[NAGDU] class coming up, and questions

[Tracy Carcione]

Hi Kerri.
I was never a first-timer at TSE, so don't know how it used to be.  I've
been to the 2.5 week class twice, and it really didn't seem that intense. 
I was tired by the end of the day, but that I expect.
I think, on my most recent Dog Day, we got the dog in the morning, had a
quick spin on the leisure path, then went into town for our first real
trip that afternoon.
I don't think retrains spent much time on quiet routes, either.  In fact,
Halloween was only a couple days after Dog Day, as I recall, and we went
into town to work through the crowds of kids.
My trainer was not big on having us memorize routes.  She said we were
there to learn to work a new dog, not how to get around downtown
Morristown.  I agreed.  So she'd pop up occasionally and remind me and my
partner where we were and where we were going to turn.

I was kinda sad to hear they no longer do the legendary high school route.
 I've heard about it for years, but never got to do it myself.  Oh well. 
I had bigger fish to fry, really.
Tracy

> 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
> Check us out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AbileneAreaBlind
> "The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
> characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the
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>
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