[nagdu] Training dogs?

[Buddy Brannan]

Raven writes:
> Honestly, anyone could apply to be an instructor apprentice at a guide
> dog school and probably make it depending on presentation and such. 

How I dearly wish this were true. Sadly, this has not, to date, been the case; someone can please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. However, to my knowledge, no guide dog school has welcomed blind applicants for apprentice instructor positions. The prevailing wisdom, not very wise in my opinion, is that there are too many aspects of the training that we just wouldn't be able to do; traffic springs to mind, and it's the one most often cited whenever the topic comes up. Here is one deal breaker. The few times I've looked at such positions, I've always seen something similar to this as an essential job requirement. From the Guide Dogs For the Blind job posting:

• Valid Class B license (with passenger transportation endorsement) and Medical Certificate required (California). If not, must obtain a Class B driver license within 90 days of start date, along with insurable driving record at normal rates or Oregon equivalent. 

Yep, we'd all be dismissed on that grounds alone, if no other. 

We all know that blind people can certainly train guide dogs. Several of us have done so for ourselves, and at least one person I know of has done so for others, so of course it's possible. But I can already tell you that the schools will probably be slow to entertain the possibility, if they ever do at all. One more thing I can already hear, because I've heard it already: the outcry from our own. Do you know how many blind people I've met who have told me (in self-evident contradictory statements), "I believe in the capabilities of blind people, but I'd never trust one as an O&M instructor, or to train my guide dog. There are just some things that require vision, and it's not realistic to think that this is a job we can do." So besides overcoming the attitudes of the schools intros regard, we have to overcome the attitudes of our own people. But to do the latter, we have to do the former first. 

Again, I'd dearly love to be wrong about this. I sincerely wish I was in a position to apply for such a job, but I can't, mostly because moving just isn't possible. Still, it's something I'd love to do. 

--
Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV - Erie, PA
Phone: 814-860-3194 
Mobile: 814-431-0962
Email: buddy at brannan.name