[NAGDU] Question Regarding Guide Dog Schools

[Jordan Gallacher]

The two schools I would stay away from are GDB and Leader Dogs.  GDB 100%
refused to provide any type of support when September was attacked,and that
ultimately led to her being retired not to mention my field rep saw every
single issue I was reporting and refused to do anything about it, and then
the school had their nerve to blame it on me.  Leader tried to pull
something similar with Belto.  He was extremely problematic even during
training so much so that even my instructor was like we either need to get
that dog working right or find you another dog.  Well, from what I know from
that instructor, Leader lost all of his reports.  Anyone on here who ran
into us during the 2017 convention would have seen a totally different dog
only because I took advice from this list and got his head on straight.
Anyone who ran into me at the following years convention would have seen him
the way he was back in 2016,and again, Leader was not helping me out.  I
finally had to pull the plug based on an O&M instructor's advice based on
what she was seeing instead of doing what I would have rathered done which
was to have an instructor come out and try to fix him.
Jordan

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Megan Borella via NAGDU
Sent: Sunday, October 25, 2020 4:19 PM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: Megan Borella <meganborella at gmail.com>
Subject: [NAGDU] Question Regarding Guide Dog Schools

Hello,

I am in the process of choosing a guide dog school to apply to in order to
obtain my first guide, and was hoping to receive input from recent graduates
regarding the programs I am considering. I would very much like to work with
a German Shepherd, but have found that options for this breed are more
limited than I had expected. I live in California, and no schools in my
vicinity breed German Shepherds, which is why Fidelco's program caught my
eye. Their in-home training was also of interest to me, as I would prefer to
not have to go to a program in a different state for an extended period of
time.

However, as I have conducted more thorough research, stories I have heard
about Fidelco, its policies, and the quality of the guides it has produced
in the past decade have raised some serious concerns. Does anyone know if
Fidelco has undergone any improvements? Is their program worth applying to?
I also know that the Seeing Eye is another school that specializes in German
Shepherds, although I do not know if they would be willing to conduct
in-home training. Has anyone graduated from their program recently who might
be able to provide feedback?

Finally, I live very near Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc., which I have heard
nothing but wonderful things about. I have visited their campus and adopted
one of their dogs through their career change program, and she could not
have been any better. My only hesitation about applying to their program is
that they do not breed German shepherds. Either way, the quality of the dog
matters to me more than the breed. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether
the quality of the schools that do specialize in German shepherds is high
enough to warrant submitting an application?
Thank you so much,
Megan
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