A Publication of Guide Dog Users, Inc.

President: Penny Reeder

Editor: Andrea Giudice

Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)

A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972

https://guidedogusersinc.org/

Toll-Free: 866.799.8436

If You Missed our January 25 Board Meeting, You Can Listen to the Recording Here:

Topic: GDUI Board Meeting

Date: Jan 25, 2020 12:53 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Meeting Recording:

https://zoom.us/rec/share/y8JFHYn_pzlORq_k2W_TYu18Q6b9T6a82iQX-KEFyh7HHHHSICVshI8ohf29fuNh

Hearing Loss? Can You Work with a Guide Dog Safely and Successfully?

Golden State Guide Dog Handlers Inc. (GSGDHI) invites you to attend a telephone/zoom program, titled Hearing Loss and Your Success as a Guide Dog Handler”, set for Monday, February 3 from 6 to 7:30 PM PST

Noted below is the Zoom call in information as well as a description of the program.

Zoom Info:

The CCB Golden State Guide Dog Handlers Inc. is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Hearing Loss and Your Success as a Guide Dog Handler

Date Monday, February 3 at 6 PM to 7:30 PM PST

call in number: 1.669.900.6833

meeting ID: 634304501

When prompted for a participant code, press the Pound key.

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android:

https://zoom.us/j/634304501  

One tap mobile

+1.669.900.6833,, 634304501# US (San Jose)

Program Description

Golden State Guide Dog Handlers Inc. (GSGDHI) invites you to attend a telephone/zoom program set for Monday, February 3 from 6 to 7:30 PM PST. This informative program will address the needs of guide dog handlers who also have significant hearing loss. Our panelists will be Marc Gillard of Guide Dogs for the Blind, Becky Barnes Davidson from Guiding Eyes, Cathy Abrahamson of the San Francisco Light House, and guide dog handlers David Jackson and Deborah Kendrick, who are guide dog handlers with hearing loss.

Kindly RSVP so we will know the approximate number of callers who will join us by sending an email to the program facilitator, Susan Glass.

Susan Glass email: Susan Glass

mailto:susancglass@att.net  

Deadline Rapidly Approaching to Register for ACB Mid-Year Meetings!

Are you planning to represent your ACB state or special interest affiliate, or Committee, at the ACB February meetings? If so, make sure to register soon!

 The American Council of the Blind DC Leadership Meetings will take place from Saturday, February 22 to Tuesday, February 25, 2020 at the Holiday Inn & Suites Old Town in Alexandria, Virginia. The deadline to register for the meetings and book a hotel room at the group rate is next Friday, February 7.

Register by visiting: 

http://weblink.donorperfect.com/DCLeadershipmeeting

2020 DC Leadership Meetings Schedule:

Saturday, February 22: Board Meeting

Sunday, February 23: Affiliate Presidents’ Meeting

Monday, February 24: Legislative Seminar

Tuesday, February 25: Meeting with Legislators on Capitol Hill

Hotel Information:

Holiday Inn & Suites Alexandria – Old Town

Room rates (pretax): $109/night (king/double)

Address: 625 First Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

Phone number: 703.548.6300

Holiday Inn Old Town Reservations (enter group code “ANC” under more options): 

https://www.ihg.com/…/ho…/us/en/alexandria/axehd/hoteldetail

To learn how to schedule meetings with your representatives and senators on Capitol Hill, please visit: 

https://acb.org/2020-leg-seminar-scheduling-hill-meetings

Leader Dogs has launched an alumni Facebook page. Below is information on how to join!  

This group will connect Leader graduates with other LDB alumni to share stories, photos, everyday issues and personal wins. Anyone who attended a Leader Dog program (Guide Dog Training, O&M Training and/or Summer Experience Camp) is welcome to join.

The group is administered by Leader’s client services team. They will confirm that only LDB alumni are in the group. They will also check in periodically to see if there are any questions or concerns that a LDB team member can help with.

When new clients are approved for one of LDB’s programs, they’ll be invited to join the group. This group is a place they can seek support and ideas to help them prepare for training, e.g.,  what to pack, how much money to bring, etc.. Who better to give them advice than LDB alums!

Please note that you must join with your own Facebook account, not your spouse’s, child’s or dog’s account

To find the LDB Alumni Group:

1. In Facebook, go to the search bar at the top and type “Leader Dogs for the Blind Alumni”
2. A list of pages and groups associated with Leader Dog will appear.
3. Click “Leader Dogs for the Blind Alumni,” which should be the first group/page on the list.

To join the LDB Alumni Group:

1. Once on the group page, click the “+Join Group” button.
2. You will be prompted to answer three questions all of which must be answered to join the group. These questions help LDB confirm that you’re a client:

Have you been approved for or completed at least one program at Leader Dog? If you’ve completed more than one, select the most recent.

• Under what name did you submit your application for training at Leader Dog (in case it’s different from your Facebook name)?
• What is your date of birth?

Please note: You must answer all three questions before being accepted to the group! If you aren’t sure what name you used on your application, give us your best guess.

If you have any questions, please contact

mailto:clientservices@leaderdog.org  

GDUI congratulates The Seeing Eye, and everyone who lives in New Jersey, on the state’s naming The Seeing Eye Dog the official State Dog of New Jersey! We can’t think of a more fitting honor! (Willow, the Seeing Eye Dog who lives here with me, is wolfing and wagging in agreement!)

Congratulations!

HUD ISSUES GUIDANCE ON REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS UNDER THE FAIR HOUSING ACT RELATING TO ASSISTANCE ANIMALS

On January 28, 2020, the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development issued guidance under the Fair Housing Act, regarding reasonable accommodations related to assistance animals, including guide dogs. Read the news release here:

https://www.hud.gov/press/press_releases_media_advisories/HUD_No_20_013

AER Scholarship Opportunity for Visually Impaired Students Pursuing a Career Working with People who are Blind and Visually Impaired

The Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) is now accepting applications for the William and Dorothy Ferrell Scholarship. This educational scholarship is awarded every other year to two selected applicants who are legally blind and are studying for a career that provides services to persons who are blind or visually impaired.

