[nagdu] choosing a school

[Tamara Smith-Kinney]

Dan,

Hey!  I remember now reading about your trials and frustrations, then being
afraid for you when we stopped hearing from you here.  Honestly, I didn't
know if I was afraid for you because of safety problems with your dog or
because of the less obvious injuries it sounds like you did receive as the
price for having poblems and not getting the assistance and support you
needed. So sorry you had to go through that.  I've wondered off and on how
it came out.  I am so glad you got it resolved and were about to work
through the problems with Scout, since that was what you chose to do.

Of course, you did not choose to owner train, did you?  /smile/  Sigh.
Every now and then I still have someone who knows all about how guide dogs
are tell me that what I really need to do is go to a place where they train
guide dogs and have them teach me how to use the one they've trained for me,
so I wouldn't be having these problems...  Mitzi is a nice pet and all,
but...  "These problems" in the context tend to be the problem of Mitzi's
looking around while she's in harness, or not sitting down on the spot when
someone tells her to (I almost never do, and then only because I forget to
use "rest" or "settle" instead, since I don't want her sitting on something
I didn't see that might be messy), or...  Well, she walks too fast and is
going to get me hurt by running me into something dragging me along the way
she does.  I have one friend in particular who is always fretting about how
she wishes Mitzi would learn to stop pulling on the harness when we're
walking.  And that she would mind better -- which tends to mean that she
would mind other people who give her commands while she's working for me.
Or ...  Well, we all know real guide dogs don't stop to sniff *ever* and
that real guide dog handlers are taught how to handle sniffing! /grin/

Your case is one of think of, as well as some others, when people go on
about the perfection of real guide dogs.  And how a school would be able to
fix all of these problems I'm having with my pretend guide dog and would
teach me how to use the dog properly so I wouldn't have these problems and
when I did have problems, the school could send someone out to fix them for
me...  I've heard a few other miraculous things a proper school would do for
me that would be really nice, but I can't remember what they are because,
well, I find them delightfully absurd, then forget about them.

Welcome back to you and Scout, and I wish you many safe travels together in
the future.

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Dan Sweeney
Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 9:15 AM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
Subject: [nagdu] choosing a school

Hi Mark,

I have been reading all the posts about which school to choose. If this is
your first dog, I would certainly take recommendations from those on this
list who have received multiple dogs, or those who have received their first
dog - and have excellent follow-up training if it was required (in a timely
manner).

I received my first dog 2 years ago this month. I have just applied for
ownership, so you know what school I got my dog from.

When I needed the help the most - when I returned home - there was no
trainer to work with me in the foreseeable future. It was not until January
until I received any personal assistance from the school. I would have
expected more. Instead I drove myself crazy working with my dog, with many
resulting injuries to myself. My confidence turned into deep depression,
none of my friends wanted to help me because they thought I should have just
returned the dog and tell the school to shove it. The idea did cross my
mind, but my heart was already captured by this dog. I don't know why, it
just was.

My next training visit was June of this year. I admit I did not get on the
phone and say "get someone out here now, or you can take this dog back", but
I was on the phone asking for assistance.

I would have appreciated more training at the school, meaning smaller class
size per instructor, and certainly more one on one follow-up, especially
when I got home, especially since it was my first dog and I was having such
problems.

I would keep these two things in mind when you are applying to a school, and
SPEAK UP if you feel you are not comfortable with the training you are
receiving.

Two years is a long time to have spent "training" a dog when I got home, but
I am glad I stuck it out. We are finally as stubborn as each other. LOL.

I do not recommend what I went through.

 

Daniel and Scout

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