[nagdu] Brandy, 13?

[Raven Tolliver]

No, every kid is not ready to handle a guide dog, just like every
adult is not ready to handle one. It is a school's call to judge
whether a child can handle a dog, and there are certainly children who
are quite capable of it. A couple of my coworkers have been
participating in training dogs for sports since they were adolescents.
It is possible, and it is no more a good idea than it is to give
adults guide dogs. I have certainly seen and read about people who
should not be walking around with guide dogs, but there they are. If
crappy adult handlers can have guide dogs, what is the big deal with
an adolescent receiving one?
It is hard when you first get a dog no matter how old you are. It is
frustrating to learn a new partner's signals, and to trust an
unfamiliar dog. There is no getting around that.

On 4/4/14, Nicole Torcolini at Home <ntorcolini at wavecable.com> wrote:
> I know someone who got his first guide dog when he was eleven. I think that
> it was from a Canadian school.
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Apr 4, 2014, at 4:44 AM, "Tracy Carcione" <carcione at access.net> wrote:
>
> Hi Brandy.
> You got your first guide dog at 13?  I'd be real interested to hear about
> that.  I'm curious what circumstances persuaded a school to waive the usual
> age requirement.  If it's none of my business, feel free to ignore my
> curiosity.
> I've met a person who got his first guide when he was 14 or so.  I think he
> said that he had to negotiate a lot of busy streets, so a dog was real
> helpful, and he must have been a mature kid.
> Tracy
>
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-- 
Raven