If you are not a student, please help us spread the word by sharing this information to schools or directly to individuals who qualify.

The deadline for submitting the application and accompanying documentation is April 30, 2020; and scholarship recipients will be notified on or before May 31, 2020. The two winners will be announced at the AER International Conference 2020, July 22-26, in St. Louis, MO.

All eligible applicants are encouraged to apply. Scholarship applications detailing eligibility requirements can be found here:

https://aerbvi.org/resources/aer-scholarships/

To submit your application, please complete the application in full, then submit your application and accompanying documentation no later than April 30 to Michele Basham at

mailto:michele@aerbvi.org

Employment Opportunity! Menus4ALL is launching an independent contractor sales representative program, nationwide, on February 2, 2020.  A limited  number of representatives will be trained initially. This role is targeted, and all processes have been geared toward sales reps with blindness and visual impairments with moderate assistive technology skills.  

We are accepting applications for our first group of reps between February 2 and February 21, 2020.  Then, interviews and training will take place in the first part of March.   

To learn more, please watch our 

Employment Program Video, here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi5_m79-Mbs&feature=youtu.be

If you have members or clients ideal for this role please share these details. 

Stephanie Jones will be on the Blind and Beyond Radio Show’s February 2 show at 7:15 EST, where she will be announcing this program and taking call-ins.  For a link to the radio show, visit

https://www.blindandbeyondradioshow.org/

If you have questions please contact Stephanie Jones at 

mailto:sales@menus4ALL.com

Thank you,

Helen Fernety,  

Menus4ALL, CEO & Founder

https://www.menus4all.com

Changing lives one meal at a time for folks 

with blindness and visual impairments

How Has the ADA Made a Difference in Your Life?

2020 marks the 30th anniversary of President George H.W. Bush’s signing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) into law. Throughout this 30th anniversary year, the Civil Rights Division of the U. S. Department of Justice is publishing a monthly blog post highlighting the impact that recent ADA enforcement efforts have made in people’s everyday lives. We celebrate the many ways in which the ADA has transformed American society and enabled a generation of Americans with disabilities to thrive.

To read the January blog post, please click here

https://www.justice.gov/opa/blog/americans-disabilities-act-30th-anniversary-furthering-promise.

For more information on the ADA, please call the toll-free ADA Information Line at 800.514.0301, TDD: 800.514.0383

Help Amazon.com Improve the Quality of Audio Description!

Amazon.com is continuing to expand their library

of Audio described movies and TV Shows, and your feedback on the survey found at the following link will ensure we provide high quality audio described content.  The survey is open

to you if you meet the following conditions:

1. You must be 18 years or older.
2. You must use a streaming video service like Amazon Prime Video or Netflix.
3. You must have watched an audio described movie or television show within the last month.

The survey should take, at most, 15 minutes to complete. Your time and feedback will help us, not only expand the library of quality audio described content in the U.S.A., but also expand our library worldwide as well. 

You can access the survey using this link:

https://aiv.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0IHfp7VtKAX6pPD

New Hotline Promises an Easier Experience Identifying Accessible Products!

Consumers with vision loss may no longer have to spend hours searching for products that fit their unique accessibility  needs, thanks to the launch of the first-of-its-kind Accessible Products Hotline by Envision, Inc. The hotline will be operated by the William L. Hudson BVI Workforce Innovation Center, connecting callers with professional advice about purchasing and operating the top home, office and personal-use products on the market today. The BVI Workforce Innovation Center is part of Envision Inc. with the objective to train and employ individuals with visual impairments, place them into skilled positions and provide accessibility inclusion expertise to businesses around the United States.

The new hotline, 316.252.2500, is staffed by trained customer service representatives who are blind or visually impaired.

Learn more at:  https://www.workforceforall.com/Accessible-Products-Hotline

What Do the Laws Say? Finding Legal Resources that can Help when Access is Denied

Tom Hanson

[Editor’s Note: Tom is president of our GDUI affiliate, Guide Dog Users of Florida. Thank you, Tom, for sharing this very useful information.]

When we are out and about with our guides, we sometimes encounter situations where our right of access is challenged.  These occasions often cause responses such as, “My guide does not need to wear a vest,” or “You are not allowed to require me to sit outside,” or even, after you are totally frustrated with the lack of cooperation, “I’m going to sue you if you refuse to let us in.”  But what is really out there in the legal arena that may assist us in following through with our efforts to obtain full accessibility? If only there would be a place where we can go to learn if legal information exists and to have access to this legal information, including laws pertaining to service dogs, the rights of business owners, the differences between service dogs and emotional support animals, and the ADA rules on service animals.

Well, there is such a place!  It is the digital law library at Michigan State University.

The following are excerpts from a letter I received from the Animal Legal & Historical Center at MSU.

Thank you for writing to our digital law library. I would be happy to provide further research information for your project.

Our site does have a collection of Florida laws on service and assistance animals. The collection of these laws can be found at

https://www.animallaw.info/statute/fl-assistance-animal-floridas-assistance-animalguide-dog-laws

This page includes driving laws, equal accommodation laws, and discrimination laws that mention service animals.

We also have a table that compares assistance animal/service animal laws for all 50 states. The table also has links to other state laws on service and/or assistance animals. You can find it at

https://www.animallaw.info/topic/table-state-assistance-animal-laws  

We have a map that links to all state laws with fraudulent representation of service animal laws. This can be found at

https://www.animallaw.info/content/fraudulent-service-dogs

Also on our website is a page dealing with assistance animals in housing under the Fair Housing Act. The title of the page implies that it focuses on emotional support animals, but under the FHA, the reasonable accommodations for both types of assistance animals are the same. You can see this page at

https://www.animallaw.info/article/faqs-emotional-support-animals

In terms of case law, most of the cases we have posted are from federal courts under the ADA. The broad search term we use in our navigation is “Disability and Pets” so that it encompasses all issues involving service, assistance, or facility dogs. You can find a table of all these cases by selecting the “Search Materials” link in the purple navigation bar at the top, and then “Disability and Pets” under “Topics” and “Cases” under “Material Type.” This search yields the following results:

https://www.animallaw.info/filters?topic=14619&species=All&type=case&country=All&jurisdiction=All&combine_op=contains&keyword=

Some of the cases may relate to public service dogs and facility/courthouse dogs. The rest of the cases would involve service animals or emotional support animals.

