RLAMBER@VAX2.CONCORDIA.CA (Robert M. Lambert) (02/09/90)
Index Number: 6622 Hi, Vixen: I have been following your story about obtaining a guide dog, and there are some ideas I'd like to run by you. First, let me mention that my first two guide dogs, over the years between 1957 and 1979, were puppies that I trained myself because I could not feel satisfied about the dogs or policies of any existing guide dog training center. Only my last dog and my present one came from recognized schools, because only then was I able to find schools whose sensitivity to the client needs and whose program for breeding and training puppies left me feeling secure and comfortable. Thus, the comments I am about to make are not those of a school loyalist or an overly hat-in-hand blind person. To make all of this even clearer, let me mention that two of the closest friends my wife and I have are Toni Gardiner and Edwin Eames, now living in Fresno. These guys wrote a great book that you might enjoy reading. It is called: "A GUIDE TO GUIDE DOG SCHOOLS". In their book, Toni and Ed discuss everything from the residential accomodations of each school to the attitudes the school has toward its students. The book may be very helpful to you. Now to business----The concerns that San Raphael has about poor hearing in relation to using a guide dog are reasonable. Clearly, because the person/guidedog unit is a team that requires mutual input from both members of the team to one another, the accuracy of your perceptions about the working situation are important. On the other hand, I think you can be sure that San Raphael will evaluate the role of your hearing very thoughtfully and very much with your desire to work with a puppy in mind. When my wife and I were there to get our present puppies, last April, we indeed had two women in our class with hearing difficulties of a moderate degre. In fact, both of them wore aids. One of them grew up in San Raphael, and is now married and living in Port Angeles Washington. The other is an elderly resident of the Boston area. Both had some residual vision, and the girl from California/Washington had quite a bit of it. All of this is by way of saying that you should not feel pessamistic about San Raphael, nor should you doubt the sensibility of their thoughts about ;your application. Finally, no matter what the outcome of that application might be, you should certainly not give up on the idea of a puppy. Another school, such as, for example, Guide Dogs Of The Desert, in Palm Springs, might receive your application differently. Finally, knowing Toni Gardiner and Ed Eames as well as I do, I am sure that, if you would like to talk to them about schools in general or schools in particular, they would be delighted to talk with you. Just dial up Fresno, and ask for Edwin Eames. Good luck, and hang in there! Bob Lambert