[nagdu] Guide dog school that offers guide dogs to children between the ages of 11 & 17 years old.

[rhonda cruz]

 hi i got my dog when i was 22. years old. and it worked out good. i  have never seen a younger person get a dog. from a program. i only have older friends. that have them. but i think it is up to the person.
 it is like taking care of a kid.
 
On May 31, 2013, at 8:28 PM, Nicole Torcolini wrote:

> First, let me say that I know someone who received a dog at a young  age (I
> cannot remember the exact age) from a Canadian organization, probably the
> one mentioned in this article. I cannot remember the whole story, but I
> think that, eventually, there was some sort of problem with the dog, but it
> was the dog, and not the person. So, although I agree that the cases where
> getting a guide dog at a young age may be few, they do exist.
> 
> In general I think that it could probably be said that, as you lower the
> age, the number of cases were getting a guide dog works out well gets lower
> and lower. I agree that eleven is too low, but I also think that sixteen is
> also a little to high. I think that people should at least be able to be
> evaluated for a guide dog around thirteen or fourteen. Sometimes, there can
> be more things that need to be worked out before a person can get a dog than
> the person thought, and having a year or two to work those out would be
> nice.
> 
> I agree that having a dog around other people, especially kids, might be
> hard for a child. Most children are still in elementary school at age
> eleven, and elementary schools usually have at least first graders if not
> kindergarteners.
> 
> The whole thing about people talking about only the dog I think is not
> always a problem. JMHO, if someone wants to talk just about my dog and
> nothing else, then I don't want to talk to them. I have met very few people
> who insisted on talking about nothing but the dog, and, for most of those
> people, I have gotten it through to them that the dog is not the main
> concern at the moment and that there are other things that need to be done.
> Even for those people who start by talking about the dog, they do not seem
> to mind when I change the subject; they sometimes change it themselves.
> Would this be the same for a child? I really cannot say. I think that
> younger children may want to stick more to the topic of dogs, but I think
> that teenagers would not so much.
> 
> I definitely agree that good O&M skills are a must before getting a guide
> dog. That does not just include knowing how to use a cane but also knowing
> where you are and which direction you are pointing relative to your
> surroundings. I do see how a child might try to avoid using a cane just
> because having a dog is cooler. No, I don't necessarily like my cane, but
> that has nothing to do with the fact that the cane means that I am blind.
> 
> I don't really know what to say about things not working out with the
> family. I think that there would need to be some kind of information for the
> family, and some way for the representatives from the guide dog school to
> talk to the child about how things are going without parents skewing the
> information. Sometimes, when I have to keep reminding people about things
> about my guide dog, I joke about sending them to the guide dog training just
> so that they can learn the rules.
> 
> I do agree that responsibility for the dog can be a problem, but I think
> that it should be considered on a case by case basis. Perhaps a strongly
> recommended prerequisite for a child getting a guide dog is that the child
> has to be able to take care of a family pet almost independently before
> getting a guide dog. When I was eleven, my family got a pet dog, and,
> although I did not do everything, I could do most of the tasks for taking
> care of her on my own. Had push come to shove, I would have found a way to
> do the other tasks. But my parents have always encouraged my independence,
> so I certainly see where it could be more of a problem of parents wanting to
> help too much. Perhaps there could be some sort of paperwork for the parents
> as well saying that the dog is the responsibility of the child and the
> parents are not supposed to help too much. I do definitely agree that this
> is important for a good working relation with the dog, especially in the
> first few months.
> 
> I agree that it needs to be the choice of the child to get a guide dog. It
> most certainly was me, not my parents, who decided that I would get a guide
> dog. They most certainly were not against it, but it was my decision, and
> they have always been mostly supportive of letting make my own personal
> choices.
> 
> I also agree that having a child get a guide dog because the child is
> supposedly safer is not a valid reason for a child to get a guide dog,