You may find this scholarly article on non-traditional service animals informative as well:

https://www.animallaw.info/article/monkeys-and-horses-and-ferretsoh-my-non-traditional-service-animals-under-ada

Additionally, one of our contributing editors and his colleague have written an extensive article that details many of the evolving functions service animals perform. You can find this at

https://www.animallaw.info/article/evolving-functions-service-and-therapy-animals-and-implications-public-accommodation-access

 https://www.animallaw.info/article/why-context-matters-defining-service-animals-under-federal-law  

We have an article that focuses specifically on the ADA and Air Carrier Access Act as well:

https://www.animallaw.info/article/why-context-matters-defining-service-animals-under-federal-law  

Finally, we have a law review article dealing with students using service animals in post-secondary institutions:

https://www.animallaw.info/article/cujo-goes-college-use-animals-individuals-disabilities-postsecondary-institutions

I hope this research information is helpful in the creation of your piece. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best of luck,

Rebecca Wisch

Associate Editor

Animal Legal & Historical Center

If you would like to contact Rebecca Wisch, her email is:

mailto:animallaw@law.msu.edu  

This is a wonderful site for laws, and Ms. Wisch is an excellent person to work with.

Enjoy your researching and reading!

Blind woman asks public, pet owners to be aware of service animals

[From:

https://www.wtol.com/article/news/local/woman-asks-fo-caution-bringing-dogs-in-public/512-f564f5ec-8fb4-4bc6-a947-8b57a4bfd94f?fbclid=IwAR34-NbbRyBj2ulXBwLNzU1yrj3xCpqkAe5qaPoNakICTwFTJI2bB2l5JUY]

PERRYSBURG, Ohio — A Waterville woman who needs a service dog to navigate her daily life left a message on Facebook that garnered hundreds of comments about where dogs should or should not be allowed in public.

Sara Soper is blind and relies on her dog, Vivi. 

In the past, she has had two guide dogs attacked in public by other people’s pets and now, she wants people to know what kind of training pets should have, to go in public places. 

At only two years old. Vivi navigates the grocery store with Soper close behind. She’s focused, watching people and objects making sure Sarah can safely get her groceries and get home.

“There is a time and a place for dogs. Like I said, I’m not going to know if you have your dog in the store, there could be five dogs in the store and I wouldn’t know unless they were reacting to my dog,” Soper said.

Soper and her dog work as a team. Vivi is trained not to respond to everyday distractions such as food and people. 

Soper says she has noticed a lot more dogs out that don’t give Vivi space to work, which creates a dangerous environment for both of them.

“I’m not the dog police. I’m not going to come up to you and see if your dog has the right to be in a store, I am going to go after you if your dog comes after my dog because what you’re doing is making it dangerous for service dog handlers,” Soper said.

Professional dog trainer Melissa Jarrett says socialization is important and she has noticed more places allowing dogs, but there are things you need to do before taking your dog out.

“I need to know that I have control over my dog, that if a situation arises I can re-gain control of my dog before it escalates into something bad,” Jarrett said.

Even as a professional trainer with 15 dogs, Jarrett still has one dog she knows, despite its training,  shouldn’t be going out, even to dog-friendly stores.

“They’re still dogs, I still don’t know if a person in a wheelchair or a child running up to them is going to do to them, and I think I know my dogs pretty well and I’m really careful about where I take them and I’m always similar with my surroundings when I go in,” Jarrett said.

Soper realizes that these days, she and Vivi are going to come into contact with other dogs day-to-day. She says she wants people to be educated about why dogs like Vivi are allowed where other people’s pets might not be.

“My dog does more for me than I can ever repay her for or do for her. She’s closer to me than about anything in my life,” Soper said.

How Super Sniffer Dogs Are Helping Detect Disease Around The World

[From:https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/25/799404129/how-super-sniffer-dogs-are-helping-detect-disease-around-the-world]

 January 25, 20206:11 AM ET

John Henning Schumann

As the owner of a yellow lab named Gus, author Maria Goodavage has had many occasions to bathe her pooch when he rolls around in smelly muck at the park.

Nevertheless, her appreciation for his keen sense of smell has inspired her to write best-selling books about dogs with special assignments in the military and the U.S. Secret Service.

Her latest, Doctor Dogs: How Our Best Friends Are Becoming Our Best Medicine, highlights a vast array of special medical tasks that dogs can perform – from the laboratory to the bedside, and everywhere else a dog can tag along and sniff.

Canines’ incredible olfactory capacity – they can sniff in parts per trillion – primes them to detect disease, and their genius for observing our behavior helps them guide us physically and emotionally.

Goodavage spoke with NPR contributor John Henning Schumann, a doctor and host of Public Radio Tulsa’s #MedicalMonday about what she has learned about dogs in medicine

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

What led you to look into dogs in medicine?

I’ve been reading and writing about military dogs and Secret Service dogs for many years now, and it was sort of a natural next step. These are dogs on the cutting edge of medicine. They’re either working in research or right beside someone to save their life every day. And really, doctor dogs are, for the most part, using their incredible sense of smell to detect diseases. And if they’re paired with a person, they bond with that person to tell them something that will save their life.

You reported on dogs doing this kind of work all over the world.

Yes, I did go around the world. The first doctor dogs I learned about were in Japan. There’s a village about five hours north of Tokyo where scientists were doing some research among a population that has a very high level of stomach cancer. And I wanted to find the best of the best, cutting-edge medical dogs around the world. It was really fun to see these service and research dogs working with their people and how good they are. They’re incredibly good at detecting disease.

