[nagdu] My concerns about getting a guide dog.....

[Lyn Gwizdak]

Hi Pauline,
I, too have some vision but it is "tunnel vision" and I miss alot.

No, the guide dog schools WILL NOT call you a faker.  If your eye doctor has 
ruled you to be legally blind, that's enough for the school.  what you will 
need to do is to not let your vision counteract what the dog has been 
trained to do.  Say, you're walking along and you see a tree branch on the 
sidewalk that you will trip over.  You may see that branch and your dog will 
also see it.  You have to let the dog take you around it as if you never saw 
it.  If the dog fails to take you around it, do not take yourself around it, 
let the dog trip you over it.  then you correct the dog as trained to do. 
the guide dog trainers do this all the time as they train the dogs.  then 
they test the dogs under blindfold with another trainer watching in case 
something reeally bad is about to happen - then he or she will stop the 
blindfolded trainer - and the dog gets shown what it's error was and 
reworked to do it right the next time.

I know people with quite amouont of vision sucessfully using dogs.  their 
vision may vary in different lighting conditions or the have tunnel vision 
like mine.  Feel free to apply for a dog and get the literature from the 
schools that interest you.  When you apply, they send a person out to 
evaluate you.  So, go for it!

Lyn and Landon
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Pauline Berger" <sispberger at gmail.com>
To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2012 2:59 PM
Subject: [nagdu] My concerns about getting a guide dog.....


> Hello everyone,
>
> I just found this list last night and I am hoping to chat with someone who
> might be in the same situation that I am in.  I am legally blind but just
> barely.  I have a lot of functional vision left and for the most part
> people around me do not even realize that I have vision problems.
> Especially if I am in a familiar area, my visual handicaps could not even
> be noticed.  Lighting is what makes the difference in me.  Either too much
> or not enough can really blind me.  I have trouble with any printed text
> unless it is blown up to about 6 or 7x.
>
> So my concern is this:  I do have enough functional vision that may get in
> the way of training a dog to see for me.  Sometimes I do see the cracks in
> a sidewalk or sometimes I don't.  I have walked off a set of stairs twice
> in my life that I did not see.  So, my hubby and daughter would like me to
> get a dog for my own protection.  It is not just them, I would love one
> too.  What I am afraid of is that the people at the guide dog training
> place will wonder if I am faking...I know.... you may think this is silly,
> but I do wonder if they will be able to work with me since I do have the
> ability to see more than others that need a dog.  I would be able to go
> around town on the bus and such with him and to go to my volunteer job at
> the hospital with him and not feel vulnerable like I do with my cane which
> advertises to everyone that I am visually impaired.
>
> Any thoughts for me???
>
> Thanks
>
> -- 
> When you are at the edge of a cliff........*a step back* is progress!
> .....heard at Pacific Coast Camp
>
> *Knowledge* is knowing that a tomato is classified as a fruit....
> *Wisdom* is knowing not to put it into a fruit salad!
> .....author unknown
>
> Two things in life you should never scrimp on.......
> *Mattresses* and *shoes*.......you will spend your lifetime in one or the
> other!
> author unknown
>
> Talk to yourself.......you will be guaranteed at least *ONE* listener!
> by Pauline Berger
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