Wisconsin could get a guide-dog school for teens

[leadinglabbie]

greenbaypressgazette.com

April 25, 2008

Guide-dog center for teens planned at NWTC

By MIKE HOEFT
mhoeft@greenbaypressgazette.com

Organizers announced plans Friday to open a guide-dog
training center at Northeastern Wisconsin Technical
College in what they say would be the first such
facility serving blind teens.

Comments

[jenandbronze]

I had a guide dog in grade 12, and I don't recommend it either, although the kids supposedly respected the no-petting policy, etc, ... but I did find out later, in college, a student in my class went to the same high school as I did, tell me students actually tried to throw food at Bronze... ICK! He never did react to that, considering how bad his food-refusal was over time... funny how that works?

I think this is something that needs to be taken on a case-by-case scenario, which is happening with GDB now, since we are now taking it case by case, and you have to be quite mature... i wasn't emotionally and physically ready for a dog, but I learned a great deal from my first guide, what I am able to handle, etc.

my thoughts

[3kitties]

There are a host of issues I have with this. The teen issue is one. I know of a few teens who might be able to handle a dog successfully, but they are few and far between. The 16 age limit is something that U.S. schools have set through wisdom and experience. Most teens do not do nearly enough traveling to give a dog enough work, and the high school social scene would be very hard on a dog. It's different for a teacher... Teachers have the authority to set certain rules and guidelines as well as to enforce consequences. And that comment about them starting looking when the child was six? Let's not even go there. These are big dogs! There really need to be some basic O&m skills in place. Dogs don't do well during the O&M learning process, and that process is often still going on into the teen years

Re: my thoughts

[jenandbronze]

I had a guide as a teen, well, an older teen, since I repeated several grades, so was older then most people in my high school at the time, and don't recommend it, as I mentioned above, due to emotionally and physically draining times... I wasn't ready, but my orientation and mobility skills were top-notch, so that wasn't the only contributing factor at the time for me to get a dog... I also had a supportive family about my guide dog, although there were some issues when I first brought Bronze home, which were remedied with the help of the school to assist in the advocacy and education of the guide dog...

I did learn a great deal about having Bronze, but I think I could have waited until I was psychologically, emotionally and physically ready to handle a dog.. I was at the time, but after waiting for a class date for 1 1/2 years, things changed drastically by the time I went to class and came home, heading to school, with some major educational issues!!!!

[waterowl]

I know nothing about handling a guide dog obviously, so I can't comment on that, but as a fellow assistance dog handler, I am concerned about younger teens handling assistance dogs alone in public to the standards I think are good for the dog, let alone the human. There are a lot of people and things that can scare or even hurt a dog if the person does not handle the dog correctly. This requires a lot of judgment and responsibility which some adults don't have, let alone teens whose brains haven't even finished growing yet

[leadinglabbie]

The problem is that the whole basis of guide-dog training is that the dog has to make certain decisions about physically maneuvering the person through space. I don't know if other types of assistance dogs do this or not, but that's the guide's crucial function. Even as an adult (and a fairly assertive one when it's necessary), I have had to deal with my family trying to redirect my dog. I have had people grab and try to steer me in public (though this happens less with a dog than it did with a cane...but it still occasionally happens). Even if the parents are trained with the child, I don't see how they can avoid doing the dog's job, particularly if they're holding a leash. They are instinctively going to resist letting the dog make a clearance error, for example, even though this can be very educational for the dog. So in this situation, it's possible that the dog is providing some benefit to the child...but I don't think the benefit is guiding.

[waterowl]

I'm sorry that people are so rude to you. The assisted service dog or skilled companion team is a partnership between the humans that is worked out in training. It is as different as a person trying to grab the dog as a pet dog is from a properly trained assistance dog

[leadinglabbie]

Hi

Formerly Quinn Haberl Foundation

[anonymous]

Before releasing this story did anyone ask what happened to the money raised under the Quinn Haberl Name? There were thousands of dollars raised. Has anyone checked records or asked for 990 forms for the years they exsisted under the Quinn Haberl Name?

Haberl guide dogs

[anonymous]

This is the second non-existant school promoted by Haberl. The Quinn Haberl Foundation is now defunct and Haberl has provided no financial information on the thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars donated by good-hearted "suckers". Where's the money??????? Especially since the VCTF has indicated that there is NO Financial carry-over from the QHF. There were scores of families that "fostered" dogs that would never go to blind children----there was no school, just cute photo opportunities for check writing. SOMEBODY PLEASE CALL THE IRS!!!!!

Re: Haberl guide dogs

[puppyraiser99]

Does anybody know the current status of this organization????

Their website was working fine not that long ago, now I get a 404 error when I try to access it!

I also have to question where all the money went. According to their tax returns (posted at nccsdataweb.urban.org/PubApps/showVals.php?ft=bmf&ein=201071401), from 2005 through 2007 they raised over $144,000!!!

How can an organization that's raised that much money just disappear???

Has anybody in the Green Bay/Marinette area made contact with an investigative reporter?

Re: Haberl guide dogs

[anonymous]

I believe there is an established Guide Dog Association in Madison, WI. It's been around for about 5 years or so and I saw on their website that they have a program called Canine Visual Companion Dogs. It is for children to improve gait and mobility, but the dog is handled by a responsible, trained, sighted adult. A child is too young to make traffic decisions or handle a dog, but this is the closest you can get. Since the dog is fully trained and preforms mobility services, it has public access. A friend of mine knows someone in Dousman, WI that got one of these dogs and is a great success.

Helen