You also report on dogs that can detect ovarian cancer, which is personal for you.

I do have skin in this game, actually, because unfortunately, we have ovarian cancer in the family. My mom died of it. With ovarian cancer, there’s not much great testing for early detection. I heard about these dogs at the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary Working Dog Center that are able to smell ovarian cancer. They’re able to detect it as early as stage one. We’re not even talking tumors here. They’re able to detect ovarian cancer in one drop of plasma from a woman with ovarian cancer.

The fact that the dogs can do this is exciting to me, and I think for so many people who have hard-to-detect cancers in the family. What the dogs are doing now is remarkable and it’s because their sense of smell is so keen. They can sniff in parts per trillion. They can detect a tablespoon of a substance, like a packet of sugar, in two Olympic-sized swimming pools. Humans have six million olfactory receptors and dogs have up to 300 million. So their noses are really primed.

Another area in which dogs excel in the clinical world is for patients with diabetes.

Yeah. It’s amazing. We don’t know what the dogs are smelling, but the trainers are training the dogs on the scent of hypoglycemia and also hyperglycemia. The dogs are somehow able to put it together and tell the person 15 or maybe 20 minutes before the person’s devices even say, ‘Hey, you’re going into the low range!’ because the dogs detect this in real time. So the person has an extra bit of time to do what they need to do, take glucose or whatever.

I was fascinated to learn that doctor dogs may also have a role in detecting so-called “superbugs,” that is, antibiotic-resistant microbes.

Yes. Actually, there are three or four of these dogs working in a hospital in Vancouver who are sniffing out C. diff, which is one of those superbugs that can easily spread in vulnerable populations in hospitals and manifests in diarrhea and all kinds of issues that can actually kill people. And these dogs are stopping it in its tracks.

Researchers have found that where these dogs work, the rates of C. diff really diminish. I hung out at this hospital one day and I just watched one of the dogs do his rounds, and he found what seemed to be C. diff — and before I knew it, they had a whole cleaning team.

How do dogs help people suffering from PTSD?

There are people from the military, war veterans and active duty soldiers even who are suffering from PTSD and who have gotten service dogs who, again, have been game changers. They save lives. One of the dogs I learned about was placed with a soldier who had been to Iraq twice. He had PTSD and his life was falling apart. His marriage, his health, everything. He was on a cocktail of drugs. It made him a zombie. He hated that feeling. And one day someone told him about doctor dogs for PTSD. He ended up getting one. Now if he’s feeling anxious, he’ll say, like, “snuggle” and the dog will just come in for a big hug, or another of various commands. His life changed dramatically for the better. His marriage is really good now. He’s a stable dad and he’s working. He’s down to only one or two meds.

You write about doctor dogs helping people with autism. Can you share an example?

Yeah, it’s really beautiful. Sometimes these dogs may be using their nose. Sometimes they’re just being highly observant. And dogs are. They watch our body language all the time. But there are now more dogs being used for children on the autism spectrum, and they are remarkable. They can usually tell ahead of time when a child is about to have a tremendous amount of anxiety, panic, meltdown or what have you. When there’s too much stimulation for a child with autism and the dog is there, they’ll lean into the child.

Dogs change lives not just of these children, but of the whole family. There is a family I wrote about in Minnesota, with a sweet boy who waited for four years to get a service dog for his autism. He was not able to go to restaurants. The family, therefore, couldn’t go to restaurants. He couldn’t travel. He could barely leave the house. He did go to school, but that was tough, too. And so they waited four years. They tried to get a regular pet dog in the meantime, thinking, “Oh well, you know, it’s a dog. It’ll work.” But it was a disaster. It did not work at all as a service dog.

So they got a service dog named Lloyd. He’s a big black lab. As the boy met him, he started crying. His mother had never seen him cry. Tears of joy. And right there, boom, everything changed. Lloyd is the super calming presence. He’s able to be with the boy and change his behavior. The boy could not go to the barber and get a haircut before Lloyd. Now all he has to do is just have his hand on Lloyd’s head. And the boy and Lloyd like to have their own table at restaurants!

John Henning Schumann is an internal medicine doctor and serves as president of the University of Oklahoma’s Tulsa campus. He also hosts Studio Tulsa: Medical Monday on KWGS Public Radio Tulsa. You can follow him on Twitter: @GlassHospital.

The Spirit of Dog 

Ann Chiappetta

[From: http://www.thought-wheel.com/the-spirit-of-dog/]

January 30, 2020

This is a post written for, in part, the puppy raising and guide dog community. It explains what a real service dog is and how it develops. Indulge me for one more paragraph before we get to the subject line of the post. There is an ongoing issue here in the United States regarding people posing pets as emotional support or service animals to ride in airline cabins. It is called the ACAA, or the Airline Carrier Access Act. I am not going to explain the actual FAA and TSA notices and the rule making discussion, but I will say that a genuine, trained service dog will do it’s best to behave in places of public accommodation. For example, a hearing alert dog will sit quietly on its handler’s lap and not disrupt anyone’s experience. A PTSD service dog will lie quietly between its handler’s feet during a train ride. Any dog brought into the public that barks, lunges, urinates, is unkempt, is not under its handler’s control or is not tethered is not a real service dog and can be asked to leave. It’s all in how the dog and the handler behave and interact. I hope this helps folks understand what is at stake and the real service dog handlers are at risk of being negatively effected by those who break the law.

Okay, back to the original post.

Once a puppy reaches an appropriate age, usually around 18 months, the dog is returned for advanced training. By this time, the puppy raiser has imparted all the socialization, love, obedience, care and discipline to allow the dog to continue the rigorous and challenging harness training and hopefully exhibit the required qualifications to become a guide dog.

Yup, folks, it is canine college and the dog will graduate with an advanced degree in intelligent disobedience. What this means is a dog will disobey a command given by the blind handler if it is unsafe. Think of a car coming out of a driveway as the team is walking toward it. The dog will see the car pulling out and stop, then continue when it has judged it to be safe. If the handler tries to give the command to proceed before the dog judges it safe, the dog will ignore the command.

