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Month: January 2019

A golden retriever in leather Leader Dog harness walks on inscribed bricks on a sunny day. A person is walking next to the dog and is only visible from the waist down
 

We have held the first in a series of webinars that will provide answers to some of the questions we receive most often about the services we provide. Webinars will be held quarterly (January, April, July, October).

Our first webinar tackled the topic: “Is a Leader Dog the Right Mobility Tool for Me?” Two professionals from our training team, Manager of Extended Services Erica Ihrke, certified orientation and mobility specialist, and Director of Programs David Locklin, guide dog mobility instructor, presented. They gave insight into the similarities/differences of using a cane vs. a guide dog, overviewed admission standards for both our Orientation & Mobility (O&M) Training and Guide Dog Training programs, and covered the application process for both programs, among other topics.

We had a great response to the webinar and are making it available for everyone to review on YouTube.

There were requests to include some of the content discussed in the webinar including International Guide Dog Federation standards and information for O&M professionals about our Pro Seminars.

If you would like to be notified of future webinars, please email Rachelle Kniffen with your request.

Meet Your Host and Presenters

Erica Ihrke has been Leader Dog’s manager of extended services since 2008. She earned her master’s degree in orientation and mobility from Western Michigan University. She is currently a member of the O&M Subject Matter Expert Committee for the Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation & Education Professionals and is a past president of Michigan Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER).

Erica is an in-demand speaker and has presented at several AER International Conferences and the International Mobility Conference on the topics of guide dog readiness, alternative models of O&M, and accessible GPS.

David Locklin has 17 years experience in guide dog training. His career started with Guide Dogs for the Blind in the United Kingdom where he was a guide dog mobility instructor for seven years before becoming their service delivery manager.

Since 2014, David has been Leader Dog’s director of programs, overseeing the training department and the outreach services & community engagement department. Among David’s responsibilities is ensuring that all programs meet International Guide Dog Federation standards and that the needs of all clients are being met.

Jim Dugan, Leader Dog’s manager of outreach services, has been with Leader Dog since 2016. He oversees client field activities including home delivery of Leader Dogs and client support, as well as agencies and community engagement activities.

Jim has been in the guide dog industry since 1989 and has been a guide dog mobility instructor since 1992 for organizations in the U.S. and Australia. Prior to that, Jim was a member of the Military Police K9 Corp. in the U.S. Army.

Five clients are seated, facing the camera and smiling. Each one has a Leader Dog in harness sitting on the floor next to them. Behind the clients stand two instructors, one male and one female

By Ashley Nunnelly, Guide Dog Mobility Instructor

Before joining Leader Dog, I worked for three years in the puppy department at another guide dog organization, hoping to pay my dues and eventually be considered for an apprenticeship position. I never dreamed that I would move from sunny, warm, fried chicken and home cooking Georgia to the frigid Midwest for my dream job.

Becoming an apprentice guide dog mobility instructor for Leader Dog isn’t an easy task. After passing two rounds of phone interviews, I flew to cold, cold Michigan for a long day of whirlwind testing experience. One question: HOW do you choose what to wear to look professional for an interview while working with dogs? The perfect shoes alone are an enigma.

In advance of my arrival, I prepared a presentation to teach someone a new skill of my choice. My previous boss talked me out of my original idea, “How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse,” so I created a slideshow with videos of me working with a dog on training food refusal with positive reinforcement and operant conditioning. It turned out there wasn’t a way to play the presentation. I did my best under pressure and used some lovely and verbose descriptions of what my carefully crafted videos would have looked like. Somehow, I made it through that excruciating ten minutes.

After that there was a dog working section. Two members of management and a guide dog mobility instructor (GDMI) gave brief instructions and then watched me complete an obedience routine with a dog. Then I ate lunch with clients, attended a report writing segment, shadowed part of class and observed a training route with a GDMI. I attended both an individual and a panel interview with four people who asked TOUGH questions. Working on the training staff at Leader Dog involves a high level of teamwork and togetherness. Ensuring that a new candidate is a good fit for the team is of paramount importance.

After an apprentice candidate completes a similar interview process to mine and accepts the position, he or she is greeted on their first day by Team Supervisor Sebastian McPherson, who oversees all apprentices. The first month is spent working with the dog care team members to understand how the dogs are cared for during their time in-for-training. The second month is spent shadowing teams in each stage of training and class and bringing a shared string of three dogs through the first stage of training, the foundations stage. The apprentice also receives one-on-one training from Sebastian learning the basics of guide dog specific training.

Next, the apprentice is put on a training team and paired with a mentor. The mentor is the point person along with Sebastian for training instructions, questions and concerns related to clients and dogs. The apprentice goes into their “observation class” and shadows their mentor and other team members as they work with clients. This allows the apprentice to get an in-depth view of the realities of and what the final goal of a Leader Dog looks like.

Next the apprentice is assigned four dogs to work with and two clients for their first class—all closely observed by their mentor. Three clients are assigned in the second class, and for the following classes apprentices are at full capacity with four clients.

Throughout all three years of the apprenticeship, there are online learning modules to be done, field visits and agency visits to observe and conduct, workshops put on by the orientation & mobility department and an immersive three-day blindfold experience.

The apprenticeship is specifically geared to set learners up for success with gradually increasing responsibility and decreasing mentor support. Though eventually “onboarding” ends, the piece that keeps every apprentice/GDMI hooked on this job is that the learning never stops. Every dog is different; every client is different; every match is different. From my perspective, I’m grateful to Leader Dog for taking the chance on me from a stressful interview process, investing time and resources into my education, and allowing me to work at my dream job.

Ashley is pictured above with a group of clients and Leader Dogs whom she helped to instruct. She is top right, standing in the back row.