[nagdu] dog school questions

[Steven Johnson]

Jessica,
I can only speak on behalf of Leader Dog, and specifically myself being a
recent graduate once again.  
1.  Leader Dogs is highly regarded for their instruction to guide dog
recipients who are deaf/blind.
2.  Leader Dog is now beginning to do more accelerated training and each
individual graduate is considered on a case by case basis.  I was actually
one who went through the recent program in 2 weeks as a 4th-time recipient. 
3.  Leader Dog generally is still doing the videos, although they will still
do a home interview if they feel is necessary.  I actually had both as they
came up in February to assess me and my previous guide, and videoed us in
our work environments, and used this as a team to further assess which would
be the best match for me.
4.  I know that Leader Dog does require references, and I believe it is 6.
However, again depending on your situation and how well they know you, they
might have more flexibility with this.  I for instance only had to provide 3
references, but then again, I am constantly keeping in contact with my
school, and communicating with them.  This is always a good practice, and as
well, I do a lot of public speaking with the Lion's on behalf of Leader Dog.
5.  The wait times are difficult to determine as it is based on what kind of
dog a person wants or if they really will take the best match.  Leader Dog
has relatively short wait-times to get into class, and in fact, I submitted
my application on March 115, it was approved the following Tuesday and I
already had a class date for April 29 two days later.

Hope this helps it is sometimes good to get this information from the
perspective of a graduate student who knows and understands the school, but
by no means am I saying that first-time students don't have this
information, as they might, but not to the degree that graduate students do.


Steve & Bennett
-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Jessica Pitzer
Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2012 2:27 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] dog school questions

So, since the survey hasn't been updated yet since 2006, I figured I'd
source the croud to see what's changed in the areas I'm interested in.
Not for me but someone else, which schools currently provide dogs to someone
hwo is totally blind and profoundly deaf, AKA wears hearing aids and such?
Next, which programs provide the shorter programs AKA 2 weeks or less for
people who have had a dog before?
Which programs allow videos to be submitted instead of a home interview?
Whihc programs still require references, and which don't?
And finally what are the waiting times like these days.
Thanks for all your help.
Jessica

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