[nagdu] question about ownership and retirement

Wed Jan 6 19:37:28 UTC 2010

Hi Lora,
Great that you're applying to Seeing Eye!  A "bad" dog can come out of any 
school - my first one from Seeing Eye was one!  I went to another school and 
got an "OK" dog and then returned to Seeing Eye after that.  Dogs are living 
animals and there's no guarentees no matter what program they're from. 
However, I look at HOW I am treated by the program when there's a problem. I 
worked with that dog I had for two years and tried many things my 
instructors asked me to do.  Finally, it was agreed by the school and myself 
that this dog was unsuitable for the work.  At NO time during this, did I 
ever feel disrespected by Seeing Eye staff. The Seeing Eye is the only 
school that I can say I have never been disrespected by while there or after 
I came home.  BTW, several years later, Seeing Eye's Director of Training 
told me that that dog of mine should have never gone out in the first place! 
Hey, live and learn!

You will like Seeing Eye and I wish you much luck!  I am not trying to bash 
anyone's school - you all go to the program you like and you have success 
at.  This is my experiences only! (grin!)

Lyn and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lora" <blindhistory at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 06, 2010 9:23 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] question about ownership and retirement

>I retired my guide Trice five months after I came home with him. He had 
>fear
> issues an would stop in the middle of the road. The last week I worked him
> he would step out into the road and we'd have to wait two light cycles to
> cross the street. I had two instructors out and I tried one of their
> techniques, but they basically wanted me to avoid things that caused Trice
> to react which would mean stopping guide work. I am applying to The Seeing
> Eye. I felt like I wasn't respected by the school and had bad dogs from 
> that
> school that endangered me.
>
> On Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 3:00 PM, Dan Sweeney 
> <daniel.sweeney1 at comcast.net>wrote:
>
>> Hello Tracy,
>> Yes, it is the same Daniel with the wild and crazy Leader Dog, Scout. I
>> never did return the little shit, much to my surprise. I had a trainer 
>> out
>> last January, 09. He admitted to me that I was not ready to leave the
>> school
>> with Scout when I did. He told me that he even told my instructor this, 
>> but
>> it was ignored. But that is all water under the bridge now. He did show 
>> me
>> a
>> few ways to get control of my little ever-ready bunny dog, and it has
>> helped
>> quite a bit. The dog is still not the guide dog I imagined, nor I had
>> observed when I had some bit of sight. He still walks at a turbo pace, 
>> with
>> his head to the ground most of the time. As long as I  have tried to
>> "steady" him, it has been over a year and a half now, he will only comply
>> when he wants to. Other than that he is a great dog. He is a perfect 
>> guard
>> dog around the house, and has foiled 2 intruders. He is totally 
>> protective
>> of me, and will not leave my side when at home.
>> He will belong to me in July, and I was considering attending a different
>> school, to get a real guide dog - now that I know what to expect from a
>> guide dog. I thought of keeping Scout as our family dog, which he has
>> become
>> such a part of. He is absolutely wild when he is off leash, in the 
>> backyard
>> he runs laps continually, he never tires. He has more energy than I could
>> ever imagine a dog to have. The comments from everyone I know is "THAT is 
>> a
>> guide dog, you are kidding!"
>> So, that is the why the questions on retirement, ownership and the like.
>> Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.
>> Daniel and Scout
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
>> Behalf
>> Of Tracy Carcione
>> Sent: Monday, January 04, 2010 6:31 AM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] question about ownership and retirement
>>
>> Hi Daniel.
>> Are you the Daniel with the wild Leader dog?  How's it going?
>>
>> I have kept 2 retired dogs.  The first, Amba,  had to stop working 
>> because
>> she got cancer.  She lived only a few months after the diagnosis.  I 
>> could
>> have waited to get a new dog until she was gone, but I much prefer to 
>> have
>> a dog in New York City, and we kept hoping the treatment she got would
>> work, so I did not wait.  It did interfere somewhat with the bonding
>> process with the new dog, primarily because I was spending a lot of time
>> and energy caring for my sick dog, and spending time with her while I
>> could.  But after her passing, the bond between me and my new dog got
>> stronger, and everything was fine.  And, even before, we could work
>> together fine.
>>
>> I also kept Echo (who was the new dog I was just talking about).  She
>> retired at age 11, and is still going strong 3 years later.  I had no
>> problem bonding with my newer dog, Ben.  My husband took over some of the
>> care of Echo, taking her for walks mostly, and she and Ben don't mind 
>> each
>> other.  They play sometimes, and steal toys from each other, but mostly
>> they ignore each other.  Sometimes Echo still comes to the door when I
>> pick up the harness, but really she seems happy to take life easy and let
>> the young dude do the work.
>>
>> I think it really helps to have another person around when one has 2 
>> dogs.
>> HTH.
>> Tracy
>>
>>
>> > Hello group,
>> >
>> > I am back on the list again because I missed all of everyone's helpful
>> > comments and suggestions in the past. I have a question. What is the
>> > earliest someone has retired their guide  which they received from a
>> > school?
>> > Upon retirement, did you keep that dog while returning to either to the
>> > same
>> > school or a different school to obtain another guide? And finally, was
>> > their
>> > any complications at home due to the fact that the new guide was
>> replacing
>> > the previous guide when it came to developing a solid bond?
>> >
>> > Whew! I know it is a lot to ponder, but I figured since the 
>> > conversation
>> > seemed to be around ownership issues, at least partly, I figured it 
>> > would
>> > be
>> > a good time to ask.
>> >
>> > Daniel.
>> >
>>
>>
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>
>
>
> -- 
> Lora and Trice
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