[nagdu] I guess I will not be getting a dog

[Tami Jarvis]

Barb,

I'm sorry to hear that. Did they give specific reasons? Did the reasons 
seem reasonable to you? Is it something you can either refute or 
address? How do you feel about appealing and getting a dog from that 
program after the denial? What do you think about appealing and getting 
a dog from that program after the denial?

Those questions I asked myself when I was turned down by a program. I 
decided I thought the reasons were not reasonable -- like that I could 
read signs (I could not!) and so didn't need a guide dog. Since I had 
provided all those records about my vision and since to my knowledge it 
is not the job of a guide to read signs, I did not view this as a 
reasonable reason! There was another one given that I considered equally 
unreasonable, as well as a third that could have been taken more than 
one way. I did call to see about clarification, but the reviewer did not 
call me back. By that time it had occurred to me that while it was 
pretty clear the interviewer and I did not hit it off (though we both 
remained cordial throughout), the review board had signed off on the bit 
about reading signs, so... I began looking into other programs and was 
prepared to follow through on an application I had started before some 
stuff came up, then got a puppy to owner-train. I had been thinking of 
training a guide dog for years and really had a yen to do it anyway, 
though I thought it made more sense to use a guide dog for awhile first 
so I would know what I was training for. It was the insistence that I 
demonstrate a full-strength two-handed leash correction with a firm 
lecture that if they gave me a "strong" dog because they thought that 
was best, then that was best no matter what I thought. I said I did not 
want to go around the world that way, and I meant it. Anyway, it 
occurred to me that I know how to train an animal to voice and subtle 
hand and body signals, because that is how I like my animals to be and 
how I like to be with them. I can be firm when I need to, and can get a 
horse under control when strength and force are needed, but the notion 
that force is a regular part of handling... I may have gotten a wrong 
impression from her about that, although this was just before programs 
started moving to more positive methods and working towards producing 
softer dogs. Anyway, owner-training the first time out suddenly looked 
like a more viable option to get what I wanted, although that is far 
from the only reason I owner-trained.

Aren't there other programs by now that provide in-home training even to 
first-timers? It seems I've heard of a few people getting that from one 
or more programs, but I'm short on sleep and may be hallucinating 
perfect solutions. /smile/

Keep us posted on what you decide to do and what happens.

Tami

On 07/14/2014 09:46 PM, Barb breuer via nagdu wrote:
> I just got the letter from Fidelco guide dog school and they say I don't qualify, they were my only hope to get a dog because they come to me to train with the dog and not me going to the school for three weeks. I can't get that kind of time off of work and keep my job at the same time.
> I was hoping to get a dog, this was something I had wanted for 40 years.
> I just don't understand why I don't qualify. I have no big special needs.
> they say I can appeal, , but is it worth it.
> Barb
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