[nagdu] The Truth About Guide Dog Awareness Month

[Linda Gwizdak]

THANK YOU MARION!!!!!  You know, people who want to make money will do 
ANYTHING to acheive that goal - making money and profits!!!!!

Good for you, Marion, for letting us know what is going on so we are truely 
informed and we can do something about it.  Will a flood of letters or 
e-mails to PetCo's corporate offices help them to "get it"?  They're only a 
"Google search" away!

Regards,

Linda and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marion & Martin" <swampfox1833 at verizon.net>
To: "NAGDU List" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 4:36 AM
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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