[NAGDU] some questions about The Seeing Eye
sonfire11 at gmail.com
sonfire11 at gmail.com
Fri Feb 16 17:10:21 UTC 2018
How about the time when my group went out on the Maple route. On South Street, a block or so before Starbucks, there is an outside café. I ended up going second. The person before me went through the café while their dog snagged a doughnut right out of a person's hand. As we were approaching the same location and person at a high rate of speed, my trainer tried to get us to stop and take a different route around the area. Her idea never worked. When we got through it, she mentioned that she didn't want to go broke from all the dogs stealing doughnuts from the same person every trip through. It was funny for us, but I doubt the guy eating the nth doughnut to have a dog steal it again wouldn't be very funny.
-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tara Briggs via NAGDU
Sent: Friday, February 16, 2018 11:38 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Tara Briggs <thflute at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] some questions about The Seeing Eye
Hi everyone! I am following this thread with great interest. I got my first dog from the Seeing Eye in October 2009. I will be returning with a tentative class date of September 24 of this year. I am a stay at home mom of a one-year-old and a three-year-old so I’m waiting a little while till my kids are little older. I will be there for a week. I’m not quite counting down the days but I’m sure I will be as it gets a little closer. I was planning on retiring my current seeing eye dog at the end of June. But as I think through the situation and working with her it would probably be more like sometime in March. I think she’s ready. I love my time at the Seeing Eye! And I’m so grateful for the earlier extremely detailed email. It was a lot of fun to read and it brought back a lot of fun memories. When I was there, there was a session on Wednesday evening for returns. It was I believe the first Wednesday we were there and we all got together and just talked about the emotional side of using a dog and retiring the dog. Michelle was the counselor that time and she was a delight to work with. I have to say I will miss her when I come back. I’m not sure if anybody mentioned it, but the food is Apsley fantastic. When I went there in October 2009, I was in and adaptive daily living instructor at our local Center for the blind. So having somebody else cook all the meals
Is heaven! We were also very gracious about kidding me any recipes I asked for. Remember I made the apple tart with some of my students. To me the thing I enjoyed most about the Seeing Eye was I felt like we were all there to accomplish something good. I am an flutist and perhaps this Analogy from my flute life will help. My flute teacher is two years older than I am but she is 50 years older and I am in her flute playing ability. She is an absolute delight to work with. What I love most about her is she is positive knows when to complement and when to give constructive criticism. I felt like my insides tractor Chriss Schmidt was the same way. And she also gave me the absolute perfect dog for me. I think my favorite story about Chris is when we had walked a route and we got back. She pulled me aside and said how impressed she was with me and how proud she was of the way Emmy and I worked together. She said that when she gave me Emmy she put her in the ratings as a decent dog. But when she wrote up her final report with us she would be giving us a top score as working at being the best possible team. It was kind of her to say it and I also appreciated that she said it in private. Well this is my take on the Seeing Eye. I hope we get a lot more emails. They are fun to read.
Tara Sent from my iPhone
> On Feb 16, 2018, at 9:11 AM, Tracy Carcione via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> Hi Kerri.
> If you express your concerns about airports, they might work something
> out for you on your freelance--something similar, if not an actual
> trip to Newark. Subways are somewhat like air trains, and even more noisy.
> I don't recall the exact timing, but I don't remember having to wait a
> long time. For me, the waiting was more for a match, and not for
> paperwork. And I always felt free to pester Admissions. If you're
> ready to go, you could ask if you could get in quickly, before all the
> spots get taken up by the summer crowd who can't come any time else.
> So, you could say you can come in April or May, if that's true and they have a match for you.
>
> I forgot another change. We all had room keys, like in a hotel. The
> keys also worked on the outside door, so, if Fluffy had a problem in
> the middle of the night, you could take him out. Which one guy did,
> but forgot his key, and got locked out! And the poor guy didn't dress
> to be out long, either. But he banged on another guy's window, so he came and let him in.
> There are also room refrigerators now, also like a hotel, which was nice.
> Tracy
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kerri
> Sprecher via NAGDU
> Sent: Friday, February 16, 2018 11:00 AM
> To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
> Cc: Kerri Sprecher
> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] some questions about The Seeing Eye
>
> Tracy, Sunfire, and List, sorry Sunfire I don't know your name. lol.
