[NAGDU] class coming up, and questions

Tue Oct 16 18:54:51 UTC 2018

Good Afternoon Carrie,
I attended class at Seeing Eye for my first guide in 2016, and they had the schedule that you will have this time.  You will arrive sometime on Monday, and depending on when you arrive, you will have lunch or dinner.  If your transportation gets delayed, they will save you a plate.  The first day, they show you to your room, and you unpack.  Then an instructor comes and gives you an orientation to the building, and you get a Juneau walk around the building and up and down the driveway.  That night, you have dinner, and they have a lecture about the rules, and you get to know each other.  Also, provided that the weather is good, you will have a fire drill.  The second day, you wake up at 6, have breakfast at 7 and have two Juneau walks in town, a meeting with the president, and a wine and cheese social.  Wednesday, you get breakfast fifteen minutes earlier than scheduled, have a lecture, and get your dogs.  After that their is bonding time and lunch. That afternoon, you do your first walk.
Thursday-Sunday are spent on the Maple Street Route, with Sunday being the solo. Also, there is no visiting hours in the first weekend.
That Monday-Wednesday are spent on the South Street Route, and the solo for that route is Wednesday morning.  After that you have freelance.  The lectures are all given during class, and some take place after dinner and some take place in the middle of the day.  The New York City trip is also still happening.
I hope you have a good time in class.
Sincerely,
Lauren Bishop 

> On Oct 16, 2018, at 2:42 PM, Cindy Ray via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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 <mailto:cindyray at gmail.com>
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org <mailto: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 <mailto:nagdu at nfbnet.org>>
> Cc: Kerri Sprecher <spedangel84 at gmail.com <mailto: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
> 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
> expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles
> between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want;
> blindness is not what holds you back."
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