[nagdu] Guide Dog School

[Marianne Denning]

Most schools who maintain ownership of the dog do not pay vet bills.
They maintain ownership of the dog so they can take the dog if they
believe the dog is too overweight or is being abused.  I don't think
they want to take the dogs away from us because that can reflect badly
on them, but they use this as there way to do it. After I had my
current dog for a year Leader Dogs asked for health records from my
vet.  I didn't provide them so they sent out a field rep to check out
my dog.  They thought I was hiding her weight problem from them but I
wasn't.  If this were my first dog I would have provided the
information but since I have been getting dogs from Leader for over 25
years I did not think I should have to do that.

NAGDU and guide dog schools have a very different view of things, as I
see it.  NAGDU supports and promotes the rights of dog guide teams and
guide dog schools want to provide a highly trained dog for a blind
person.  The schools also want to assure that the health and
well-being of the dog is maintained.  I think this means there are
areas where NAGDU and guide dog schools will agree and areas where
they disagree.

As long as people continue to go to schools that maintain ownership
there is no reason for the schools to change their policies.  If NAGDU
is really serious about this issue then we should become more
activist.  Otherwise, each of us will make our own decision about the
best school for us.

On 3/11/15, Debby Phillips via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi Helga, well, as with everything there are advantages and
> disadvantages, I suppose.  For me, ownership was important, so I
> chose Seeing Eye rather than Guide Dogs for the Blind, which was
> definitely closer to me when I applied for my first dog.  For me,
> ownership meant being more independent.  There were some other
> reasons I didn't choose GDB, but they are not important to this
> current discussion.
>
> Since I have never been in a position where the school owned the
> dog, there are some things I don't know.  But one advantage ow
> could see to the school owning the dog, especially in the case of
> Guide Dogs for the Blind, is that they do pay vet costs.  Those
> can be very expensive.  Yesterday is a good example.  My retired
> dog had to have surgery to clean and sew up a huge cut that he
> got.  That plus his and Neena's kennel cough shots was over $500.
> It was a pretty expensive do at our house.  (Smile).  Worth it,
> of course, because we all love Lamar.  But if Lamar was still a
> working dog, and the school owned him, they would probably help
> with those costs.  Certainly grads from GDB have a lot of support
> from the school, but they also have a lot more supervision.  So
> you will have to decide whether you need more support, knowing
> that you will have more requirements from the school to fill out
> papers, etc.  That's a decision only you can make.  There's
> nothing wrong with either choice, if that is what you want.
> Anyway, good luck!    Blessings,    Debby with Neena
>
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-- 
Marianne Denning, TVI, MA
Teacher of students who are blind or visually impaired
(513) 607-6053