[NAGDU] guide dog classes and the totally blind

Thu Oct 18 15:48:50 UTC 2018

Hi All,

When I got my first guide I had just about enough usable vision to be dangerous. I could see a little of what my dog was doing-as in when we were walking along the road was she on the edge. As we progressed through our 8.5 years together, I lost a great deal of that vision so I depended on her much more. The trust factor had already been established though b/c she had proven herself over and over during our first years together.

By the time I went back for my second, I basically had light perception. That pairing was much harder b/c I had to learn to trust the dog to do everything right from the very beginning-without me "seeing" what she was doing to assure myself she was on track. She was also a much more distracted dog, but in the long run she made me a much better handler. I could no longer go on auto pilot like I did with my first and trust we'd get where we were going. 

When I got my current dog, my third, I still had a wee bit of light perception. It was much easier this time to trust my guide from the very beginning. I remember my instructor telling me after our first walk together that we did not look at all like a green team!

I am total now-have been for at least the past 2-3 years-RP went so slow for me that it's hard to remember just when it all went. I'm awaiting my fourth pairing.

You can't control the wind, but you can adjust your sails

Cheers,

Cherie Newton & White Shepherd Guide Windy

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Melissa Allman via NAGDU
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2018 11:18 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users' <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Melissa Allman <MAllman at seeingeye.org>
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] guide dog classes and the totally blind

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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