[NAGDU] How much does your dog cost?

[Caitlyn Furness]

Dan,
Since a lot of the schools give us the dogs for free, that’s mostly what I tell the people who ask.  If the conversation goes longer, or if I feel like the person is really interested in a good way, I give the figure-whatever it happens to be at the time, that my program tells fund raisers is the annual cost or the cost to train the dog from puppy to finished guide.  In my case right now, it’s around $18,000 US for a Gallant Hearts dog.  Lots of places put the figure higher.  I think last time I handled a TSE dog the figure was somewhere around $60,000 US.

hth,
Cait

> On Jul 17, 2016, at 5:25 PM, Dan Weiner via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello, beautiful people.
> Dan here from Florida.
> Well I'm wondering how all of you answer the troubling, though I'm sure
> mostly harmless question  "how much does it cost to train those dogs", some
> variant of that.
> I know the schools give all sorts of prices and I understand why they
> mention it, for fund raising.
> I would feel rather uncomfortable saying "well they say it's
> twenty-thousand, or whatever to train a guide dog" I feel that is not
> something I need someone thinking about while I'm walking around
> town--smile.
> So how doall of you folks deal with that question.
> Several people have asked me this recently and I think it's of course just
> curiosity, maybe nosiness, fascination, interest...but as I said I really
> would prefer not to have people pondering how much the dog costs...
> 
> Any thoughts.
> 
> Dan the man, Parker the nut
> 
> 
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