[nagdu] Guide Dog School

[Dan Weiner]

Hello Robert and all.
Yes, you are correct, Robert.
As I say I'm very satisfied with GDA, I think they put a great deal of
thought in to the matching process and gave me just the type of dog I need.
The class size is small so you get plenty of individual attention.
And they leave you alone unless you need something after graduation.
And if you need something you call and they can arrange for follow-up as I
understand it, I haven't needed any follow-up so far and it's two and a half
years.
I'd say it's definitely a top notch program but of course you know all of us
are biased towards our schools I suppose--smile
It is a smaller program of course, so I don't think they have as much money
as the bigger guide dog schools but I don't know that as a fact I'm just
guessing.

 Dan W.

dcwein at dcwein.cnc.net
Skype:
Danw9703



-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of robert stigile
via nagdu
Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2015 9:55 AM
To: Marianne Denning; NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide
Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Guide Dog School

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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