From: Pete Donahue 
Subject: Re: training
Hello Nancy and listers,
You said that you had all day Sunday free.  In my book that quallifies as
down-time.  The night when there is no training is more down-time.  the
time spent waiting in a van or in a lounge is downtime because you are
doing nothing with the dog but sitting around when you could be training;
perhaps working on things that may be of concern in your home area.
I remember the morning when I was at Seeing Eye when we had our train
ride.  We left the school shortly before 8 a.m. and arrived back at the
school around 9-15 that morning.  We could have spent another hour and a
half on the streets of Morristown honing up our skills before returning
home.  That kind of wastefull spending of phillanthropic and government
money would not have been tollerated had it been a general rehabilitation
agency.  Why should guide dog schools be allowed to get away with this
kind of wastefull spending while other agencies for the blind are called
to the carpit for such practices?  So why not find ways to further
intensafy the training so students can finnish the programme in half the
time no given to first time students.  This would reduce the time one
spends away from home and would allow the school to be able to serve more
blind persons each year.  Some of the schools have long waiting lists of
applicants waiting to come in for training.  Shorter classes would mean
that those waiting would be able to get in to training sooner.
My last dog Ogden came from Guide dogs for the Blind, and I was very happy
with the training he received.  While I felt that their training was some
of the best in the country they could do a better job whare their attitude
towards their blind students is concerned.  For example, I would seriously
consider getting another dog from them if they would addopt the same
ownership pollicy that Seeing Eye has had for years.  That is what mainly
drove me to want to go to Seeing Eye rather than coming back to Guide
Dogs.  I can only hope that by the time I retire Time the training at our
Nation's guide dog schools will be better than it is now.  Otherwise, I am
not sure what I will do.  I don't like the idea that i've maxed out the
guide dog training schools and that at least right now The SEeing Eye is
as best as it is going to get unless we get serious and work to change
this state of affairs.
Take care and have a good evening.
Peter donahue
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