> Anyway, that was great info from both of you, and Sunfire, I
> absolutely loved all your stories and info was very very detailed. And
> yes, Tracy, I'd love one of those lightweight handles also. I had a
> quick release handle specially made for Sadie's harness, because the
> school I went to before has harnesses where you have to pry the handle
> off by using pliers or vicegrips. Anyway, I do remember the firedoor,
> because the instructors were very attomit that we wake them even if
> it's late at night and your dog needs to go out, because they have had
> instances where students set off the fire alarm, waking the whole
> class up. So, I prayed I never had to take my dog out at 3 AM. lol And
> lucky for me, that was never a problem. And, this may be a question
> for Tracy, or anyone else that's a 2nd or subsequent grad, from the
> time you put in your replacement app, does it usually take Angela very
> long to get back with you and do th e next steps go move forward
> quickly, assuming that your doctors forms come back quickly? The
> website still says 4 months for class placement, but I have heard that
> grads get priority, but I'm not entirely sure that's quite accurate.
> And, I'm hoping to also find out if they do any time of airport
> exposure, because Sadie had absolutely none. It was almost a disaster, she almost got away from me and bolted out of the sky train in the DFW airport.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Feb 16, 2018, at 9:39 AM, sonfire11--- via NAGDU
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> wrote:
>>
>> They give juno walks to anyone. They even send trainers to Canada for
>> application evals and followups. My worst fear during the first few
>> days was not getting a match.
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tracy
>> Carcione via NAGDU
>> Sent: Friday, February 16, 2018 10:13 AM
>> To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Cc: Tracy Carcione <carcione at access.net>
>> Subject: Re: [NAGDU] some questions about The Seeing Eye
>>
>> Hi Kerri.
>> I was at TSE 3 years ago, and 2006 before that, I think.
>> The major changes were adding fire doors. Now, there is a fire door
>> between each living corridor and the lounge space, which makes the
>> living space quieter. The stairs are also behind a closed door. So
>> there's a lot more opening and closing doors than there used to be.
>> The equipment is the same, though the last conference call talked
>> about the new lightweight handles they're researching. I'd love to
>> have
> one of those.
>> I did not have to see an ophthalmologist, but then I'm totally blind
>> and my vision never changes. I don't recall a question about it on
>> the medical, but I may have forgotten.
>> I did have a Juno walk, but I am fairly close to the school, and
>> don't know what happens with people further away.
>>
>> Good luck with the whole process. It was pretty painless--well, if
>> you don't count the usual worries about getting away and getting a
>> new
> dog.
>> Tracy
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kerri
>> Sprecher via NAGDU
>> Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2018 9:44 PM
>> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> Cc: Kerri Sprecher
>> Subject: [NAGDU] some questions about The Seeing Eye
>>
>> Hi list,
>> I have very recently, after long and hard thought and consideration,
>> decided that retiring my current guide dog would be the best for me,
>> and for her as well, due to some major behaviors and some extremely
>> unacceptable behavior from her school. Therefore, I have decided to
>> go back to The Seeing Eye where I received my first 2 dogs, but it's
>> been
>> 12 years since I went there, and I know they have done some major
>> renovations to the main building where the students stay, and
>> probably redone or made changes to things outside the building too.
>> So, I'm wondering, from all you TSE grads out there who have gone
>> since 2006, what's changed and what's the same? Same harnesses with
>> the screw-on handle? Same commands or any changes in student
>> instruction? I know there are changes in staff members, and I'll
>> learn those eventually when I go, but I'm more interested in things
>> like whether they still have the big cement parking area for dog
>> relief, or is it more private now like some schools have, and if
>> they still do things like give you the pans of food the first week
>> and then you get them the rest of the time? I also noticed that the
>> class time has been shortened for both new
> students and retrains, which is also good.
>> Anyway, any insight would be great, and I'd enjoy any stories about
>> your training there, or what you have seen improved or changed, etc.
>> Thanks for responding, and hopefully the application process won't
>> take too much time, since I put in my replacement app and already one
>> medical form has been sent back within a 3 day period. I'd also be
>> interested to know if retrains still get a home interview or if they
>> have to still go get an eye exam or have an opthalmologist report, or
>> do
> they go on the previous record?
>> Looking forward to all of your responses. Thanks a lot, and have a
>> great weekend to all.
>> Kerri
>>
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
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