This is, of course, after months of formal harness training with a qualified GDMI – during which time the dog learns how to guide and learn other commands, like directions (left, right, forward) and targeting (to the door, steps, bus, elevator,) among others.

One time Bailey even stopped to show me a fiber optic wire hanging from the ceiling in the hallway leading to our office. Avoiding an overhead obstacle is the most difficult to teach a dog, I was impressed, for sure.

But, for the second time in this post, I digress.

Today we made the hour-long bus ride to visit Guiding Eyes For the Blind’s main campus and visit Bailey’s first Mom, Pat Bailey Webber. He just about lost his mind, spinning and doing some excited barking. He carried on, yodeling, rubbing, and licking Pat for at least ten minutes. This is the person who he bonded with, who saw him through all stages of puppyhood, some of it pretty gross and annoying, if I must say so. 😊

Witnessing the bond with Pat is just so special, so rewarding, I believe it makes my bond with Bailey even stronger. While he loves Pat and would go with her, he also willingly comes to me and does his job. He switches his attention, applies his training, and has the adaptability to get it done.

I have written before about the Spirit of Dog, what it means contextually; this is an example. The Spirit of Dog is loyal, adaptable, and talented. How could a person not admire these qualities in an animal? How could I deny Bailey the pleasure of visiting with his first family? I am honored and humbled after these visits. I am a recipient of  a very special gift; it is the spirit of dog that brings people together.

[Editor’s Note: To subscribe to Annie’s blog, ”Thought Wheel From the mind of Ann Chiappetta,” visit this link: http://www.thought-wheel.com/subscribe/]  

Thank you for reading and sharing our Paws for GDUI News You Can Use! We welcome your feedback and your involvement in our organization. Thank you for your friendship and support.

Penny Reeder, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice, Editor

Connect with GDUI

Visit our web site: https://www.guidedogusersinc.org/

Call us, toll-free, at 866.799.8436

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Our Twitter timeline can be accessed at https://twitter.com/gduinc.

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A Publication of Guide Dog Users, Inc.

President: Penny Reeder

Editor: Andrea Giudice

Guide Dog Users, Inc. (GDUI)

A special interest affiliate of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) since 1972

https://guidedogusersinc.org/

Toll-Free: 866.799.8436

 

Dear GDUI Members and Friends,

Welcome to our first-ever issue of Paws for GDUI News You Can Use. This publication will include timely announcements, like the ones we have been sharing once or twice a month via GDUI e-mail discussion lists and our web site, as well as the kinds of articles, columns, and opinion pieces you could expect to find in our quarterly magazine, PawTracks.

We are making this change for several reasons, the most pressing of which is to adjust to the alterations that the internet has made in our lives.

We are sure you have noticed that, over the last couple of decades, nearly all surviving print publications have shrunk dramatically in size, while their online digital equivalents appear more often and with expanding content in social media, on the web sites we frequent, and the e-mail discussion lists we inhabit during the 24-hour news cycle we have come to take for granted and depend upon. A quarterly magazine like PawTracks simply cannot fit into this new paradigm of publication. By the time the magazine reached your in box, you had often already read or been made aware of the news it contained. It wasn’t practical for an editor to solicit information and cajole writers to contribute to a publication that simply couldn’t meet readers’ 21^st Century expectations.

PawTracks has been one of GDUI’s benefits of membership of which we were most proud and to which our members have felt a great deal of loyalty. I remember asking Jane Sheehan to mail me a PawTracks audiocassette when I was first thinking about getting a guide dog. I became so engrossed in that audio magazine, listening to it on my MetroRail commute into D.C., that I completely missed my subway stop and, four or five stops beyond where I usually left the train, had to get off, figure out how to cross to a different platform, and, white cane in hand, find my way back to my regular stop. Yes, I was about 20 minutes late for work that day! And, the first thing I did when I got to the office was to join GDUI. Shortly after that, I completed my Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation application!

We are proud and pleased to bring you our own audio publication. It’s called the GDUI Juno Report. Deb Lewis and friends expect to produce a new pod cast every month, and we are grateful to ACB Radio for making it so easy for you to listen and subscribe. With smart phone or Victor Reader Stream in hand, you too can find yourself lost among Metro stops while you listen to our latest version of an audio magazine that fascinates, informs and entertains us all!

The announcements we have distributed over the past several years are another, timelier aspect of sharing GDUI and blindness-related news and information, they are well received, and forwarded – Yes, we happily notice! – to lots of blindness venues, so it just makes sense for us to combine our announcement format with the longer-form kinds of articles one would expect to find in PawTracks and to share those magazine articles with you more frequently.

Andrea Giudice, PawTracks (now Paws for GDUI News You Can Use) editor, welcomes your contributions to this longer-form collection. Send articles, poems, essays, or whatever you enjoy writing and sharing to Andrea at this e-mail address: editor@guidedogusersinc.org.

One final aspect of our new publications direction that we are most excited about is that we will be sharing Paws for GDUI News You Can Use with anyone in the blindness community who has access to NFB’s NewsLine. We are eager to introduce our organization to a wider audience, and we are excited to share the kind of support, empathy, advocacy news, advice, and information you have come to expect from our announcements, our GDUI Juno Report, and our quarterly magazine, with the larger blindness community. If you are a NewsLine user who is just discovering GDUI, we encourage you to spend some time on our web site, read and listen to our publications, tell friends and colleagues who are blind and visually impaired and who are committed to the guide dog lifestyle we all enjoy about this latest GDUI publication, and if you want to join in our mission of advocacy, empathy, support, and education, we welcome your membership and involvement! Here’s a link to join: https://guidedogusersinc.org/join/. Happy reading!

Penny Reeder, President

Now, it’s time for some Announcements!

We are excited to bring you the January issue of our GDUI Juno Report.

