[NAGDU] Seeing Eye

Thu Mar 14 02:32:51 UTC 2024

Julie, way back in the day when the dinosaurs roamed the earth (1982) I went to The Seeing Eye to train with my first dog. At that time, we had roommates. My roommate had two older children who were five and seven, and a younger daughter who was 18 months old. Yep, she missed not being with Sara during that 2 1/2 week., But she knew that her husband would take care of the little one. I suspect that some customization was done because of the fact that she would be pulling a stroller behind her with the toddler. Overtime, The Seeing Eye has done customization when needed. For instance, when I got Ozzie (my second dog), Tom Pender and I went into a rehab center. That was not the type of environment where I worked, but it was a place where I could expose Ozzie to people who use canes, walkers, crutches, and wheelchairs.  These were the types of clients that sometimes came into Baltimore County social services to get benefits and other services, and that was not the area of the agency in which I worked, it was certainly possible that I would come into contact with people with Mobility impairments. Also, at that time, the building that I worked in was also occupied by the Baltimore County health Department  Who also serve both able-bodied and disabled clients. So Ozzie needed to be comfortable around adaptive mobility equipment. In my last class, there was a gentleman who lived on a farm with horses, so one of his freelance trips was to a farm. 

As it's probably the case with many of the schools, The Seeing Eye has also trained dogs to work on the right for people who cannot work a dog on the left because of some type of impairment with the left arm. I even know one person who started out with a dog that she worked on the left, ran into issues with her left arm, and the dog was successfully retrained to work on the right. All of her subsequent dogs have worked on the right.

There are more examples that I could offer, but that's a mouthful for now. As promised, when things settle down a little bit, I will give a more extensive update about virtue, but I can tell you that he is home and is doing well during his first of 14 days of lockdown in his crate except for when he is watered, fed, and parked.

He has the cone of shame which is big as a house, so all the crate downstairs accommodates him, the one upstairs does not. So I've had to order one identical to the one downstairs just so that he can fit in an upstairs crate. I don't want to be away from him anymore than as possible. So when I'm in the Den down in my full basement, he'll be in that crate. When I'm hanging out upstairs in the living room or the kitchen, he will be in the crate in the living room. I have a comfortable couch on which I can sleep in the living room so that I can monitor him. But because he hast to be downstairs tonight I will have to sleep on my body pillow downstairs so that I can monitor him and probably take him out in the middle of the night.  Again, I will go more details about the surgery later on, but this is a quick recap of how he's doing now that he's home. 

Vanessa and the zoo  
Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 13, 2024, at 2:00 PM, Julie A. Orozco via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> 
> 
> Thank you for all the comments about Seeing Eye. It is great to know I will
> have an excellent class manager who will answer questions and listen to
> concerns. I'll tell a little more of my story below in case more
> reassurances are forth coming.
> 
> 
> 
> I retired my second dog in the fall of 2021 shortly before my daughter was
> born. I did not complete the application process for my third dog for a
> while after that because well, motherhood. So I haven't worked a dog in
> almost 2 and a half years, which is the longest I've gone without the
> harness in my hand since 2008. I only had to wait like 5 months between my
> first and second dogs.
> 
> 
> 
> My life has changed completely in the last several years. I am a mom of a
> toddler now, and I feel like I need a unicorn of a dog. I live outside of
> Washington DC and take the metro a lot, walk a ton, and definitely deal with
> plenty of chaos and crowds. But I need a dog that will be gentle and
> forgiving of my toddler and tolerant of young children in general, since it
> looks like we'll be taking her to day care on a daily basis.
> 
> 
> 
> I am so nervous. Not only do I feel like I'm looking for a dog that might
> not exist, but I also fear a mismatch. I know everyone has them, but I
> haven't had one yet. My first two dogs were great matches, and my second dog
> in particular was an amazing worker and could pretty much read my mind. So,
> I'm not sure I can get that level of awesome in a dog again. The Seeing Eye
> is a new school for me, and although I've seen great dogs come out of there,
> I'm still nervous. I will be spending three weeks away from my family to do
> this, and I want that time to count.
> 
> 
> 
> There is truly nothing like working a dog though. Even with the rideshare
> denials and the airline forms, I have to do it. I have to try and do my best
> to make it work. I do plan on asking lots of questions when I'm there, and
> I'm not shy. So hopefully that will help.
> 
> 
> 
> I'm so glad there are so many happy Seeing Eye graduates on this list.
> Hearing about your experiences is definitely helping. So thank you, and
> thanks for reading.
> 
> 
> 
> Julie
> 
> Julie A. Orozco J.D.
> 
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