> especially if the parents expect the dog to protect the child.
> 
> I do agree that some people are probably not mature enough at thirteen or
> fourteen to get a guide dog, but I am sure that some do exist. Again, it is
> something that needs to be considered differently for each situation.
> 
> It is not *horrible* to wait till you are sixteen, but I certainly would
> have enjoyed a guide dog a little sooner than I got one. I find travel that
> much easier and more enjoyable with a dog rather than a cane.
> 
> Perhaps one way of trying to make sure that the dog was actually used as a
> guide dog and did not just become a pet would be to have stricter vision
> requirements for younger children as I feel that younger children are more
> likely to use (or try to use) any remaining vision that they have. This gets
> back to that a person needs to have accepted his/her blindness before
> getting a guide dog.
> 
> I also don't like that people think that children can be more independent
> just because they have a guide dog. There is nothing that keeps a parent
> from reaching over and holding on to his/her child if the child has a dog
> any more than if the child has a cane. I am an adult, and people still try
> to hold onto and direct me when I am using my dog.
> 
> Returning to the point about children having to tell people, including
> people older than him/her, not to pet the dog, I can definitely tell where
> this would be a problem. However, if it is junior high and not elementary
> school, I would think that the school staff could come to understand the
> rules, even if it had to come from someone other than the child, such as a
> rep from the guide dog school.
> 
> As a closing case, I will say that, although I reference my experiences in
> this email, my experiences certainly are not those of every blind child.
> 
> Nicole
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Deanna Lewis
> Sent: Friday, May 31, 2013 5:05 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog
> Users(nagdu at nfbnet.org)
> Subject: [nagdu] Guide dog school that offers guide dogs to children between
> the ages of 11 & 17 years old.
> 
> What do you all think about this...
> Deanna and Pascal
> 
> 
> 
> MIRA - The only organization in the United States dedicated to providing
> guide dogs to blind children and youth between the ages of 11-17.
> 
> MIRA: from the Spanish "look", "to have one's sights set on", was the
> nickname of a favorite guide dog trained by Eric St. Pierre, founder of MIRA
> Canada. MIRA Foundation USA takes its name from its collaboration with MIRA
> Canada, a nonprofit organization founded in 1981 upon the belief that all
> individuals, regardless of their physical challenges, should be able to set
> their sights on the same goals as those people born without handicaps.
> 
> Today, MIRA Canada is recognized as a global leader in the breeding,
> selection, and training of guide and service dogs. MIRA USA was created in
> 
> 2008 as a legally separate entity, but with close ties to MIRA Canada, where
> our dogs are currently trained.
> 
> Our mission is to offer blind children in the United States between the ages
> of 11-17 the opportunity to receive guide dogs free of charge, to provide
> targeted educational outreach to promote public awareness, and, as we
> continue to grow, to offer support services to the adult population of blind
> and their families.
> 
> It is our experience that blind children, for the most part, are highly
> adaptive, fiercely determined, and seek to have many of the same
> opportunities as their sighted peers. Although a cane provides an adequate
> degree of mobility for the blind and severely visually impaired, there
> remain some serious limitations. For example, it is impossible to navigate
> with a cane when there is no tactical information such as what is provided
> by sidewalks. A child living in a rural area is severely challenged by this
> restriction.
> 
> Furthermore, a cane tends to be isolating, whereas a dog provides a social
> bridge to the sighted community. Not only are dogs social creatures, they
> also provide stability and a level of protection through their visual
> awareness training that a cane could never replicate.
> 
> Finally, a guide dog provides a young blind person with a greater level of
> self-reliance at an early age. Although a very young student is not going to
> be out on the streets alone with their dog, having the ability to navigate
> without holding a parent's hand is crucial to developing maturity and
> confidence. The student's freedom and mobility are especially enhanced in
> the school environment with the assistance of a guide dog. Although there is
> no cure for blindness, there can be hope, and we at MIRA witness it every
> day through the service of a MIRA guide dog.
> 
> http://www.mirausa.org/
> 
> 
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