[nagdu] guide dog schools

GARY STEEVES rainshadowmusic at shaw.ca
Wed Oct 19 19:41:49 UTC 2011 

Hello:

My one comment on this school  topic is choose  who you listen to carefully. For example, living in Vancouver as I do, the CNIB (Canadian National Institue of the Blind) is the folks who would do the rehab assessment. I chose to by pass them and just convince the schools on my own that I have the mobility skills they are looking for. Here the CNIB pushes GDB. When I told them I was going to my school I felt a real negative attitude from them. Unfortunately, the conference we were at wrapped up and I couldn't follow up on why they felt the way the did. I would have listened to their concerns but would have only added that to all the information I had already gathered to hlep me make an informed decision. For example I was totally comfortable going to GDD which is a small school because I had learned good things about their head trainer. Even the school I went to in Canada that has had a mixed rep in the past had recently hired a new head trainer who was well respected which gave me more confidence about their program.

Do your research, ask your questions, find people who have gone to different programs and find out what they liked and didn't like about their experiences and pull it all together. In the end you have to make up your mind on what is important to you since it is you who will be working with the dog and the program.

Gary


----- Original Message -----
From: Hannah Chadwick <sparklylicious at suddenlink.net>
Date: Saturday, October 15, 2011 4:58 pm
Subject: Re: [nagdu] guide dog schools
To: "'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>

> I completely agree with all you've said Lea especially about the 
> ownershippart. :)
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] 
> On Behalf
> Of Lea williams
> Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2011 4:48 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] guide dog schools
> 
> Hey everyone. I am new on this list andhave been reading the 
> messages and
> messaging a few off list. I am looking in to a guide dog too, 
> but this thred
> is Hannah's and not mine but for the partual ownership thing my 
> thoughts on
> it are these.
> 
> I understand that a guide dog user would wantfull ownership of 
> their dog as
> soon as they graduate, but it is not always about the owner having
> ownership, but also about the safey of the dog. If someone seems 
> to be a
> good person to have a dog, and the school give them 
> fullownership and they
> go home and start to abuse the dog, over feed it, or whatever 
> the case might
> be, the school would have a much harder time to take back the 
> dog for it's
> own safey. If you believe that you can be responciple enough to 
> take care of
> the dog the correct way and maintain its health and training, 
> then you have
> nothing to worry about.
> 
> Hannah, you have described guiding eyes for the blind, try to 
> look in to
> them.
> They pay up to $200 anual for vet care, and maybe more if their 
> are some
> very bad health issues.
> They keep ownership for the first two years to insure the safey 
> of the dog
> and to make sure that both the owner and the dog works out well.
> They have tuns of reps all up and down the east coast, not sure 
> of anyplace
> else.
> They do come out and check on you and your dog for the first few 
> years to
> insure your doing fine and the dog is not getting fat or losing it's
> training.
> They really seem to care about both the dog and the people 
> getting the dogs.
> Now if you are one of those people who insist on complete 
> privacy, control
> and want to be the one to go to the school for help, then I do 
> not think you
> would like this school.
> I know i am responcible enough to do these things myself but, i 
> have heard a
> lot of good things threw other friends about this school and 
> would like to
> look in to them more myself.
> All to their own.
> If your a bit nervous and would feel more at ease with having someone
> checking up on you every now and then to make sure your doing 
> ok,then hey
> you might like them after all. It is not as if they are going to 
> be spying
> on you every day or something, they just want to know that you 
> and your dog
> are getting along well and nothing wrong is going on.
> 
> Now i have seen some peopel who has gotten a dog and abused it 
> but they have
> full ownership of their dog and their is not much the school can 
> do about it
> now. Is it fare to those dogs to get misstreated and noone come 
> rescue them
> like that? At least if a dog from guiding eyes is being 
> misstreated they
> have a chance of being rescued,
> 
> These are my thoughts and
> my understanding that not all think like me.
> 
> Lea williams
> 
> On 10/15/11, Hannah Chadwick <sparklylicious at suddenlink.net> wrote:
> > I know I can pay for food and toys and such but sometimes vet 
> bills 
> > can be pretty costly. Also it seems like some guide dog 
> schools work 
> > with petco to offer discounts.
> > I think sharing ownership for the first year or so would 
> reassure me 
> > in case something goes wrong with the dog.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-
> bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
> > Behalf Of Steven Johnson
> > Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2011 4:08 PM
> > To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog 
> Users'> Subject: Re: [nagdu] guide dog schools
> >
> > Hi Hannah,
> > One of the things you might want to consider as many of have 
> been 
> > there or are in a very similar situation as yours, is to check 
> with 
> > your vet to see if you can make monthly payments on your 
> bill.  My 
> > guide's vet costs annually for her major spring work up are 
> usually 
> > pushing $400+.  The other thing is to see if they offer a 
> reduced rate 
> > or discount to service dog users...many do.
> > Now on the first part of your post, you might want to really 
> look at 
> > the idea of ownership closely.  I do know that Leader 
> Dogs for 
> > theBlind has a 2-year wait until one can apply for ownership 
> which I 
> > personally find unacceptable.  Ownership to many of us on 
> this list is 
> > a big part of our independence, and the NAGDU continues to 
> advocate 
> > hard to get all schools to grant ownership upon 
> graduation.  Let me 
> > ask, that is if you feel comfortable in answering to the 
> group, but 
> > why do you think you need to have a time period before 
> ownership is
> granted?  Curious minds want to know.
> >
> > BTW, my name is Steve and I am working my 3rd black lab from 
> Leader 
> > Dogs.  I have had my guides since 1992, and I am the 
> current President 
> > of the Wisconsin Association of Guide Dog Users.
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-
> bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
> > Behalf Of Hannah Chadwick
> > Sent: Saturday, October 15, 2011 5:55 PM
> > To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog 
> Users'> Subject: [nagdu] guide dog schools
> >
> > Hi all,
> > I think working with a school with many representatives in a 
> lot of 
> > the States would be a plus for me in case something goes 
> wrong. Also 
> > I'd want to attend a school where I don't have complete 
> ownership of 
> > the dog, at least for now since I'm a college student. Being a 
> college 
> > student, I will also need financial help from the guide dog 
> school for 
> > vets. I'm not sure if this is asking for a lot or if there are 
> any schools
> that offer these things.
> > Please let me know if you have suggestions or ideas.
> > Thanks in advance, Hannah
> >
> >
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> 
> --
> Lea Williams
> 
> Phone;
> 704-732-4470
> Skipe;
> Lea.williams738
> Facebook
> http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001775297080
> 
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