From: Pete Donahue 
Subject: Re: Seeing Eye Resolution
Hello Kathy and friends:
Our dealings with the Seeing eye's breakfasts at our conventions as far as
I am concerned is just scratchin the surface of serious problems with it's
attitude towards blind persons.  i am still very angry about the school's
pollicy concerning contact between puppy raisers and graduates and I am
not afraid to make my displeasure known to any one who will listen and not
go so far as to remove me from their mailing list simply for asking for
help in contacting my dog's raiser.  This is what happened to me and
Buddy-l.  Yes you heard it right.  After posting several messagews about
my dislike of this pollicy I dedcided that I did not do any good just to
complain about the issue, but to ask for help in locating Tim's raiser so
I could finely ask them about his puppyhood in order to get to the root of
some behavior problems I was having with him when he is out of harness.
Several nights after posting that message I received a note from Clarrence
whaley; one of Buddy-l's moderators informing me that my post was
inappropriate, and that I must either refrain from such postings in the
future or I would be removed from the list.
I know that a number of puppy raisers subscribe to buddy-l and i figured
that there would be some Seeing eye raisers among them; perhaps Tim's
raiser would be among them and they would see my request to contact them,
and if they chose to do so they would have gotten in touch with me. after
all they were not given that chance while Tim and I were intraining.
Perhaps the Int4ernet could be harnessed as a weapon to fight such agenst
pollicies of this kind.  The disission of puppy raisers and graduatesx to
communicate with each other should rest with those parties, and not be the
dictates of the school.  Other schools allow and encourage meetings
between raisers, and graduat3es and contrary to Seeing Eye's thinking that
we are burdened down with unwanted charrity the opportunity is embraced by
puppy raisers and graduates alike.
This is not to say that there are instances in which unwantee harassment
occurrs, but I don't believe that is an eppidemic problem.  Furthermore I
believe that like sighted persons blind persons must learn to protect
their own privacy and they won't learn how to do this if they can be led
to think that someone else will do it for them and that they need not take
responsibility for looking out for themselves.  We should not always
expect agencies for the blind including guide dog schools to take over
this responsibility, and if we do we are harming ourselves and other blind
persons as well.
Although I received a report from Tim's raiser telling me something about
his puppyhood some information that I believe I had a right to know was
not told to me.  For example I was told that he was, and still is a
chewer.  He has chewed up everything from carpetting to computer adapters,
placed mats, electric wires, (But not for lont), and other articles.  On
one occasion he ate $60 worth of cash that was carelessly left on our
kitchin table by one of my readers last spring.  This was no fault of
either the raiser or the school.
I was told that he tended to be stubborn, and liked to play; that is not
so bad.
I was not told that he liked to run loose if given the opportunity to do
so, and we had a f ew battles with this problem for about six months.
Fortunately he now knows that if an outside door is opened that he may not
charge outside unless he is on the leash, or in harness.  More serious
than that I was not told that he liked to relieve himself in the house;
even after being taken outside to go.  These two situations caused me, and
my family great stress, and we even got complaints from our neighbors as I
accidently yelled at him when we were outside during the early morning
hours.  Add to that that a few nice persons called tha Seeing Eye on us
and accused me of savierely misstreating him.  This occurred shortly
before the 1996 national convention.  I contacted them after the
convention and told them that we were tryijng to corect the problems they
brought to my attention.
I might also mention hear that the complaint they received had no
signature, and there were no specific details given; no specific times,
and days my eledged misshandling of Tim took place.  I told them that I
recognized that people have a a right to report misstreatment of a guide
dog, but that if an investigation was to be launched, and the charges
found not to be true that I would file harassment charges agenst anyone
bringing such a false complaint agenst me be an individual or a guide dog
school.  they havn't bothered me since!
The bottom line hear is that all of this could have been prefvented had I
had the opportunity to meet Tim's raiser and learn about his upbringing
straight from them.  I would have been able to contact them when the
behaviors I mentioned above occurred to find out if they had the same
trouble and to find out what they did about it.  I find this more
desireable to waiting around for the school to get the answer for me.
Since we're talking about puppy raising issues and not guide dog training
issues one should not have a problem with contacting a raiser for help,
but issues of guide work must be directed to the school as can behavior
issues such as those mentioned above.
I could have found out about the relieving problem, and if any veterinary
intervention was necessary.  I will mentiuon that after the national
convention our vet put Tim on some medicine to slow down his digestion to
help his system regulate itself.  Over time the relieving problem has at
last come under control.
Meeting the raiser and having all information about what I might need to
deal with whare Tim's behavior is concerned would have enabled me to be
better prepaired for coping with these situations when we got home, and
could have save us some frustration, and enduring the wrath of our
neighbors and the Seeing Eye, but they are the ones to blaim in the first
place for not considering the benefits of encouraging communication
between puppy raisers and graduates.  Hear is a thought.  Supposed a
raiser's family runs a computer business...  They are invited to meat the
new blind owner of the dog they raised, and learn that that person is a
computer probrammer.  Perhaps when a blind computer programmer calls on
them looking for a job they may be more open-minded to giving that blind
person a job.  Furthermore, they get the opportunity to meet the average
blind person, and not just the blind employees of the school.
Yes I believe we have just scratch the surface whare the Seeing Eye's
attitude towards blind people is concerned, and to one extend or otherthe
attutitude towards the blind by all guide dog schools in this country.  I
am sickened by the thought that I have, (Maxed out) the guide dog schools
in the U.S.  I am always looking for something better, but whare do you go
when you have reached the top of the mountain?  For once I would like to
return to a guide dog school anfor once hear about what is possible, and
not why blind persons should not be guide dog instructors, why it is not a
good idea for graduates and puppy raisers to communicate directly with
each other, (I deplore having to direct my correspondence through a third
party as it opens up the opportunity for information tampering by the
school)and other things I find very dissatisfactory about how our guide
dog schools operate.  Perhaps passage of this resolutijon by our
organization is just the begining of addressing th9os issues I have raised
in this note.  I hope that unless Seeing Euyue and other schools with
similer pollicies that forbid direct communication between puppy raisers
and graduateschange that we can pass a similer resolution urging that such
pollicies be changed.  Together we are changeing what itmeans to be blind.
Yours truly,
Peter Donahue
p.s.  Please don't kick me off of the list Dave
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