RE: To Sieghard. Re: Guide dog in United States-help me Please
Hi Dave, I am guilty of writing my reply before reading all messages in the thread including your apology so here n turn is my apology for jumping the gun. Take care, Sieghard From: viphone@googlegroups.com On Behalf Of Dave Sent: Monday, December 2, 2019 12:58 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: To Sieghard. Re: Guide dog in United States-help me Please Hi Sieghard. I am on many lists, and i don’t know, where every body is from. I thought it was a spam Email, that reached the list. I also apologised on list. And i do know all the commonwealth countries. All the best, Dave. From: Richard Turner<mailto:richardturne...@outlook.com> Sent: Monday, December 02, 2019 1:42 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com<mailto:viphone@googlegroups.com> Subject: Re: Guide dog in United States-help me Please Thank you Sieghard for giving such a complete answer. I sent a link to a Wikipedia page of guide dog schools around the world, but since I've never had a dog, I wasn't comfortable giving too much detail. Great comment on the poop issue. Richard "Reality is the leading cause of stress for those who are in touch with it." -- from The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, by Jane Wagner On Dec 1, 2019, at 4:41 PM, Sieghard Weitzel mailto:siegh...@live.ca>> wrote: Dave, that Amazon comment was very ignorant and entirely inappropriate. Kiruna is from India and you may want to remember that not everybody knows about everything. I am in Canada and I get lots of people who ask me where I got my guide dog from, how much they are and if I have to pay for them. And just in case this is something you didn't know, India is part of the Commonwealth just as Canada, Australia, Pakistan, Nigeria and other countries are so maybe it would be possible for somebody from a Commonwealth country where there is no guide dog school to apply to a guide dog school in another Commonwealth country and be accepted to get a dog. I am not saying this is so, but it is certainly possible. I am in Canada yet I can apply at any US guide dog school to get a dog if I so choose even though we have several guide dog schools in Canada. My first dog was from Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester, Michigan and among the I think 24 people who were there in my group to get dogs 4 came from Spain on some arrangement the Spanish government or maybe it was some sort of Spanish not for profit group had with Leader Dogs. Since nobody explained to Kiruna what the usual process is to get a guide dog, I will do so in general terms. You apply to a guide dog school, if it is the first time you get a dog from them they typically would visit you where you live, they would want to see your home and where you work (if you work) and they would also want to see you walk around with a cane or your previous guide dog if you currently have one to assess your mobility skills and so on. If they accept you, they will at some point let you know when you can get a dog, some schools have fairly long waiting lists. Once you get the date you have to go to the school for typically a 3-week training course where you get to know your dog and your dog gets to know you. Walking with a guide dog requires training just as walking with a cane does and if you have never had a dog you have to of course learn how to care for the dog, this includes grooming, feeding and picking up the dog poop in a little plastic bag; I know, sounds shitty, but I shit you not. After your course you get to take your dog home, some schools may also send a guide dog trainer home with you to do some more training in your own environment or some schools may ask you to come for a shorter course at the school and then you do more one-on-one training in your own city/town. In rare cases a trainer may even come to you and do the entire training with you in your city/town, but I think most schools would need a good reason to do this. Most schools also like to follow up with you on an annual bases and they may send a trainer to do a walk with you and evaluate how things are going. Keep in mind that when you get a dog that dog is not yours. I assume all schools are the same in this respect, but should you not care for the dog properly they do have the right to take it away from you and I have heard of a few cases where this was done. As for the cost to train a dog, including breeding programs, puppy raising, training and after-care it is I believe around $30,000 or $35,000 US so actually buying a guide dog is not something most people could afford if the schools weren't not for profit organizations who are financed from donations, fund raising events, money bequeathed to them and so on. I believe in England the government is involved as well and in Germany the health insurance pays for guide dogs as well as for things like dog food, vet costs etc. Lastly, remember the country where you live. How accepted are dogs the
To Sieghard. Re: Guide dog in United States-help me Please
Hi Sieghard. I am on many lists, and i don’t know, where every body is from. I thought it was a spam Email, that reached the list. I also apologised on list. And i do know all the commonwealth countries. All the best, Dave. From: Richard Turner Sent: Monday, December 02, 2019 1:42 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Guide dog in United States-help me Please Thank you Sieghard for giving such a complete answer. I sent a link to a Wikipedia page of guide dog schools around the world, but since I've never had a dog, I wasn't comfortable giving too much detail. Great comment on the poop issue. Richard "Reality is the leading cause of stress for those who are in touch with it." -- from The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, by Jane Wagner On Dec 1, 2019, at 4:41 PM, Sieghard Weitzel wrote: Dave, that Amazon comment was very ignorant and entirely inappropriate. Kiruna is from India and you may want to remember that not everybody knows about everything. I am in Canada and I get lots of people who ask me where I got my guide dog from, how much they are and if I have to pay for them. And just in case this is something you didn't know, India is part of the Commonwealth just as Canada, Australia, Pakistan, Nigeria and other countries are so maybe it would be possible for somebody from a Commonwealth country where there is no guide dog school to apply to a guide dog school in another Commonwealth country and be accepted to get a dog. I am not saying this is so, but it is certainly possible. I am in Canada yet I can apply at any US guide dog school to get a dog if I so choose even though we have several guide dog schools in Canada. My first dog was from Leader Dogs for the Blind in Rochester, Michigan and among the I think 24 people who were there in my group to get dogs 4 came from Spain on some arrangement the Spanish government or maybe it was some sort of Spanish not for profit group had with Leader Dogs. Since nobody explained to Kiruna what the usual process is to get a guide dog, I will do so in general terms. You apply to a guide dog school, if it is the first time you get a dog from them they typically would visit you where you live, they would want to see your home and where you work (if you work) and they would also want to see you walk around with a cane or your previous guide dog if you currently have one to assess your mobility skills and so on. If they accept you, they will at some point let you know when you can get a dog, some schools have fairly long waiting lists. Once you get the date you have to go to the school for typically a 3-week training course where you get to know your dog and your dog gets to know you. Walking with a guide dog requires training just as walking with a cane does and if you have never had a dog you have to of course learn how to care for the dog, this includes grooming, feeding and picking up the dog poop in a little plastic bag; I know, sounds shitty, but I shit you not. After your course you get to take your dog home, some schools may also send a guide dog trainer home with you to do some more training in your own environment or some schools may ask you to come for a shorter course at the school and then you do more one-on-one training in your own city/town. In rare cases a trainer may even come to you and do the entire training with you in your city/town, but I think most schools would need a good reason to do this. Most schools also like to follow up with you on an annual bases and they may send a trainer to do a walk with you and evaluate how things are going. Keep in mind that when you get a dog that dog is not yours. I assume all schools are the same in this respect, but should you not care for the dog properly they do have the right to take it away from you and I have heard of a few cases where this was done. As for the cost to train a dog, including breeding programs, puppy raising, training and after-care it is I believe around $30,000 or $35,000 US so actually buying a guide dog is not something most people could afford if the schools weren't not for profit organizations who are financed from donations, fund raising events, money bequeathed to them and so on. I believe in England the government is involved as well and in Germany the health insurance pays for guide dogs as well as for things like dog food, vet costs etc. Lastly, remember the country where you live. How accepted are dogs there? I haven't been to India with or without a dog, but I did once take my guide dog to the Philippines where my wife is from. This was actually my first trip there in 2009 and when we first met in person. I got all the paperwork done and I wish I had not taken him. The first week was OK, we stayed on a small island where we had rented a house together with another friend of mine from Germany who is also married to a Filipina. The second week when I
