[nagdu] Conditional Ownership

[Danielle Ledet]

Personally, I feel this devalues what the grad has to bring to the
partnership, but, Hey.

On 8/18/15, Danielle Ledet <singingmywayin at gmail.com> wrote:
> Alysha, I agree. I thought of this when we had adiscussion on the list
> but hadn't posted yet. The only way we are made aware of agreements
> between the school and the graduate is by the graduate. Why don't the
> schools publish a sample copy of it's contracts/ownership agreements
> so that these can be used when making inquiries and doing research on
> guide dog school options? Maybe this would clear up alot of
> misunderstanding regarding this issue. Jennifer, conditional ownership
> refers to the terms grads have to abide by upon graduation regarding
> the dog. It means that the school retains ownership of the dog until
> certain requirements are met by the grad, if that is an option.
>
>
> On 8/18/15, Jennifer Woods via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 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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>
>
> --
> Danielle
>
> Email: singingmywayin at gmail.com
>


-- 
Danielle

Email: singingmywayin at gmail.com