This month we begin with Guide Dog school Tails, a summary of what’s happening at most of the major guide dog schools in North America as told at the GDUI summer convention. And we wrap up with an announcement from GDUI reminding all of us that it’s time to pay 2020 dues.

The Juno report airs on ACB Radio Mainstream on Thursdays at 4 and 7 AM/PM and on Sunday at 9PM and Monday at 12AM, 9AM, and 12PM. All times are eastern.

The podcast comes out about two weeks after the program first airs.

Subscribe in Itunes at:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gdui-juno-report/id1107836850

Wags to all of you for the new year.

Deb Lewis

Host, The GDUI Juno Report

The Next GDUI Board Meeting will take place next Saturday, January 25, at 1:00 p.m., ET.

Topic: GDUI Board Meeting Time: Jan 25, 2020 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/562675137

Meeting ID: 562 675 137

One tap mobile

+16465588656,,562675137# US (New York)

+16699009128,,562675137# US (San Jose)

Dial by your location

+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)

+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)

Meeting ID: 562 675 137

Find your local number:

https://zoom.us/u/adkoW2kadE

Regards,

Maria Kristic

GDUI Board Member and Zoom Guru

Pick of the Litter on Disney +

Before I share an update on the continuing escapades of those adorable puppies we met last year in the film so many of us watched and enjoyed, I want to apologize for a mistake I made when I shared this announcement with you in December. Although I knew very well that the guide dog school that produced “Pick of the Litter” was Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB), in my haste to send out the announcement before year’s end, I got the name of the school completely wrong and didn’t catch my error when proofing. I sincerely apologize to GDB and thank Jane Flower, Youth Outreach Specialist for GDB, for gently pointing out my error. We in GDUI have nothing but great things to say about the film, the six-part docudrama now appearing on Disney+, and the wonderful guide dogs and amazing training programs at Guide dogs for the Blind! If you haven’t yet tuned into the new series, we encourage you to check it out!

If you have tuned in, you might recognize a familiar name associated with one of the potential guide dog handlers featured on the show, Claire Stanley. Claire is ACB’s very own Advocacy and Outreach Specialist at their office in Alexandria, VA! Tune in to Pick of the Litter (available with audio description) on Disney+ to watch Claire’s experience and join six adorable puppies on their journey to become guide dogs! To learn more about Disney+, please visit:

https://www.disneyplus.com/

Guide Dogs of America and Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs Announce Merger

[Source: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/guide-dogs-of-america-and-tender-loving-canines-assistance-dogs-announce-merger-300982399.html]

SYLMAR, Calif., Jan. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Guide Dogs of America and Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs (TLCAD) today announced the merger of their organizations. This merger combines their respective service dog programs into a single organization operating under the Guide Dogs of America umbrella. The merger is effective immediately.

Founded in 1948, Guide Dogs of America empowers people who are blind and visually impaired to live with greater independence, confidence and mobility by providing expertly matched guide dog partners. TLCAD gives the gift of independence to veterans and individuals with autism by providing highly skilled service dogs. TLCAD also pairs facility dogs with professionals who serve populations that benefit from animal assisted intervention or therapy. Their prison-based dog training program also helps rehabilitate incarcerated individuals.

“TLCAD shares our goal to transform the lives of people through partnerships with highly trained assistance dogs,” said Russell Gittlen, President of Guide Dogs of America. “This merger will allow us to put more dogs into the hands of people who need them — which is our ultimate mission.”

“TLCAD is very excited to join the Guide Dogs of America family and we look forward to the new opportunities our combined efforts bring to those in need of service dogs,” said Victoria Cavaliere, Executive Director of TLCAD.

Although TLCAD will maintain its name and local offices in San Diego, California, the newly merged organization will be headquartered in Sylmar, California, on Guide Dogs of America’s 7.5-acre campus.

All programs and services are provided at no cost and are available to individuals throughout the United States and Canada.

SOURCE Guide Dogs of America

Related Links

http://www.guidedogsofamerica.org/

A Prize to Help You Fulfill Your Dreams! Apply for the Holman Prize!

Are you blind or visually impaired? Will you be over the age of 18 on October 1, 2020? Are you creative and entrepreneurial, with ambitious, far-reaching dreams? Submissions are open for the Holman Prize, Lighthouse for the Blind’s annual competition to win up to $25,000 for blind adventurers and creators to complete their most ambitious projects!

How to apply to the Holman Prize? The initial application is a 90-second YouTube video describing the project, what the prize money would fund and a brief application form. Semifinalists will later be asked to provide in-depth written proposals. Later, finalists will be interviewed by Lighthouse staff in order to select a winner. All the information you need, including terms and conditions, can be found here:

https://holman.lighthouse-sf.org/

Now in its fourth year, the San Francisco Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired’s

Holman Prize for Blind Ambition is an international competition that is awarded annually to three blind individuals who wish to push their limits. It is named for James Holman, a nineteenth century blind explorer and author, who was the most prolific traveler before the era of modern transportation.

Past winners have completed feats like traversing the Bosporus Straight via solo kayak, hosting the first conference in Mexico for blind children and their families led by blind professionals, and creating an app to enable blind citizen scientists to participate in the search for exoplanets by listening to space/

The nine winners so far have come from five countries on four continents and have all found unique ways to forever change the world’s perception of blindness.

2020 Application information is available here:

www.holmanprize.org/apply

If you have any questions, please contact the Holman Prize team at

holman@lighthouse-sf.org

Applications close March 15 at 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

REAL ID

REAL ID starts in less than a year. If you haven’t secured your official “Real ID,” now is definitely the time to take action! Beginning October 1, 2020, every air traveler 18 years of age and older will need a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license, state-issued enhanced driver’s license, or another acceptable form of ID to fly within the United States.

To learn more about REAL ID, visit this link:

https://www.tsa.gov/real-id

Below you will find information about two surveys. We in GDUI – believing in “Nothing about us without us!,” urge our members to contribute to data collection efforts like these. Various researchers use surveys to learn about who we are, what we need, and how our needs and goals can best be met by the communities in which we are included (i.e., the community of humanity!).

