[nagdu] Stephen Kuusisto

[Debby Phillips]

Well, this is indeed an interesting article, but not altogether 
accurate.  I'M not defending what Seeing Eye, Guide Dogs for the 
Blind or Guiding Eyes have done.  I'm just saying that if you're 
going to write about something, at least be accurate.  First, 
schools in general don't train the dogs for 6 to 8 months.  
Second, 700 million sounds like a lot of money, but have you 
checked out airline fares, for instance? And they (the schools) 
don't always have the ability to look several months ahead and 
buy tickets when they might show up cheap.  That's just one 
example.  As a grad of The Seeing Eye, I was and am still 
dismayed at their decision to lay off people.  And I will say 
that when I brought up my concerns with senior staff, (not 
instructors), the reaction was a bit defensive.  Perhaps the 
person I spoke with was tired of hearing grads complain about 
this subject.  Up until two years ago, my husband and I pretty 
consistently donated to TSE, and I encouraged family and friends 
to do so.  I will admit that I almost switched schools because of 
my concern about whether TSE would be able to do good follow up, 
especially for those of us on the West Coast who choose to get 
our dogs from TSE.  I still am concerned, and am just happy that 
Neena and I are doing well.

It seems to me that all charitable organizations have had to make 
some pretty tough choices, not all of which I have agreed with.  
In getting rid of more experienced people I think that the 
schools have made a rather short-sighted decision.  I know that 
there are still lots of people who don't feel as confident and 
good about Seeing Eye, for instance.  I have good friends who 
work there, and I keep wondering in the back of my mind: will 
they be next? If that should happen I can guarantee that I'll be 
looking elsewhere next time I have to get a dog.  I'm sure my 
friends may wonder in the back of their minds, too.  I would.  
That's not good for morale.  When employees feel insecure about 
their place of employment it stifles creativity, it makes for an 
uneasy atmosphere in general.  Perhaps in the short run, The 
Seeing Eye has saved some money, but I think in the long run they 
will find that what happened will hurt them, or to put it more 
bluntly: "That will come back to bite them in the butt".  Perhaps 
it already has.  I have always loved Seeing Eye, because they 
believed in me when a lot of other people didn't; they gave me a 
sense of dignity and freedom, and independence, and all of my 
dogs (except for maybe one) have been wonderful.  So it makes me 
sad that I have these feelings of reservation about a school that 
I have respected and that has been a big part of my life.  I 
still have not totally lost faith in TSE, as there are wonderful, 
awesome instructors and supervisors there, and I love my current 
dog.  She's awesome and though we're working out some stuff (who 
doesn't in the first year at least) but I hope that my trust will 
not be betrayed in the future, meaning that the school will have 
as much regard for their instructional and other staff as we as 
graduates do.  It's not a good feeling to know that really really 
good people were let go all in the name of The Bottom Line.  
Guess I'm not a very good capitalist.  Maybe that's because I 
remember a time when businesses really cared about their 
employees.  And maybe it's just cuz I'm getting old and crotchety 
and I don't like the "new and better way" of looking at the 
world.

Please accept my apology for this long post.  This got me a 
little riled.  And now I have to go to sleep.    Peace,    Debby 
and Neena