I had just turned 18 at the end of May and was June/July of 95. Was going to start university later that year. I think generally they tried keeping the international (Spanish speaking) students bunched into a few graduating classes, but being that I was from California originally and English wasn鈥檛 a problem for me, I was able to get into an off-cycle class. I wasn鈥檛 so lucky. I got stuck rooming with a guy a couple of years older than me who was kind of a pill. But alas, you have to deal with all sorts of people in life. Being that I was going to be the first blind person with a guide pretty much in my state and the first blind person to go to my particular university鈥檚 business department, when they asked me what kind of dog I was looking for, I said that I wanted one that didn鈥檛 look friendly and wasn鈥檛 quick to wag its tail. I knew I was going to have a hard time dealing with folks everywhere I went since the concept of a service animal was an unfamiliar one down there. I knew I was going to face everything from outright hostility to well intentioned curiosity. If I could cut down on the people coming up to me for whatever reason, the better. I got pared up with Ockto. A 90 pound German Shepherd. Between my 6 foot 2 inch-self and the dog, I鈥檓 sure we stuck out, but hopefully the unwanted interactions were reduced a bit. I dealt with similar experiences you described with taxis, people and other places a lot, but you can鈥檛 let misinformed people stop you from trying to get on with things. Anyway, I couldn鈥檛 give Ockto up after it was clear he could no longer guide. He meant too much to me since we sort of grew up and went to college together. I finally had to put him down a couple of months before his 14th birthday in 2007. Best dog I ever had. I haven鈥檛 gotten another guide since. My life circumstances have changed with running my business from home and living out in the burbs, it鈥檚 not exactly a walkable community. I could talk myself into getting another dog, but one has to be realistic and fair to the animal too. I wouldn鈥檛 nearly use its skills as much as someone else would. A guide dog鈥檚 abilities for me right now would be a waste of its talents and the effort put into training it. I too once lost Ockto鈥檚 harness. I think I left it behind at some school soccer game. Funny that Leader Dogs didn鈥檛 charge me for a replacement. They airmailed me a new one along with one of those nice leashes at no cost. Naturally after they shipped it out to me, someone showed up with the harness that I lost to hand over to me.
Crist贸bal -----Original Message----- From: viphone@googlegroups.com <viphone@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Sieghard Weitzel Sent: Monday, December 2, 2019 8:16 AM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: RE: Guide dog in United States-help me Please 馃檹 Hi Cristobal, We might have almost met then, I got my first dog, Buddy, from them in April/May 1994 (I was 27 then). It was an interesting experience, but they are a big school and run big classes. My room-mate was a guy in his early 50's, very overweight and a few days into the course he had a heart attack and had to go home. I think Leader Dogs delivered his dog to him later, I ended up with the only single room. Another gentleman was from Texas and he was blind because if I remember correctly he owned a bar, heard something at night and in good American fashion was sleeping with a loaded handgun under the pillow. Unfortunately in during his still sleep befuddled state he shot himself in the head. I think I was the youngest in that group at the time, a good experience and I ended up with an awesome dog, my first at the time, but after I went home I never heard from Leader Dogs again which I thought was strange. About 6 or 8 years later I lost my harness which I think fell out of a friends truck on a parking lot, but it was never turned in, and when I called Leader Dogs I was told I could certainly get a new one at the cost of $250 which I thought was a bit excessive, but I didn't have much of a choice. At the time I was also not told much at all about my yellow lab, not even his exact birthdate. I was only told he was 22 months old. Again, years later I complained about this and suddenly I was told that the records had been computerized by now and after providing the dog's number she told me within 1 minute what his birthdate was. Buddy guided for 11 years until he was 13, then I got my second dog from BC Guide dog Services near Vancouver. At the time there was 4 of us getting a dog and while they normally do most of the training at people's places, this time they put us as well as the 2 guide dog instructors who were still in their apprenticeship up at a nice hotel, Bill, the person who started the school was also actively training one of the students and for the fourth one he had asked a friend who was a guide dog instructor from England where Bill was as well before coming to Canada to come over and help out. Every day after we had breakfast together at the hotel 2 students and 2 instructors would get into a van each and we'd drive into various places in Vancouver, train for a few hours in the morning, then meet up for lunch at some restaurant we decided on in the morning for lunch, then a few more hours in the afternoon and back to the hotel for a bit of downtime before we'd meet again in the evening for dinner at the hotel or a nearby restaurant. It was an incredible experience and my dog, Mulligan, a 90 pound Black Lab/Golden Retriever cross (all black in colour but with the Golden Retriever built and fur) was fantastic and he hold a pretty special place in my heart