[nagdu] FIDELCO ownership rights and other things.

[Bryan Brown]

Hi all,

    The day after Marion posted       the message about the woman who had 
their dog
repossessed by FIDELCO for no reason... I received a call from a FIDELCO 
trainer. She was
calling to find out if she could meet with me for a follow up visit. I
scheduled a time to meet with her on the seventeenth of February, since I am
not in what you might say is FIDELCO's traditional service area this will be
the first follow up visit that I have had.  They have offered, but I haven't 
had any
problems that I thought needed a trainers help with so I declined. Any time
I have ever had an issue or question I just call out to FIDELCO and I get
put right through to someone who can help. I've never had to request follow
up, I guess I've been lucky and not had any issues as a working team
that I couldn't deal with myself. I'd be comfortable if FIDELCO called and
said hey we're five minutes from your house and we want to see your dog. 
That would be great, I don't have any reasons to be anything other than 
proud of my dog. They were however nice enough to give me more than two 
weeks notice and make sure that it worked with my schedule. I'm far from 
intimidated, in fact I'm
excited, I know that I have nothing to worry about, my dog is healthy, he is 
in great shape , we are a great working team and I'll be proud to show
off our teamwork to someone who knows how much it takes to develop that type
of relationship with a dog. My only concern is that the trainer might not be
able to stick around and have dinner with myself and my family.

It's unfortunate that anyone would ever have their dog unjustly removed from
them and I'm not sure how that would benefit the program, imagine the 
implications if a person could prove those allegations, for instance in 
front of a jury? Why aren't the people who have supposedly had their dogs 
removed
making a public show of such an unjust action? I know if that happened to me
I'd be the first to call the sheriff, my vet, my attorney  and the media, 
I'd make a
huge stink of it, but I am confident that I have done nothing to bring such
action on myself. , maybe the parties in question are not quite so
confident? Is it possible that the inflammatory comments that Marion  has 
made about FIDELCO and Mr. Russman are rooted in limited information and Mr. 
Russman's reservations to bow down to the big bad NFB?

as far as I know... I own Tarik, do I think I have that right, "yes" at this
point after five years it would be cruel to remove him from me, I am as much
his life as he is mine. Do I think I deserved to own him upon graduation, my
answer is no. I feel as though having a dog is a wonderful privilege in the
case of a FIDELCO dog it's a 45,000 dollar privilege   and I am the
custodian of that privilege. It is my responsibility to hold up my end of
the bargain. I knew what it was when I got the dog and I was confident in my
ability to hold up my end of the bargain throughout his working life. That's
why I signed my name on the line.

I think making negative comments about any given program in a public forum
without first hand experience is wrong and only serves to tarnish the
program. If people have complaints so be it, but unless the complaints are 
coming directly from the people making them, the information has probably 
been spun and is most certainly one sided.

I'm not sure why  anyone  sees fit to vilify any guide dog program. all the 
people that work so hard to provide us with these wonderful animals aren't 
doing it for the money. I'm fairly sure that the puppy raisers aren't 
pulling down huge salaries, and that  the trainers surely aren't earning six 
figures, I see that they are doing it because they are genuinely good 
people, and that they either have a passion for helping, or dogs, or both!

Why is it that I see such a militant attitude with so much of the NFB? I 
know it's a strong advocacy group, but I personally don't want to be 
advocated for by a group that comes across so negatively. We've become a 
society of victims,  everything is always somebody else's fault and there is 
always someone out to get you, I see it in strangers and people I know and 
love. People have to start standing up for themselves again and taking 
responsibility for their own actions.

    Bryan
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