[NAGDU] Info pilot dogs

Sandra Johnson sljohnson25 at comcast.net
Fri Mar 5 21:30:14 UTC 2021


Hello Stefania,

My name is Sandra and I have a female golden from Pilot.  Eva's behavior and work are the best I have had in my 45 years of working with guide dogs.  She graduated at 14 months old.  I thought she would have been much older because she was so calm and worked without being distracted.  I had almost given up on having another dog when my previous golden Tara retired.  I have arthritis and multiple sclerosis.  All the schools kept telling me I did not walk fast enough and far enough to have a guide dog even though I had been a guide dog handler for almost 40 years at that time.  I had heard that Pilot's dogs were not well trained so I saved their application for last.  I am sure glad I decided to take the chance because Eva is perfect for me and Pilot did not worry about my medical issues effecting my ability to work a guide dog.  Eva walked slow and did not pull.  The trainer worked her while also using a support cane in his other hand and Eva had no problems with this as well as taking extra time on curbs and steps.  They could see immediately that we were a perfect team.  I am extremely pleased to say that now almost 7 years later we are still doing great.  Our training went very well.  Pilot gears the training to what each student needs, not a group of six or more students all doing the same thing.  Pilot Dogs is located right in the city of Columbus Ohio so there is no need to do as most other schools and getting in a van or bus and being driven to the neighborhoods where training will be that day.  At Pilot you will remain in the building and go out when it is your turn.  The first few days are one student at a time and then later they will take two at a time.  With me walking slower most of the time I went by myself with a trainer.  The only time we were driven to our training for that day was when we went to do a country trip and a shopping trip.  They had no problem cutting the daily walks shorter for anyone who needed it.  We had all ages on class all the way up to an 83 year old woman getting her first guide dog.  Pilot Dogs is not a fancy building with single rooms and TVs in every room and lots of other stuff.  The rooms are double occupancy.  Most students spend time in the main lounge where they can watch TV and socialize with their classmates.  Experienced guide dog handlers stay for 12 days and everyone else for the full 26 days.  Pilot does not do any kind of follow-up visits from a trainer like most other schools.  However, if a student is having difficult problems that cannot be resolved by phone they can bring the student and dog back to the school for additional help.  Feel free to write to me on list or off list  if you think up any other questions or just want to chat.          

Sandra and Golden Eva

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Stefania Cireddu via NAGDU
Sent: Friday, March 5, 2021 10:57 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Cc: Stefania Cireddu <zazu83 at hotmail.it>
Subject: [NAGDU] Info pilot dogs

Hello, my name is Stefania, I live in Italy and  I’ve already contacted your facebook group, so I apologize if I will repeat this topic. I’m considering to apply to pilot dogs for my next guide dog, because this is the only school which gives dogs abroad. So, I would like to have some information about training and dogs’ behavior. For example, if dogs are well selected. In the school of my dog, in Italy, I think that they don’t chose well because they have dogs dogs also from people that don’t want them animore. Maches are no good sometimes because the dogs are no good for guiding. My first dog has been trained dispite his fear of croud and noise and public transportation, he doesn’t work now but I had him for a year. My second, that I still have, has a strong personality and barks to other dogs and want to attack them when she’s on harness. Both of my dogs didn’t have puppy raisers, so I think that they have not been prepared to became guide dogs. On the web syte Of pilot dogs I got some information, but I would like to know more specifically about some experiences. As I said, I had 2 dogs here in Italy but I had real not too good experience, so I was looking for other schools also abroad.As it’s a long jurney from Italy, I’m a little bit scary to risk if there are too negative experiences, because I’ve already troubled!

Thank you for now And sorry for my explenetions.
Stefania.

Inviato da iPhone
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