From: "Nancy K. Martin" 
Subject: training
I am a member of the Washington State affiliate of the NFB and I once had
a guide-dog. I was trained at Guide-Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael. I
had this dog for ten years and I loved her very much. Anyway, I am
straying away from my point. The training at Guide-Dogs was very
intensive. The only real down time was during Sunday, when we could have
visitors or do pretty much what we wanted to do. Otherwise, we were out
early in the morning walking with our dogs. We had a couple of breaks
during the day and then we would go back to the dorm and feed and water
the dogs. Then, we would do our night training with the dogs, and that was
as intensive as the day training. We didn't have lessons in cooking skills
because that was not the purpose of Guide-Dogs. We didn't have Braille
lessons, because that was not the purpose of Guide-Dogs. The purpose was
strictly for being mobile with the dogs. We also learned how to groom our
dogs and were given instructions on what foods were good for the dogs, and
so on. I don't really know what all the fuss is about. 
I attended the meeting last summer and I too disagreed about some of the
things that Peggy stated about the schools for guide-dog training. She
said that there was a lot of down time, and that really isn't true. I
think that Guide-Dogs for the Blind was a good place at the time. I don't
use a dog now because I choose not to do so but I will defend dog users. 
Thank you for reading this message.
Sincerely,
Nancy Martin
   
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