even though my current dog, Radar, another yellow lab also from BC Guide dogs, is also very good. After 2 or two and a half weeks of training in Vancouver I flew home and the following Monday my instructor flew up to Smithers which is about an hour and a half North of Vancouver, to train with me here for another 5 days. Mulligan guided from May 2005 until I got Radar in November/December 2015, normally BC Guide Dogs wants that their dogs retire when they are 10 years old, But at the time they had a bit of a shortage of dogs and I live in a small town of 6000 people where the work is pretty relaxed and low-key so Mulligan retired at 12 and that was after tearing his ACL when he was 10 and having surgery. Radar is now five and a half and also a fun dog and good guide, I certainly am very happy with that school.. -----Original Message----- From: viphone@googlegroups.com <viphone@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Crist贸bal Mu帽oz Sent: Sunday, December 1, 2019 6:29 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: RE: Guide dog in United States-help me Please 馃檹 Got my dog from Leader Dogs in 95 as well. At the time, I was living in Mexico. They were I think at the time one of if not the only guide dog school that accepted international students. Crist贸bal -----Original Message----- From: viphone@googlegroups.com <viphone@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Sieghard Weitzel Sent: Sunday, December 1, 2019 4:41 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: RE: Guide dog in United States-help me Please 馃檹 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 was back in the Manila area I could not take my dog anywhere, not even into a Mcdonald's. We did have a hotel which allowed pets for a fee and while a guide dog here is not considered a pet and has rights, these do not apply in other countries. We usually only went out for an hour or two at a time because I could not bring him anywhere, I couldn't go into a mall with him (all malls in the Philippines have armed security guards at all entrances), I could not take him into any restaurants and so on and it was even a fight to find a taxi who would take him and me back to the airport when it was time to go home. On my way home I flew via Seoul, South Korea and I had a full 24 hour layover there. I arrived at 7 PM and my flight back to Vancouver was not until 7 PM the next day. I though I'd just go and get a hotel for the day, but no such luck. I had the help of a friendly person at the airport and we called probably 10 hotels and none of them would accept me with my guide dog. I ended up sleeping on a bench at the airport that night, I had asked one of the airline employees to show me around a bit to where the washrooms were and where I could take Mulligan outside and I can tell you it was a long 24 hours. I believe in a country like India you may find pretty good resistance towards a dog in certain areas or because of certain religious beliefs. I don't want to generalize, but here in Canada more often than not when I do have problems with my dog being accepted somewhere it is in a place wit staff from India or another middle Eastern country and often by people who follow Islam because in their faith a dog is considered to be an unclean animals which should not be touched. But, as I said, I am not wanting to single out anybody here, I have also twice had issues in a place which was owned by a German like myself and I certainly know Caucasian Canadians who really dislike dogs, but at least here we have laws which clearly state that I can take my dog anywhere whether it's a super market, a 5-Star restaurant or a hotel, on the bus, train or in the airplane. Regards, Sieghard -----Original Message----- From: viphone@googlegroups.com <viphone@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Dave Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2019 3:05 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: Re: Guide dog in United States-help me Please 馃檹 If you don't reside in the UK. Then you won't qualify, to receive a guide dog. You could try amazon. They may have some left over from black friday, lol. Dave. -----Original Message----- From: terri...@gmail.com Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2019 9:42 PM To: viphone@googlegroups.com Subject: RE: Guide dog in United States-help me Please 馃檹 Hello Karuna, You cannot just buy a guide dog to take home. In fact, you cannot just buy a guide dog period. I am going to guess that you are from India. You should try applying to one of the guide dog training schools in the UK and/or Australia. I have know idea if you would qualify for any of those schools though. Best, Terri Hedgpeth -----Original Message----- From: viphone@googlegroups.com <viphone@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of karuna Chopra Sent: Saturday, November 30, 2019 2:27 PM To: ViPhone <viphone@googlegroups.com> Subject: Guide dog in United States-help me Please 馃檹 Sincere apologies, this mail is off-topic and not related to the iPhone. I am visiting the United States next week, I want to take back with me a trained guide dog for helping me move around. can anyone please suggest where I could buy one? Your help in this Will be greatly appreciateWill be greatly appreciated. You can email me directly at kar...@chopra.us Thank you very much! -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor. Mark can be reached at: mk...@ucla.edu. Your list owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at caraqu...@caraquinn.com The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. 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