University of Kansas Survey

The NIDILRR-funded Collaborative on Health Reform and Independent Living (CHRIL) 

at the University of Kansas is looking for adults with disabilities to complete an online survey about health insurance and health care services. The survey is open to Adults, 18 and over, with any disability, chronic illness/disease, mental or physical health condition. Whether you have private insurance, insurance from an employer, TRICARE, Medicaid, Medicare or no insurance at all right now, we want to hear from you. Survey submissions must be received by January 30, 2020.

This survey may look familiar to you. It was first posted in 2018 and is being posted for a second time. We welcome participation from those who completed it in 2018 and those who have never participated in our research before.

The survey should take about 20 minutes to complete. Responses are anonymous.

To complete the survey, go to: https://tinyurl.com/NSHD2019

Whether or not you complete the survey, you can choose to enter a drawing to win one of ten $100 gift cards. If you prefer to take the survey over the phone or have any questions about participating, please call toll-free 1.855.556.6328. (Voice/TTY) or email healthsurvey@ku.edu

WBU Employment Survey

The World Blind Union (WBU) Employment Committee has developed a short survey designed to identify employment patterns of people who are blind or partially sighted and of working-age throughout the world.

ACB and GDUI urge as many of you as possible to please take the survey. It is very comprehensive and we believe worth your time and effort to complete. Even if you are retired or have never worked, the Employment Committee needs your participation. The deadline for submitting the survey is Tuesday, March 31.

To take the survey, please visit: https://www.surveymonkey.ca/r/8ZP2KW3

Thank you,

Mitch Pomerantz, Vice President

North America/Caribbean Region, World Blind Union

American Council of the Blind

Are you thinking of making a career change, or improving your skills to pursue that dream job?

Here are announcements regarding three interesting job vacancies, as well as scholarship opportunities for Guiding Eyes grads, through Friends in Art, and from several American Council of the Blind donors!

A Job Announcement from Sprint!

Link to job posting:

http://careers.sprint.com/ShowJob/Id/397009/Customer%20Relationship%20Manager

Job Summary

Performs account maintenance responsibilities in a non-quota-bearing environment. Responsible for Pre/Post sales support for assigned large accounts according to department strategy. Account set-up and on-going contract management to include registration and maintenance of accounts and subsidiaries, account structure definition. Monitors and resolves order status. Conducts and project manages product/solution demonstrations, conducts quarterly account presentations for customer and identifies sell up opportunities and position value assessed services. Distributes and maintains implementation documents. Initiates and conducts first bill review with customer. Provides training as needed to sales teams and clients. Provides monthly account reports which identifies opportunities for additional sales. Prepares information for monthly and quarterly meetings with customer.

This position may be located anywhere in the US.

Basic Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree and two years related work experience or six years related work experience post high school;

Two years account maintenance or sales experience;

Two years project management experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

Experience working with and in the Blind, Low Vision Community;

Experience working with and communicating with diverse populations.

ACB Seeks Director of Development

The American Council of the Blind (ACB) is seeking a full-time Director of Development to work in its national office in Alexandria, VA.

The Director of Development will report to the Executive Director and work in conjunction with the ACB team in the areas of fundraising, resource development, and public relations.

The primary responsibilities of this position will include:

Direct fundraising activities including major giving, grants, special events, and direct mail appeals.

Develop, implement, and monitor progress toward short- and long-term fundraising strategy and goals.

Create a gift program including identification, cultivation and solicitation of major donors.

Develop relationships with new foundations and grow the number of individual donors.

Engage new donors and build their awareness on ACB.

Communicate and build relationships with prospective donors and supporters on a continual basis.

Maintain long-term relationships with existing donors.

Generate new ideas that increase revenue and donor loyalty.

Research new income streams.

Research and identify foundations to engage in development-related conversations.

Keeping engaged in the fundraising community and staying on top of fundraising trends

Preparing monthly, quarterly, and annual reports as requested by the Executive Director and Board.

Partner with the CFO and support the development of the annual budget.

Attend the ACB annual convention and connect with donors.

Oversee research of prospects and grant seeking.

Oversee the Angel Wall Donation Program.

Lead the Development Committee meetings.

Work with a third party to design and complete direct mailings.

Work with the Executive Director in development related projects.

Understanding media and more modern avenues as a method to gain support or donations.

Document connection with donors in Donor Perfect.

Understanding media and more modern avenues as a method to gain support or donations.

Other duties as assigned by the Executive Director.

A successful candidate must have the following skills and abilities:

Driven to take initiative with limited guidance.

Strong attention to detail.

Excellent written and oral communication skills, including public speaking.

Ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities simultaneously.

Ability to effectively direct and manage the performance of direct reports.

Ability to respond promptly and meet deadlines.

Ability to travel as circumstances require.

Ability to work evenings and weekends as needed, including participating in meetings and conference calls with ACB committees and affiliates.

Ability to work with diverse groups of people.

Demonstrates accountability and a results-oriented culture.

Proficiency with Microsoft Office, donor tracking systems, and social media.

Resourceful, creative, and strong problem-solving skills.

Past fundraising including major gift experience preferred.

Some knowledge of the connections to the funding community in Washington D.C. and nationally.

Experience with collaborating, planning, and delegating program development is preferred.

Bachelor’s degree, preferably in business administration, nonprofit administration, or public administration.

Applicants should send a resume, cover letter, and brief writing sample by e-mail to

jobs@acb.org

Applications must be received by Monday, February 10, 2020.

The American Council of the Blind, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer. At the American Council of the Blind, we strive to develop an inclusive culture that encourages, supports, and celebrates the diverse make-up of the blind and visually impaired community. Blindness touches people from all walks of life; ACB embraces this diversity. ACB works to bring in members of all nationalities, ethnicities, sexual orientations, disabilities, ages, genders, and other minority groups to fully represent the blind and visually impaired community in all the advocacy work we do.

