[NAGDU] class coming up, and questions

[cindyray at gmail.com]

OOOO! What a wonderful time to go to Morristown. I haven't been since the
schedule was shortened, but I would guess you do less trips on the Maple
Street route. I don't know when you were there last, but when I went, free
lance started earlier with the high school route eliminated. I found the
three weeks a little too long myself, and I'm grateful for the change. Of
course I'm not going back any time soon. LOL. It would be weird going on
Monday rather than Saturday, but it gives the entire staff the weekend off.
That's a nice thing for sure. I would love to hear more about how the
training has changed.
Cindy Lou Ray
cindyray at gmail.com


-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Kerri Sprecher via NAGDU
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2018 1:29 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Kerri Sprecher <spedangel84 at gmail.com>
Subject: [NAGDU] class coming up, and questions

Hello to all,
I'm so excited to be going to Morristown, NJ on Monday the 22nd. I heard
something about a welcome meeting or dinner when I got my flight
arrangements set up with the travel agency. That part was new to me and I
liked that.
So, my thing is this: in order to pack all the training that used to go into
a 3 and a half week class for a retrain and 4 weeks for a new student, into
a shorter class time, 2.5 weeks for retrains in my case, can someone shed
some light on how in the world they manage to pull that off? I bet it's a
whirlwind of activity; I'm definitely expecting the 5:30 AM feed and park,
meal times to be the same, one AM and one PM trip, and feed and park again,
some lectures and one last park time, but, do they have you doing longer
trips with more work per trip than before? I would imagine that in order to
get someone prepared for life with a guide dog, you'd have to pack more
skill sets into a trip in order to get it all in there before going home
time.
I spoke with a good friend of mine who goes to GDB for her dogs, and she
said hers is similar in that they do clicker training, targeting, chaining,
and the like, but when they shortened their class time also, they changed
the ratio of student/instructor to 2/1 instead of 4/1, because they put in
longer trip times with more training in each trip than in previous classes
before.
I'm guessing that Monday and Tuesday are dedicated to paperwork,
orientation, lectures, and Juneau walks to make sure the match is right, and
then Wednesday, the day everyone looks forward to, Dog Day, lunch, and your
first ever trip together. And, I am also guessing that in the first few days
of getting the new dog, it'll be the simple familiar quiet routes, then more
in-depth and more complex ones. I just was shocked when I first learned they
had shortened class, because even with a 3 week class, it felt like we were
always running and going, with a little down time sprinkled in, but mostly
busy, and now, to think that it's even shorter makes me wonder just how much
more work they'll have for me to do at once. Glad I'm a seasoned handler by
now, or I might feel overwhelmed; heck I might feel that way anyway. Smile.
So, what do you think, for those of you grads out there, about the new
2.5 week class, and how has it affected or changed the way they do trips and
the amount of work for each trip?
Thanks all, and I am ecstatic!
Kerri

--
Kerri Sprecher,  President
Big Country Chapter NFBTX
spedangel84 at gmail.com
325-280-6272
Chapter Google Voice: 325-704-8787
Chapter E-mail:
bigcountry at nfbtx.org
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