[nagdu] People with sight getting guide dogs: was Reasons for choosing a particular guy dog school

Wed Mar 25 15:31:12 UTC 2015

My dearest friend in the world, he and I met at GDB in 1999. He was a first
timer and I a retrain. He has RP and at the time had a lot of usable vision.
He did use a cane, but he walks so blasted fast that about the time the cane
hit an obstacle, he was hitting it with his face. He didn't see himself as a
guide dog person, partly due to his vision and partly because he'd never
been around dogs. He went to an evaluation class GDB does from time to time,
three or four days about four people working with a couple instructors to
evaluate if someone could work with or benefit from a guide dog. He was
accepted to regular training after this and got his first dog. that's where
we met and became friends. He's now working his second dog from GDB, and
when I say working, I don't mean he has a nice well behaved pet. He has a
working guide dog that he loves with every ounce of his being, as he did his
first dog. Even though he had a lot of usable vision in the beginning, he
trusted that dog and worked it as he was trained. He goes to and from work,
crossing very busy streets, taking buses, often travels to busier cities in
his home area, frequently goes to new places, and always always working his
dog. On the weekends, he goes to a nearby five mile trail and lets the dog
be on long leash and sniff around and the dog isn't working then, just
having a relaxing sniff fest. Now my friend has much less vision and depends
much more on screen readers than in the past when he used the screen reader
and could read some of what was on the screen. On the times when he doesn't
take his dog somewhere, he takes a cane. He doesn't walk around without
either, even when he had a lot better vision. He was legally blind and
certainly met the qualifications for a guide dog. More than just meeting
qualifications, he became a strong guide dog user who adores his dogs and
whose life has been greatly improved by having a dog. He certainly has a lot
fewer injuries to his face since getting a dog. lol. It's impossible to say
a sweeping statement that low vision people shouldn't get guide dogs just
because they are legally blind, not totally blind. My friend has always been
a better traveler more active person than I for reasons I won't get into,
and having dogs have made him even more so.

Sherry

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of S L Johnson via
nagdu
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 8:15 AM
To: Applebutter Hill; NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide
Dog Users
Subject: [nagdu] People with sight getting guide dogs: was Reasons for
choosing a particular guy dog school

Dona and all:

I just had to respond to this.  I remember well the mid 70s and the argument

of partially sighted people getting guide dogs.  As a total, I am adamantly 
apposed to people with sight having guide dogs.  I remember having to be on 
a waiting list while sighted people were given dogs before those of us with 
no sight.  I've had classes where some people had so much sight they would 
make comments on what my dog was doing from a long distance away.  On 
classes at GDF I found students who were reading the signs on buildings as 
we drove down the road.  To me, someone with that much sight doesn't need a 
dog.  I was next to a partial when we were relieving the dogs and she 
laughed at my attempts to clean up after a dog who tended to move around as 
she relieved herself, making my cleaning up extremely difficult.  I got so 
mad that I told her since she could see so well, then she could pick it up 
for me.  I remember when I got Tara from GDF and we were in the mall.  A 
trainer got upset when I and another total got lost.  Another trainer said 
well, if These two had as much sight as the rest of them, then maybe they 
wouldn't have gotten lost.   Those sighted students were able to read all 
the signs and see to find their way back to the food court.  I once lived in

an area where there was a high partial with a guide dog.  I would go into 
the store and asked for someone to help me find what I wanted.  The manager 
asked why my dog was too stupid to help me.  He said this other customer 
with her dog never needed help.  I later found out she was just on the 
border of legal blindness and could see to read everything on the shelves. 
I was legally blind once and even if I'd been old enough, I never would have

considered a dog until I lost all my sight.  I will agree, some people have 
so little vision that it doesn't help them so, a dog is very helpful but, 
for others, it is a waste of a well trained dog that should go to someone 
who really needs it.  I have heard this same thing from many trainers.  They

hate to see their dogs go to a high partial who only wants a well trained 
pet they can take everywhere.  I know this will make a lot of you angry but,

I'm sick and tired of partially sighted people pretending they are really 
blind.

Sandra and Eva

-----Original Message----- 
From: Applebutter Hill via nagdu
Sent: Saturday, March 21, 2015 5:26 PM
To: 'Tara Briggs' ; 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide 
Dog Users'
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Reasons for choosing a particular guy dog school

Tara,
I went to GDF in '71, because an instructor came to the college I was
attending and asked the Dean of Women if anyone on campus might benefit from
their services. I was in denial about how blind I was, so I talked to him
politely, took the application and had a rant about the indignaty of it all
with my friends.

My friends weren't as mortified that anyone would consider me a candidate
for a guide dog. I moved forward because one reminded me that I liked dogs
and held out the carrot that if it didn't work as a guide dog I would still
have a dog.

When I told my rehab counsellor I was going, he wrote and called the school
repeatedly telling them why I should not be given a dog. I had some vision
in the daytime; I was a "girl" and "girls" shouldn't go out at night anyway;
Seeing Eye and Leader Dog would never have approved a "partial" for
training, and so on.

The last call came while I was already on class and I was called into the
Director of Trainings office, where I was sure I was going to hear that they
had decided to send me home. John Byfield  simply assured me that he had
told my counsellor that the school was committed to training me and didn't
agree with his assessment of my needs. I was one of the first students who
was not totally blind, and there was a lot all of us had to learn about
training a person with some usable sight to use a guide dog, and in those
days, no other school was training people with some sight. One of the GDF
grads wrote a book about her GDF guide Brandy. The grad had been an art
teacher, and Seeing Eye refused to take her because she didn't have a job.
GDF didn't look at things the same way as other schools.

GDF's John Biegel  pioneered the use of the offset handle, and by the time I
got my second dog in '83, it was standard equipment. It was a huge
improvement and IMO shortened the adjustment time for my second dog. I take
it for granted now.

I can't remember when they switched to offering ownership, but I do "own"
Hunter now. It was never much of an issue to me, because they always had my
back.

GDF has changed much over the years - great advances in the physical
facility, great puppy program, and on the other hand too much management.
But, so far, despite my protestations about this or that, they have not
given me any reason why I should jump ship.
Donna & Hunter

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tara Briggs via
nagdu
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2015 1:33 PM
To: the National Association of Guide Dog Users NAGDU Mailing List
Subject: [nagdu] Reasons for choosing a particular guy dog school

Hi all:
I thought it would be interesting to find out why people chose to go to the
various guy Doug schools? If you train your own dog, what factors
contributed towards this decision? I'll start by answering my own question,
I went to the Seeing Eye because I like their ownership policy. I had also
attended a couple of their free breakfast at national conventions and
thought the people seemed really nice. I'm looking forward to everyone's
replies!
Tara Briggs

Sent from my iPhone
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