[nagdu] Matching was Re: PBS program link

Sat Apr 24 01:48:27 UTC 2010

At GDB, they start evaluating you when they come to your in home interview. 
Part of the reason for the Juno (trainer holding the harness with no dog) 
walks is to see how you walk.  They try to gage how fast you walk and what 
type of dog you can handle.  I do not know when they actually make the 
decision, but we got to do obedience and heel dogs that were for the next 
class the day before we received our dogs.  If you need a particular type of 
dog, such as one that walks slower, you usually can tell them that.  Also, 
GDB takes your preferences, but I told them that, in the end, it was up to 
them.  If they had a dog that they would fit me well that was not the 
breed/gender that I preferred, I would take it anyways.  I did not have to 
worry, though.  Lexia was top of the list for me--female black lab.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "GARY STEEVES" <rainshadowmusic at shaw.ca>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2010 5:19 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] PBS program link

> Hi:
>
> Well this leads me to a question which is very relevant  to me around how 
> do schools do their matching? I'm off to school in I guess about 10 days 
> and I'm curious how they do the match at the school? I know this will 
> change a bit from people's past experiences at different schools but all 
> comments should prove to be interesting.
>
> Thanks
> Gary
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Linda Gwizdak <linda.gwizdak at cox.net>
> Date: Friday, April 23, 2010 11:22 am
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] PBS program link
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>
>> Yeah, Julie, I saw that comment at the end of the show - missed
>> the
>> beginning.  I thought, "Well, if a dog gets you a job -
>> hey, where's my
>> job!!" Hahaha!
>>
>> It seems that everything about disabled and dogs have this
>> component of
>> "AAAAAHHH! How warm and fuzzy!"  And how we disabled have
>> no lives unless we
>> are partnered with a dog. They NEVER show us living our lives as
>> normal
>> people and that the dogs do enhance what is already there in our
>> lives. Not
>> create our lives.  So many times people will tell me that
>> it's great I have
>> such a neat "best friend" as if I had no friends other than
>> Landon. I smile
>> and tell them that he is my best CANINE friend - to assume I
>> have best HUMAN
>> friends!
>>
>> This all happens because it's the NON blind or disabled people
>> who make
>> these films and NOT us who live with the blindness or
>> disability.  I wish
>> our communities had the money to make films about our own lives
>> from the
>> viewpoint of a blind or disabled person. Without the warm fuzzy
>> stuff that
>> generates money to the programs.
>>
>> It all seemed strange with all the people and dogs running
>> around in that
>> room.  I saw toddlers running around as well. It seemed
>> like alot of
>> distraction there and how could they really make the best
>> matches of dog and
>> person?
>>
>> I like how we get matched at guide dog school.
>>
>> Lyn and Landon
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Julie J" <julielj at windstream.net>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog
>> Users"
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Friday, April 23, 2010 5:53 AM
>> Subject: [nagdu] PBS program link
>>
>>
>> > Here's the link to the PBS program
>> >
>> > http://video.pbs.org/video/1475527358
>> >
>> > When I went to that link the video started playing
>> automatically.   No
>> > clue if that's just my settings or if it will do that for everyone.
>> >
>> > My thoughts on the program...
>> > I'm with Tracy, that bit at the beginning about how the dogs
>> give the
>> > person their life and happiness was disturbing.  I also
>> noticed that they
>> > used, "confined to a wheelchair" which is generally not
>> accepted among
>> > disability groups.  I was also very, very not impressed
>> by a statement
>> > toward the end of the program about the people not being
>> normal, then they
>> > get the dogs and can have a life and a job.
>> >
>> > this particular service dog program seems to place a lot of
>> dogs with
>> > young children.  The video mentions 5 kids and only one
>> adult.  It was
>> > interesting to see how much the parents and other family
>> members were
>> > involved in the process.
>> >
>> > I liked the trainer, Chris.  He uses positive training
>> methods, mainly
>> > luring.  It was really cool to see how he could use eye
>> movement to cue
>> > the dog, very useful for nonverbal people.
>> >
>> > The program focuses a lot on the emotional aspects of service
>> dogs.
>> > Probably 95% of what they talked about were bonding and
>> partnership
>> > aspects and very little in actual tasks.
>> >
>> > The matching process was very, very different from what is
>> typical in
>> > guide dog programs.  It seemed to me that they let all
>> the dogs and people
>> > mingle in one big room.  The dogs and people picked each
>> other.  I'm not
>> > sure how big the class was, but there were two dog switches,
>> one during
>> > class and another a few weeks after returning home.  I
>> like the concept of
>> > choosing your own dog, to a point. I don't know that a free
>> for all
>> > matching process is the best way to go though.
>> >
>> > JMO
>> > Julie
>> > _______________________________________________
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>>
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