[nabs] Guide Dogs in High School?

[Laura Glowacki]

Burnadetta, I really enjoyed reading this.  Thanks for sharing!

A warning, this is a little long.

I, for one, just wasn't ready for a guide dog in high school and 
I knew it.  I was not even capable of taking care of myself let 
alone another creature up through my sophomore year in college. 
I attended a school for the blind for the last three years of 
high school, so actually I probably would've had it much easier 
than anyone with a dog in public schools.  And I do want to point 
out that many of the examples Burnadetta pointed about people 
being terrified of the dog or people making scenes or things will 
happen whenever and whereever she may go with a dog.  However, 
the high school atmosphere is just so much more chaotic and ... 
well hormonal to be honest.  Those types of things are likely to 
happen at much more frequency and with the people perpitrating 
the acts to be much less capable of understanding the situation 
in a mature fashion.  I experience plain ignorance and large 
amounts of idiocy on a daily basis, and most of it is while out 
traveling around Chicago.  People will be people, and I've 
learned to deal with that more or less.  Sometimes it is 
frustrating, and sometimes just funny.

I remember how loud my high school was, and I cringe at the 
thought of walking Mollie through that.  She's a rather dainty 
german shepherd who is actually not all that nervous of large 
crowds of people or loud noises.  I'd be more afraid of her being 
stepped on as it was literally wall-to-wall ppeople in the halls 
during passing period.

It sounds like this girl has pretty much made up her mind, which 
is good.  I'm glad she knows what she wants and is going for it. 
I trust that the GDF instructors will be able to best help her 
prepare for such a transition.  I just hope that sharing these 
stories with her will give her some things to think about.

As a kid, I always said I'd never get one, that I didn't need 
one.  And I didn't exactly; I was a fantastic cane traveler 
(according to my mobility istructors).  And since my parents had 
friends with guide dogs, I had a little bit of early experience 
that stressed the responsibility of having one as going well 
beyond having a pet.  I was also given the misguided impression 
by some blind adults that dogs were really no better than canes 
and worse in some respects which biased me against getting one. 
Well in high school, I got to visit the Seeing Eye and spend a 
weekend there learning about gide dogs, the training process, the 
history of guide dogs and the seeing eye, etc.  It included us 
walking a 4 block route with a cane and then repeating that same 
route with a guide dog in training.  It was an experience that 
totally changed my life as I really enjoyed it and could see 
myself doing that.

Also, when talking to a lady whom I respected a lot at a 
scholarship luncheon once possibly either after my senior year of 
high school or after my freshman year of college.  I asked her 
how she knew she was ready for a dog, and she told me "you'll 
know.  you'll just know when the time is right."  And while this 
may not be true for everyone, it was for me more or less.  I did 
have a period of contemplation during the fall of 2007.  My best 
friend who was also my roommate at the time and I had some issues 
which drove a wedge between us, and over Christmas break I found 
out she was moving to Pennsylvania.  I had experienced some 
significant loss in my personal life in the year up to that 
point.  I really wanted a companion, and honestly I knew that 
having responsibility for another creature who would be depending 
on me for her well-being would at least force me to get out of 
bed every morning long enough to feed her and take her out etc. 
And of course I do much more than that with her now.  Also, I 
knew from watching a good friend f mine who lived in my dorm at 
the time that they were fantastic about guiding around crowds of 
people that populate the world over especially college campuses. 
So in January I put in  an application.

So while my reasons were a lot more emotional at the time, I also 
knew realistically that I could handle it since my friend who had 
a dog living in the dorm and I spent a lot of time together so I 
got to see him work directly with the dog on multiple occasions 
and in different places.  Also, he taught me how to clean up 
after her (the icky stuff you're afraid to ask about), and I even 
dogsat a few times for him.  What helped the process for me was 
being able to observe over a period of time the pros and cons for 
this person of having a dog, and learning exactly what kinds of 
things I would have to do to care for one.  All that culminated 
in me getting one in the summer of 2008.  And I'm so glad I 
waited until that time to get a dog as I think the bonding 
process would've been much much harder before that point.  They 
don't tell you much about the bonding process until you get to 
training, and even then it's kind of an abstract thing.  With 
Mollie, I feel like sometimes we're still developing our bond, 
though I'd say it took about a year to cement that.  I don't 
think I'll ever go back.

One thing is for her to consider places where it would not be 
prudent to have a dog like movie theaters, bars (ok so she's a 
little young to consider that), amusement parks, places where 
they may use those horn things like at sporting events, and labs 
as in biology and chemistry labs.  Also, there were things they 
just plain didn't really tell us that I'd like to share.  She 
should be prepared to be very focused on the dog for the first 
two weeks after coming home to show him/her the rules of the 
house etc.  Also, she should know a little about how her existing 
household pets might interact with a new household member of the 
k-nine persuasion.  One last thing: they recommend no large 
transitions and no staying away over night anywhere for at least 
a month after bringing the dog home because of helping the dog 
settle in.

The disclaimer here is that these were the things taught to me at 
the seeing eye and may not reflect the views of GDF.

Please feel free to pass on my email to her as well.  I remember 
I had a lot of questions and not many people to turn to in the 
weeks immediately following getting my dog.  Luckily I felt that 
training really prepared me for it.  Still, sometimes it's fun to 
have others with whom to share stories etc.


Laura
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bernadetta Pracon" <bernadetta_pracon at samobile.net>
To: <editor.acbstudents at gmail.com>
Cc: <nabs at acb.org>
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2010 12:53 AM
Subject: Re: [nabs] Guide Dogs in High School?


