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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Hi,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I suggest it is appropriate to contact the guide dog school about their puppy raiser. The schools need to take responsibility for some training of their raisers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>The kind of comments you cite here are inappropriate and unacceptable.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>You also could talk to the principal and see if there might be any opportunity to conduct a better training session. Treat this as an opportunity to educate.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Mike Hingson<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'>The Michael Hingson Group, INC.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'> “Speaking with Vision”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'>Michael Hingson, President<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'>(415) 827-4084<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'><a href="mailto:info@michaelhingson.com">info@michaelhingson.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'>To order Michael Hingson's new book, Thunder Dog, and check on Michael Hingson's speaking availability for your next event please visit:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'><a href="http://www.michaelhingson.com">www.michaelhingson.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'>Congratulations to Roselle for winning the title of American Hero Dog, 2011. Please visit <a href="http://www.herodogawards.org/">http://www.herodogawards.org</a> to participate in the 2012 American Humane Association Hero Dog Awards contest and to learn about the American Humane Association.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'>To purchase your own portrait of Roselle painted by the world's foremost animal artist, Ron Burns, please visit <a href="http://www.ronburns.com/roselle">http://www.ronburns.com/roselle</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'>To learn about the KnfbReader Mobile please visit:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'><a href="http://knfbreader.michaelhingson.com">http://knfbreader.michaelhingson.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> cagdu-bounces@nfbcal.org [mailto:cagdu-bounces@nfbcal.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Ken Volonte<br><b>Sent:</b> Friday, March 09, 2012 2:26 PM<br><b>To:</b> Cagdu<br><b>Cc:</b> Gary Wunder<br><b>Subject:</b> [Cagdu] on schools and assemblies<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>This morning, I went to an elementary school for an assembly of Kindergarteners and first graders. I was invited to this function by one of the teachers who was a guide dog puppy raiser. I sat horrified as this person explained how blind people couldn't do anything without the assistance of their guide dogs. "That's why I'm raising guide dog puppies and I'll do it for the rest of my life", she said. In short, I was just there as a prop as this raiser did an infomercial for herself and, just incidentally, for guide dog school. The next horrible thing that happened was her instruction for the children to close their eyes. "Are you scared?" she asked. "Yeeeees!" they all answered. "Well that's how a blind person feels all through the day, so you should thank God you can see." We're not through yet. Next, she had me work my dog through a series of obstacles and was very upset when he returned by a different way than he had gone. We had headed for the exit and then had come back to my chair. The worst thing was when she picked out two hapless little kids and had her puppy "guide" them through the obstacles. Remember this was a puppy, a cute little six month old black lab puppy who had behaved flawlessly, despite long ear splitting whistles of very high frequency feed back. Now I am glad to go and speak to school kids. I have even shared lunch in the cafeteria in my time; but this debacle was too much. When it was my time to speak, I congratulated the kids on how brave they were and told them that blindness was normal for me. That ended my time. It ended the whole assembly As I said before, I'm glad to speak at schools, but next time, I'll only address an assembly if I am invited by the school principle or other administrator. Kids are so much smarter than adult puppy raisers. That's why I liked it better when it was a 4-h project. </span><o:p></o:p></p></div></div></body></html>