[nagdu] On Ownership

Daryl Marie crazymusician at shaw.ca
Fri May 2 20:02:01 UTC 2014


But then how far would those financial checks go?  Even though Jenny is my responsibility, I am married to someone who historically has had credit problems.  Would a guide dog school checking in to my financial background also breach his confidentiality and deny me the chance to train with a dog because of it?  Does that seem fair?

Daryl and Jenny (who is a little on edge today)
----- Original Message -----
From: Star Gazer <pickrellrebecca at gmail.com>
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users' <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Fri, 02 May 2014 13:47:33 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: Re: [nagdu] On Ownership

	Criminal background checks only "get" people who have found heir way
into the criminal justice system. Many many people commit crimes and are not
caught. And, an arrest means absolutely nothing. 
I wonder if the schools also do finantial background checks as finantial
stress can make people act in ways they normally wouldn't. Not to say that a
person under finantial stress would or wouldn't abuse a dog, just that
criminal background checks aren't the only background checks in town, and
may not give a full picture. 


-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Julie J.
Sent: Friday, May 2, 2014 1:49 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] On Ownership

Do any of the programs do criminal background checks?  What about the
references?  Is a reference letter submitted or are these people called and
asked questions?

I feel that the programs should use whatever means necessary to assess the
suitability of a particular person to have a dog and then let them have the
dog.  If there is some concern that the person won't properly take care of
the dog, then that person shouldn't get one.  Once the person has the dog, 
it's too late to prevent abuse or neglect.   Ownership or no ownership isn't

going to change the condition of the dog.

The only way that ownership can influence how people act toward their dog is
if it's used as a threat.  If you don't do what we say, then we'll repossess
your dog.  the thing with this approach is that it only works on folks who
would have taken proper care of the dog regardless of the ownership policy. 
People who do bad things are going to do bad things regardless of the rules.

An ownership policy isn't going to prevent abuse, any more than domestic 
abuse laws stop spouses from hitting each other.    People who don't commit 
abuse don't do it because of a law, they are non abusers because they feel
it's the right way to act.

I'd really like to know what the actual reason is for the various schools
ownership policies.  I've heard obesity, abuse, better follow up, being able
to place the dog after retirement, better service and all other manner of
nonsense.  It doesn't make any sense to me.  How does the ownership policy
affect the school's ability to provide good service?  It smells like an
excuse to me.

It would be interesting to see solid statistics comparing things like
obesity rates, abuse, time between a follow up request and the provision of
service and overall success rates between programs that retain ownership and
those that don't.  My hunch is that there is no correlation between
ownership and these items.  I think the better indicator is the quality of
the applicant screening process, and the quality of the training at the
program

Julie


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