Hi:
I had my dog, Kipp, with me during my senior year of high school. 
It
was an interesting experience. I got him the summer before my 
senior
year, and for the most part, things were ok, but I must admit 
some
things did change for me when I went back to school with him. 
Most of
the people at my school, including teachers and students alike, 
did not
really know how to deal with the dog being around. My friends 
adjusted
to it, some even became fascinated and very "cool" with the idea 
of
him. However, the people who did not know me that well, or 
weren't
taking any classes with me, became terrified or shocked 
periodically.
It was hard for me to understand why; Kipp is the cutest, 
friendliest
black Lab I'd ever met, so I found it amusing and confusing when 
I
would walk into a staircase and a screaming girl or two would run 
past
me and the dog, or cower in fear. One other thing your friend 
needs to
take into account is that many kids in high school are really 
immature
and think everything, including a guide dog, is a joke. It's not 
their
fault. Some of them don't have much of a chance to grow up by 
that
point yet. But that could result in some unnecessary situations. 
I
didn't much have an issue with that, but one time, a random kid 
decided
to trip my dog while we were walking to class. Kipp didn't get 
hurt,
but he could have, and I brought that to the attention of the 
principal.
While we're on the subject of the principal, I have to say, mine 
was
actually very ignorant and quite uncooperative when it came to 
having a
guide dog at her school. She tried to create the illusion that 
she
respected me and The situation. But when I went to her to discuss 
the
matter, and gave her an overview of what things would be like, 
and what
I needed from her in order to integrate Kipp into the community 
of
students and teachers, she listened with a bit of forcefully 
mustered
politeness, and then went and did things her own way. I was too 
naive
to advocate for myself and make sure that things were done 
properly to
prepare the students for the new addition. So when she told me 
that she
wanted me to stay out of school on the first day of senior year, 
while
she prepared the students for Kipp's arrival, i faught her some, 
but
then resigned, with her promise to hold a quick assembly for the
school, showing them the Seeing Eye video that I provided. This
assembly was my suggestion.  I wanted to be there to answer some
questions and educate the students, but she insisted on my 
absense that
day, saying that it would become chaotic. I abided by that, but 
upon
ariving at school the second day, I learned that no assembly was 
given,
and that only a brief, twenty second announcement about the new 
guide
dog was made. Students and teachers alike were told to feel free 
and
pick up a brochure about guide dogs from the main office. Of 
course, no
one bothered to do so.
Some people also didn't understand or like the idea of a working 
dog,
and gave me a hard time about it when they saw me correcting him 
or
things of that nature. I recall a girl who made a really 
embarrassing
scene in the school cafateria, because I gave my dog a leash 
correction
for trying to grab a french fry off the floor. She accused me of 
being
a dog torturer and swore that she'd report me and any other guide 
dog
user she'd ever meet because "it's just not humane to bring a 
sweet
animal to an environment like this" as she stated. Of course, we 
can
encounter  basketcases that think dogs shouldn't be working,
everywhere we go, but younger people can sometimes be more 
sensative
and passionate, so that may be troublesome.
I also had to deal with a situation where a girl who took a few 
of the
same classes I did, was deadly afraid of dogs. We were both AP
students, so neither of us could have been transfered to a 
different
class. That was a difficult situation for a while, but she was a 
good
sport about it, and was bright enough to understand and accept 
the fact
that the dog wasn't out to hurt her or even interact with her.
My most memorable experience of having Kipp with me in high 
school was
on graduation night. I was walking back to my seat after 
receiving my
diploma, and when i got there and sat down, my poor pup puked at 
my
feet. I sat in the front row, being one of the class's top ten 
ranked
students, and some people, including teachers just stared in 
disgust.
It was embarrassing. I had nothing to clean it up with and I felt
horrible for what happened and that people decided to make it 
more
noticeable by commenting. Then, my favorite music teacher, being 
a man
of integrity and class, pulled out a few napkins from his pocket,
walked up to the front of the theater, and insisted on helping me 
clean
it up. What a selfless thing to do. I suppose that people reacted 
the
way they did for the most part because, well, their just ordinary
people. I don't really blame them in retrospect. It certainly was 
a
show stopper though. And I might add, the reason kipp became 
nervous to
the point of nausea is because people decided to use those 
obnoxiously
loud blow horns to celebrate the occasion. Poor thing just 
couldn't
take the confusion and the noise at the time.

I have a pocketful of anecdotes from my time with Kipp in high 
school,
and it would take forever to write it all down in one sitting, 
but i
hope my little compilation helps your friend get a clearer 
picture of
what it might be like for her. Everyone's experience is different 
of
course, some better, some worse. That was mine. In retrospect, I 
would
have done the same thing over again, although I do feel a bit, 
that my
dog would have been more disciplined and less spoiled had I 
waited to
get him when I was out of high school. It takes a certain amount 
of
growth and maturity to develop a successful bond with a guide. 
All in
all though, like I said, I wouldnt' have changed a thing, given a
chance. Having a dog in high school presented me with a unique,
eye-opening experience that I wouldn't have gotten any other way. 
Also
some of the challenges Kipp and I faced in high school never 
repeated
themselves outside of that environment, and had I waited to get a 
dog,
I wouldn't have bonded with him the same way.
Please, feel free to get in touch with me off-list if you want 
more
info about this. You could even pass my email along to your 
friend, and
I'd gladly serve as a sort of mentor for her, regarding this 
situation.
I'd thoroughly enjoy helping her out, and my experience took 
place only
three or four years ago, so it's a fairly recent account.

Hope this helps, and sorry for the painfully long email. :)

All Best

Bernadetta

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