[nagdu] Cost of a service dog

[Laurel and Stockard]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand, guide dogs are also possibly the most expensive type of service dog to train? I know their training is more intense and maybe even takes longer than say a diabetes dog's training. I'm not saying that diabetes dogs or any other kind of dog is less well trained or that the other service dog trainers don't work as hard, but as you probably know, a guide dog has to know and do a lot more than just 2 or 3 tasks. I'm thinking if guide dog schools charged clients a certain percentage of the training costs, it would be quite expensive. I would love to do a study done on the real costs of training a guide dog (I believe this can run between 50,000 and 80,000 dollars for a school trained dog) and the cost of other types of service dogs with relation to how that does or does not have an effect on client charges etc.
Just my theory anyways. Some schools might give dogs for free because they have a low opinion of the blind, but my personal opinion is that it probably has more to do with if we were actually charged for our dogs the same way other people get ccharged for theirs (usually a percentage of the training costs from what I understand) we'd be paying way more than other service dog clients.
This is definitely an interesting topic and like I said above, I'd love to see an official study done on it. Maybe there's already one out there?
Laurel and Stockard
On Aug 27, 2013, at 10:06 AM, Jenine Stanley wrote:

> Tracy, 
> 
> 
> It all has to do with economies of scale. 
> 
> Yes, the guide dog schools are fairly well established organizations, even
> the newer ones, and have an established organizational model that says you
> don't charge for services, or you do the minimal charge of asking a student
> to pay for travel, or, as is the case with TSE, a nominal charge for other
> reasons. 
> 
> Many service dog programs are very small and simply have no other way of
> garnering the funds to do what they do. 
> 
> I have and will always defend TSE's policy of the nominal fee as I truly
> believe in its purpose. 
> 
> Guide Dog Foundation's service dog arm, America's VetDogs, is, I believe,
> the only program that does not charge a fee to obtain a service dog and
> attend training class. That said, what prompts a lot of owner-training in
> the service dog world is the waiting list at schools. It takes us a long
> time to find the right dog to match someone's needs. Many people find it
> easier to owner-train. Many also try it and come back for the wait when they
> find it's not as easy as it seems. 
> 
> Hope that helps.
> 
> 
> Jenine Stanley
> jeninems at wowway.com
> http://www.twitter.com/jeninems
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
> Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 10:49 AM
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nagdu] Cost of a service dog
> 
> Marion's recent question about the cost of a service dog got me thinking. 
> It's my impression that many non-guide service dog training centers charge a
> lot to their clients, like thousands of dollars.  When TSE started out, they
> charged a fee that was substantial at the time, but now is less than I've
> spent taking guests out to a nice dinner.  The norm among guide dog schools
> is to charge nothing, or a nominal fee, so much so that I hear people
> complain about TSE's fee.
> I wonder why other service dog training centers charge so much, while those
> for guide dogs charge so little?  My first guess Is it's because the guide
> dog schools are well-established charities, with sufficient donations.  Or
> is it possible that blind people expect to get things free, and other
> disabled people don't?
> The cost certainly explains the relative numbers of owner-trainers.  If I
> had to raise thousands every time I needed a new dog, it would make
> owner-training a very attractive alternative.
> Anyway, just wondering, and not complaining.
> Tracy
> 
> 
> 
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