[nagdu] Guides at NFB training centers

Sun Aug 30 13:06:49 UTC 2015

While I do believe there are many similarities between navigating with a dog and cane, the aspects of your environment you pay attention to while travel do vary pretty significantly with a dog and cane. §yes, it is important to know how to use a cane, but I do not believe that centers truly help a dog user reach her true travel potential without giving her ample opportunities to apply new found skills to dog travel. I still think the underlying issue though is the view many cane users have toward guide dogs. I can not even count the number of times someone has told me I was trying to hide my blindness because I use a folding cane or that I was an inferior traveler because my dog makes most of the decisions. Yes, my dog can find the way out of the room, but I have to have the orientation skills to realize that he has found a different door than the one we came in. Yes, he is going to stop for a moving car, but traffic decisions are ultimately mine to make. Whether you travel with a cane or dog, you need to be able to use the feedback from your environment to orient yourself. Teaching a student at a center to use tactile feedback from the cane is great for the times they will use this mobility aid, but it would also be instructive to assist the student in learning to pay closer attention to auditory feedback and the surface under her feet when using a dog. 

All this to say I think training centers should be more open to the teaching skills useful in guide dog travel, rather than making the automatic judgment that cane travel is superior.
 Of course there are guide dog users with very poor orientation skills, but these people are the exception, not the rule.
Danielle and Thai
Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 29, 2015, at 8:40 PM, Raven Tolliver via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nagdu mailing list
>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nagdu:
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/amc05111%40gmail.com
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nagdu:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/mike%40michaelhingson.com
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nagdu:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/ravend729%40gmail.com
> 
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/dsykora29%40gmail.com