[nagdu] Guides at NFB training centers

[Raven Tolliver]

This is ridiculous. Teaching me how to travel better encompasses
teaching me to use orientation skills in conjunction with a guide dog
since that is my mobility aid of choice. Better cane technique or cane
usage for mobility does not help me as a guide dog traveler. As guide
dog travelers, we are required to assess our environment through our
feet, hands, sound shadows, and cuing our dogs to locate certain
landmarks. I don't see how cane travel translates.
Cane travel and guide dog travel are diametrically different, as Julie
J described in a previous post relating to Tom trying for a guide dog.
If the training centers don't have these differences in mind and
cannot adapt lessons accordingly, I think this is incredibly devaluing
and inconsiderate of handlers relationships and use of their guide
dogs.

After I got a guide dog, I received mobility training from an O&M
instructor around the city that I lived in. How useful would that
training have been to me if she had said, "Even though you've got your
dog, I'm gonna show you how to navigate the city using your cane."
What kind of sense does that make? The cane does things the dog
doesn't, and vice versa. I have to use certain techniques with my dog
that I never had to with a cane, and vice versa.
I'm not saying the training you'll receive will be useless, but part
of it will be a waste, considering there are important aspects of
guide dog travel you could concentrate on instead.
I understand that training centers teach much more than O&M. But I've
stayed at the training center here in Michigan, and the O&M
instructors there are perfectly fine with clients using their guide
dogs. In fact, my instructor at the training center recommended that I
apply to get a guide dog, a long while before I even considered it as
an option.
-- 
Raven
Founder of 1AM Editing & Research
www.1am-editing.com

You are valuable because of your potential, not because of what you
have or what you do.

Naturally-reared guide dogs
https://groups.google.com/d/forum/nrguidedogs

On 8/29/15, Michael Hingson via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have not been to a center as a student, but I serve on one of the center
> boards and have talked to many people who have participated in the
> programs.
> My understanding is that centers will assist by permitting you to leave
> your
> dog in an office, possibly with staff, so the dog will not be alone.
> Remember that the reason, in part, for going to the centers is to learn
> better travel techniques which means developing better cane skills as that
> is what the centers teach. You WILL find this invaluable after your time at
> the center.
>
>
> Best Regards,
>
>
> Michael Hingson
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ashley Coleman
> via nagdu
> Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2015 5:11 PM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Ashley Coleman <amc05111 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Guides at NFB training centers
>
> Hi, I know that these centers do a great job in regards to teaching. Please
> make sure that your dog get as much exercise as normal. Also, live a radio
> or TV on so that your dog has something calming to listen to. Check with
> your trainers to find out when they would like you to use a cane. Honestly,
> I would rather work with my dog than a cane. I would have a difficult time
> leaving Landon behind in my room all day. JMO.
>
> Ashley Coleman,
>
>
>
>> On Aug 29, 2015, at 19:07, Aleeha Dudley via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> wrote:
>>
>> Hello all,
>> I will be attending the Louisiana center for the blind in September. I
> know what their policy on dogs is, but I would like to hear from those who
> have attended centers with your dogs. How was it? What can I do to reduce
> the stress on my dog from being left all day?
>> Thanks.
>> Aleeha
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
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