[NAGDU] guide dog classes and the totally blind

[Melissa Allman]

Hi all. This is an interesting topic and I'm not going to offer comments on anything related to the practices of specific schools, but it reminded me of something that happened when I was in class. I am totally blind for the record. I had several classmates with some usable vision which is, as I said, more than I have. I will never forget the day one person talked to me about how they had a breakthrough because they stopped looking down at their dog and just started trusting him. It really broadened my perspective about how someone with some usable vision can learn to work with a dog in a meaningful way and have that team bond.

Melissa R. Allman
Senior Specialist, Advocacy and Government Relations
The Seeing Eye, Inc.
P.O. Box 375, Morristown, NJ 07963-0375 (mail)
10 Washington Valley Road, Morristown, NJ 07960-3412 (deliveries)
973-539-4425 ext. 1724,     Fax:  973-525-1081 mallman at SeeingEye.org  


-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Sandra Johnson via NAGDU
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2018 10:54 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Cc: Sandra Johnson
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] guide dog classes and the totally blind

Good Morning Dan:

I have been a guide dog user for 43 years.  On all my classes there were some people with some, and sometimes a lot of vision.  On some classes I was the only totally blind student.  I have had trainers tell me that they do not waste their good dogs on those with a lot of usable vision.  I cannot say if that is true or the opinion of most instructors but I have heard it several times from several schools.  All of us have to work with our new guides once we get them home.  I do not really know if the dog realizes if we can see some or not.  However, I do know that if someone with some sight is always doing the guiding the dog can get sloppy because the handler is always making the decisions for the dog.  Some schools will use blindfolds with people who have a lot of vision.  I have been told by many classmates that they were shocked at how much the dog did for them when they could not use their vision.  A trainer once told me it takes them four to six months to train a guide dog and only weeks of poor handling to ruin the dog. 
Again, I do not know how often this happens but according to this one instructor he had seen it happen many times.  I think that anyone, especially those with some vision, needs to evaluate whether or not they really can and will make proper use of a guide dog.  I have certainly known of many guide dogs that have become more of a pet once they are home with their handler.  As a whole totally blind people are only about one percent of the blind population so the odds are that on a guide dog class or any other training for the blind we will always be in the minority.  I hope this helps your curiosity. .

Sandra
SLJohnson25 at comcast.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Dan Weiner via NAGDU
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2018 4:01 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Cc: Dan Weiner
Subject: [NAGDU] guide dog classes and the totally blind

Hello, beautiful people.

I'm curious about something, A GDB grad told me that most of their clients now have some residual vision.

So here' s my question, is that true for all guide dog programs? And, are there any programs where most of the class participants are totally blind, or is this across the board.

This is total curiosity and not meant as a value judgment, criticism of any program or anything else. I, myself am totally blind.


In all of my classes there wee people with residual vision so maybe it is indeed the way it is.


Enjoy a wonderful morning, guys.


Dan and the Parker Nut



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