[nagdu] Conditional Ownership

[Jennifer Woods]

What is conditional ownership?



On Jul 13, 2015, at 7:39 PM, Alysha via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:

Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents about the ownership issue. I am a Seeing
Eye grad, and their policy of full ownership is very important to me.
However, I also understand that schools want to make sure the dogs they work
so hard to train and match are being treated well and worked appropriately.
I think many animal rescue organizations have conditional ownership
contracts. For example, they might require that if the animal needs to be
rehomed, it must be given back to the rescue organization rather than given
to a new home directly by the owners. Also, a parrot rescue organization in
my area requires that you agree to conduct an annual veterinary exam of your
bird with bloodwork as a condition of adoption. I have no problem with a
guide dog school putting some conditions on ownership. However, I believe
these conditions must be reasonable and very clearly stated. Also, the
school should provide a specific written statement regarding what actions
will be taken by the school if the handler does not abide by the contract.
If the school wishes to retain the ability to repossess a dog, they should
be able to include the specific possible reasons for doing so in their
contract. They should be required to gather strong evidence of wrongdoing
which should be shared with the graduate. I think every school should have
such a legally binding contract, and this contract would give both the
school and the handler legal recourse if they feel the contract was violated
by the other party.  Schools should be willing to publically share these
contracts to their prospective students, donors, volunteers, etc. It seems a
bit crazy that we keep going back and forth on the various ownership
policies of several schools on this list, but most of our information comes
from anecdotal accounts of graduates. Why is there no easily found
information from many schools that states their policies? Why have schools
been unwilling to share copies of their contracts with NAGDU? Whether we
believe that all schools should grant full and unconditional ownership or
not, I think we can all agree that a guide dog school should not arbitrarily
repossess a dog without due process. So I think the most serious problem is
with schools that retain full ownership of the dogs, leaving the handler
with basically no rights what-so-ever. Conditional ownership is still
ownership. It may feel patronizing to be asked to turn in vet reports or to
be periodically evaluated by an instructor, but at least there are specific
conditions the handler knows they must follow to retain ownership of their
dog. If the school owns the dog completely, the handler is at the total
mercy of that school. Perhaps NAGDU might consider offering a resolution in
the future that calls for more fairness and transparency in how schools deal
with their graduates and encourages schools to abolish policies that grant
full ownership of the dog to the school. I could see this as a good first
step that might possibly be a bit less controversial.



Alysha

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