (a
logistical challenge with one roommate and two dogs), or do I remain part of
the machine?  /smile/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Marion & Martin
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 4:37 AM
To: NAGDU List
Subject: [nagdu] The Truth About Guide Dog Awareness Month

Dear All,
    Several messages have been circulated about "Guide Dog Awareness Month",
so I wanted to share some facts. This information was shared with me by the
Executive Director of one of the major schools who spoke to me with the
condition of anonimity. Furthermore, Petco contacted me about this project
and, once they found out that we were a consumer organization that did
education and advocacy, were no longer interested in including us in their
project. Read on and you will learn why!
    Petco has contacted each of the guide dog schools to ask them to
participate. What is participation? In exchange for endorsing Natural
Balance dog food, allowing natural Balance to use the names of the schools
to show that "the best of the best eat natural Balance", agreeing to feed it
to all of their dogs, and recommending that all of their graduates do the
same, Natural Balance and Petco would make a donation of a portion of their
proceeds during the month of May to that school. 
    Most of the schools have refused their offer. In the words of the person
who shared this with me, "The name of our school is not for sale!" the
schools feed what they believe to be the best product for their dogs, not
the cheapest and definitely not the one who agrees to give them money in
exchange for the use of their names in order to market their product as "The
best food for guide dogs!"
    So why did the representative from Petco abruptly end his call to me?
Was it because we don't have a valuable mission worth supporting? Was it
because we put our focus on the user, not the dog? Was it because we weren't
big enough to have any influence over sales? Was it because we are blind
ourselves and, in true stereotypical thinking, have no influence? (Blindness
means "ignorant", you know!) Perhaps the phrase "consumer organization"
turned him away because we would see through the sham!
    In any case, the blind who actually use the dogs will not get a red cent
of the hundreds of thousands of dollars Petco told me they would raise as
the result of "Guide Dog Awareness Month". neither will most of the major
guide dog schools in the United States, unwilling to compromise their
integrity by endorsing a product. And, I ask, what does natural Balance,
Petco, and paula Abdul know about guide dogs that makes them the experts to
raise awareness about them? It seems Guide Dog Awareness Month is nothing
more than a marketing ploy to sell dog food!

Fraternally yours,
Marion Gwizdala


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