[nagdu] My Opinions on Several Recent Topics

Brandon Olivares programmer2188 at gmail.com
Tue May 6 04:22:46 UTC 2014


I find your last point interesting, about people who may not have the best mobility skills. My wife knows a guy who probably fits this category: he is nearly totally blind, but does not have very good cognizant skills. I honestly don’t know whether he could deal with a guide dog or not.

I agree there are certain circumstances where perhaps a person doesn’t get out very much now, but might more with a guide dog. I know my own experience, and those of others I’ve heard of, is that traveling by oneself with a cane can be a bit isolating. People don’t generally know what to make of you, so that can get frustrating.

But I do think that if you don’t have an inherent sense of direction, a dog isn’t going to help any. If it’s just a matter of confidence, then perhaps a dog can help there, but if you don’t know east from west, I’m not so sure how much a guide dog can help. Just my own opinion.

Brandon
On May 5, 2014, at 11:49 PM, Nicole Torcolini <ntorcolini at wavecable.com> wrote:

> This is probably going to be a slightly longer message as I am including
> several topics.
> 
> All of this is my opinions, so feel free to throw it to the dogs if you
> want.
> 
> I think that ownership does matter. It matters legally, and it gives you the
> right to make decisions about your dog. What is the point in a school
> retaining ownership? The dog is with you, so the school cannot be legally
> responsible for the dog or what the dog does. I think that some schools
> think that, if they retain ownership, then they can just drop out of the sky
> and take the dog if they want. I think that some schools do not grant
> immediate ownership because they want to be able to take the dog back if it
> does not work out. Why? Because they are afraid that the person will still
> try to work the retired dog? Because they are afraid that, if the person
> gets another dog, the retired dog will not be happy about it? I don't know.
> Whatever the excuse is, if a person has to stop working with a dog within a
> year or whatever the time period is, the school should be able to work
> things out with them through reasoning and concern for what is best for all
> parties involved, not brute force based on what is on a contract.
> 
> I think that, from time to time, problems will arise with which people need
> help. Sometimes, people notice these problems, and, sometimes, they don't
> notice them. I do not think that it is unreasonable to school to want to
> periodically check on their dogs. However, these visits should be by
> schedule only. How often should they be? I don't know. Perhaps a little more
> often in the beginning and then not so often as time goes on. Even if
> someone does not think that they need the school to visit, it still might be
> a good idea every once in a while in case there is something that the field
> representative notices that somehow the handler missed. If there is a
> problem, the school needs to actually work with the handler to solve it.
> There are usually multiple ways to solve a problem, and, sometimes, a school
> will insist on doing it a certain way, which may not be the best way to the
> particular situation. Also, I think that, occasionally, schools have
> unreasonable expectations about certain things. For these reasons, and the
> fear of having the dog taken away, I think that some people are afraid to
> ask for help. They don't ask when the problem is not bad and can be helped.
> Then, the problem gets worse, and they finally tell the school or the school
> gets wind of it through some other channel, and the person is in trouble for
> not getting help sooner.
> 
> The only time that I think that a dog should be taken away without
> discussion is if there is undisputable evidence of abuse/neglect to the
> point that the life of the dog is in jeopardy. If there is abuse/neglect,
> but the dog is not at quite as high of a risk, then the handler should to
> given a chance to explain. If the handler is unwilling or unable to explain,
> or does explain, but is unwilling to fix the problem, then the dog can be
> taken away. For example, someone might decide to use a pinch collar on a dog
> but inadvertently use it in an abusive way. 
> 
> When the school somehow finds out, they come to try to help by asking the
> handler to either stop using the collar or let them or another training
> source help learn how to use the collar correctly. The handler refuses to do
> either.
> 
> I agree that some schools match people with dogs that don't work. 
> 
> One of my friends was matched with a dog that was too domineering. The dog
> usually behaved, but, when the dog did not, my friend was not the type of
> person to work with that level of disobedience. Another friend was given a
> dog that the school had already tried to place a couple of times. I will not
> give any other details besides that that friend ended up returning the dog
> after the dog had problems-probably the same problems that had occurred with
> previous handlers.
> 
> I agree for the most part that people should have good orientation and
> mobility skills before getting a guide dog. The one that annoys me the most
> is when people who are somewhat newly blind don't want to be seen with a
> cane and think that a guide dog will solve all of their problems. I would
> like to through another question out there, though. Must people are able to
> learn orientation and mobility. However, some people, possibly for cognitive
> reasons, cannot. What if someone is perfectly fine in all other aspects, but
> just is not good at the whole where-am-I-and-which-way-do-I-go? What if
> someone does not get out much but gets out enough? What if having a guide
> dog actually helps a person because may become familiar with an area?
> 
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