[NAGDU] guide dog classes and the totally blind

[Sheila]

Hi, when I got my last dog, I got to work with a trainer named wayne and
most of the folks in my class had some vision. He decided to  put them under
sleep shades. I asked him why and he said that they needed not to be so
cocky. When they came back from there walk,there were definitely adjustment
in attitudes.

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Sandra Johnson via NAGDU
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2018 8:54 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Sandra Johnson <SLJohnson25 at comcast.net>
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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