[nagdu] Guide Dog School

Wed Mar 11 16:55:05 UTC 2015

It is interesting to read people's various perspectives on ownership.
I have noticed that even among schools that do retain ownership, there
is considerable variability in what this actually entails. Some seem
pretty strict when it comes to annual veterinary reports and follow-up
visits while others do not. In my opinion, a school should not accept
students who they do not trust to satisfactorally care for their dogs.
If they are fairly confident the dogs are well cared for, there
shouldn't be any reason not to provide ownership.

As far as I know, none of the schools that retain ownership provide
regular veterinary assistance. GDF provides a one-time stipend for
medical expenses upon graduation and may provide assistance with major
veterinary costs. I'm not sure about the other schools.

Danielle and Thai

On 3/11/15, Raven Tolliver via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Do any of the schools that relinquish ownership offer veterinary
> financial assistance? This is one of the reasons I chose GEB. From
> what I learned at the time I was applying to guide dog programs, GDF
> and GDA did not offer veterinary financial assistance. I did not apply
> to Pilot or the Seeing Eye for various reasons.
> I understand completely why ownership is important to many. It just
> wasn't important to me at the time. And GEB is very lax with their
> graduates, so I don't worry about ownership now.
> Because of various things I have learned while having a guide dog, I
> would like to raise and train my next guide dog, or at least hire
> someone privately to do some of the training. There is not a school
> out there that does things the way I want, so having complete input
> and control of the rearing and training of my next dog will be more
> responsibility, but more beneficial in the end.
> --
> Raven
> 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 3/11/15, robert stigile via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> hello
>> gda gives ownership upon graduation
>> if you can travel to the school they will take care of the vet costs as
>> long
>> as your dog is working
>> hope this helps
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Mar 11, 2015, at 7:29 AM, Marianne Denning via nagdu
>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> 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
>>>
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>>
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>
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