[nagdu] SELF TRAINING

Julie J julielj at windstream.net
Mon May 3 11:47:41 UTC 2010


Cheryl O,

People who train their own guide dogs prefer to be called owner trainers, 
since it is the owner that does the training not the dog. *smile*

My first owner trained guide who was my experiment in owner training was 
raised from 5 weeks old by me.  Dogs two and three came to me as older 
puppies, around 9 months old.

Puppies are an incredible amount of work.  I chose to go with an older puppy 
or adult because I would clearly be able to see the temperament of the dog. 
With young puppies I always feel like I'm doing a lot of guessing.  That 
could be because I don't have as much experience with very young puppies.  I 
also wanted to be able to start the guide portion of training reasonably 
soon.  And to be honest I'm not particularly excited at the thought of 
getting up in the middle of the night to take a young puppy out or to clean 
up messes on the carpet.

JMHO
Julie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cheryl Osborn" <chapalacheryl at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 7:08 PM
Subject: [nagdu] SELF TRAINING


> Hello everyone,
>
> First of all I want to say that I know very little about self-trained
> dogs.  I am working with my third dog from The Seeing Eye and have
> often wondered just what took place during the puppy raising.
>
> I would like to ask you all this question.  Do you feel that it is
> important to not only train your own dog but also do your own puppy
> raising?
>
> On 5/2/10, Albert J Rizzi <albert at myblindspot.org> wrote:
>> Well, first we have someone who understands some of what goes into some
>> people's choices  in their options for mobility. We also have another
>> misinformed individual who knows nothing of the handlers who prefer to 
>> owner
>> train their dogs. We also have a person who has a strong affiliation with 
>> a
>> school that the Lion's Club committed raises funds for. So, perhaps there 
>> is
>> an opportunity to educate miss rosemary on the fact that some people are
>> very adept at training their dogs and that as a president of a chapter 
>> she
>> needs to be better informed before she offers advice or as I have
>> interpreted the tone, condemnation for those who choose to owner train. I
>> would be happy to suggest forwarding this email to our lion's list serve 
>> and
>> ask them their opinion, and I would even offer to write her, for I myself 
>> am
>> a lion and would welcome the opportunity of opening her eyes to the 
>> truths
>> about guides and options with everything that is Lionism. She is just
>> unaware and ignorant of what is possible in this regard, and may 
>> obviously
>> be getting her skewed  opinion  from the organization  which she and her
>> club give so much money to and get so much publicity from for doing so.
>>
>> Albert J. Rizzi, M.Ed.
>> CEO/Founder
>> My Blind Spot, Inc.
>> 90 Broad Street - 18th Fl.
>> New York, New York  10004
>> www.myblindspot.org
>> PH: 917-553-0347
>> Fax: 212-858-5759
>> "The person who says it cannot be done, shouldn't interrupt the one who 
>> is
>> doing it."
>>
>>
>> Visit us on Facebook LinkedIn
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
>> Behalf
>> Of Jessica Pitzer
>> Sent: Sunday, May 02, 2010 3:53 PM
>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>> Subject: [nagdu] rejected by teh lions club?
>>
>> Hi all,
>> following is an email I received in response to an email I sent to my
>> local lions club about asking for help with some of the costs of owner
>> training. I'm.. not quite sure how to feel right now except baffled as
>> we have some many owner trainers and I just embarked on this journey
>> myself.
>> Thoughts?
>> On 5/2/10, Rosemary Richert <rosemary at richertnet.com> wrote:
>>> Hi Bert,
>>>
>>> It is highly unusual, and questionably irresponsible, for someone to 
>>> train
>>> their own guide dog.  The state only recognizes service animals which 
>>> have
>>> been professionally trained.  Any other such dogs may be banned from
>> places
>>> which would otherwise allow access to service animals.  Necessary 
>>> training
>>> of the dog is very comprehensive and time consuming.  And, subsequently,
>>> training of the blind person with the dog is, also, very comprehensive 
>>> and
>>> time consuming.  For the person's training, alone, three weeks of 
>>> on-site
>>> training with the animal determined best suited to their needs is
>> required.
>>> The blind person needs to prove their orientation and mobility skills
>> before
>>> even being accepted into a training program.  Without proof of the
>> adequacy
>>> of those skills, they will not be accepted.
>>>
>>> I served on the Board of Directors of Leader Dogs for the Blind for four
>>> years, and am the person who convinced the facility to become trainers 
>>> for
>>> the blind/deaf community...to the best of my knowledge, it remains the
>> only
>>> facility with qualified instructors of deaf/blind individuals.  I tell 
>>> you
>>> this, so that you may understand that I have a credible background in
>> these
>>> matters, and know whereof I speak.  I would strongly caution your Lions
>>> club, or any other Lions club, about considering involvement with a 
>>> person
>>> who thinks they can train a guide dog for the blind on their own.
>>> Involvement under such circumstances could come back to haunt an 
>>> otherwise
>>> well-meaning club.  It would make much more sense for this person to be
>>> screened as to qualifications; and, if qualified, be sponsored to a
>>> recognized service do training program.
>>>
>>> Thank you for your kind consideration.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> God bless.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> With Lionism at Heart, C
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> PDG Rosemary
>>
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>
>
> -- 
> Cheryl in Mexico
> chapalacheryl at gmail.com
>
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