Job Vacancy: Director of Outreach and Engagement

Pennsylvania Council of the Blind

 The Pennsylvania Council of the Blind (PCB) is a grassroots organization of individuals with vision loss. As a peer network PCB strives to promote the independence of and opportunities for all individuals with vision loss by advocating for legislative change, accessible technology solutions, and inclusive social and business practices. At the heart of its efforts is providing mutual support through peer sharing and encouragement.

PCB currently seeks a full-time Director of Outreach and Engagement to take on the following responsibilities:

• Develop and maintain relationships with legislators, policy changemakers, service providers, and disability stakeholders
• Work with affiliate chapters and individual volunteers to promote advocacy efforts and to develop outreach opportunities
• Monitor and report on current and potential issues of relevance to the vision loss community
• Serve as the organization’s voice at public meetings and outreach events

Key Competencies:

• Strong interpersonal and organizational skills
• Ability to initiate, prioritize, and complete projects with little oversight
• Ability to work with and report back to PCB leadership
• Good writing, oral, and phone communication skills
• Familiarity with blindness/disability related issues and the provision of services
• Grasp of basic Accounting principles
• Competency in basic Microsoft office products
• Ability to effectively utilize the internet and software applications
• Proficiency with basic office equipment
• Demonstration of an overall professional work ethic and demeanor

Background/Educational Requirements:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services, Public Administration, community Outreach or related field
• Five years of experience in corporate or non-profit setting may be substituted for education

Additional Details:

• This can be a remote position, but regular travel to the Harrisburg area is required.
• Compensation will be commensurate with experience.
• PCB is an equal opportunity employer.

Interested applicants should post a letter of interest and resume to: hr@pcb1.org

by February 1, 2020

Arthur and Phyllis Milton Foundation Scholarship

The Arthur and Phyllis Milton Foundation, Inc has reinstated the Arthur Milton Scholarship Fund in honor of the late Arthur Milton, a well-known, retired insurance executive, consumerist, author and consultant. A $5,000 scholarship will be awarded to outstanding graduates of Guiding Eyes for the Blind to assist each individual’s pursuit of higher education.

Initially awarded in 2000 Arthur Milton commented, “I selected Guiding Eyes for this special gift because the courage of their students in choosing a guide dog, to open up new horizons for themselves, made a deep impact upon me.”

Contact Becky Barnes Davidson to receive a copy of the application and to submit the completed form. Applications are due by April 1, 2020. Applications may be submitted in all formats- email, Braille or large print. The Milton Award Committee will select the winners of the Scholarship and inform the applicants by June 15th.

Becky Barnes-Davidson

bbarnes@guidingeyes.org

Manager, Consumer Outreach & Graduate Support

Guiding Eyes for the Blind

611 Granite Springs Road

Yorktown Heights, NY 10598

Call: 914.243.2210

Or, toll-free: 800.942.0149 ext. 2210

Text: 914.705.1626

www.guidingeyes.org

Apply for the Friends in Art Scholarship

Friends-in-Art (FIA), a nonprofit organization with the mission of advancing accessibility and opportunity for artists and audience members who are visually impaired, offers an annual $1500 scholarship to college students who are legally blind and live in North America.

If you are a high school senior or a college student planning to, or are currently majoring in the field of music, art, drama, or creative writing, and are blind or visually impaired, we encourage you to apply!

Note: Legal blindness is defined as an individual who has a visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the corrected eye and/or 20 degrees or less visual field in the corrected eye. Only individuals who are legally blind in BOTH eyes are eligible to receive this scholarship.

To apply, please go to

www.friendsinart.com , and complete the application. You will need to upload or e-mail the required supporting materials, including documentation of visual impairment from a medical professional, per the directions on the form, by May 15, 2020.

Please direct any questions to Peter Altschul, FIA’s scholarship chair, via email at searchforcommonground@outlook.com

The Deadline is Approaching to Apply for ACB Scholarships!

Don’t Miss This Opportunity!

The American Council of the Blind’s (ACB) Scholarship Program was established in 1982. The American Council of the Blind (ACB) and the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) have now partnered together to offer educational scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $7,500 for those attending a technical college or as an entering freshman, undergraduate or a graduate student.

This program awards students with scholarships to help with post-secondary education financial needs such as tuition, fees, room and board and other additional costs associated with adaptive technology.

To be eligible for a scholarship, applicants need to be legally blind, maintain a 3.0 GPA to be eligible for most scholarships, be a full-time student (as well as students who work 32 or more hours per week and attend college part time), and be involved in their school/local community.

Applications for the 2020-2021 school year can be submitted online from Friday, November 1, 2019 to Friday, February 14, 2020 11:59pm (CST).

All interested candidates must register for a new ACB account prior to submitting a scholarship application online. Visit this link to register:

https://acb.org/scholarships

Candidates will receive an email containing a link to complete the scholarship application after their account request has been approved. Please note – the approval process could take up to three business days.

Scholarship winners will experience firsthand ACB’s National Conference and Convention in July, where you will meet other students who share the same life experiences, create lasting friendships and network with individuals who understand what you are going through and can help you with your journey. There are also many sessions where you can learn about new technology and what is happening in our community.

For more information, please contact Nancy Feela in the ACB National Office at 612.332.3242 or 800.866.3242. We look forward to receiving your application materials.

From Your Editor: a new decade, and a new vision for Pawtracks!

This is Andrea your new editor. As is the case with any successor, I am both excited about this new partnership and extremely aware of the excellence of my predecessor. Will guided with skill and dedication for which we all thank him. Now it is my turn to pull into the harness and guide this publication forward. Just like other successors, I ask for your patients, and when necessary your forgiveness with any miss-steps, as we settle into this new partnership. Now about that new vision I mentioned… Pawtracks has a new name and look!

Going forward, you will receive Paws for GDUI News You Can Use! The new publication will still have announcements from our president, news you can use and interesting articles. However, it will not be a quarterly publication any more. Rather, Paws for GDUI News You Can Use will be a hipper, happening streamlined version of its former self, striding forth much more often keeping the contents fresh and pertinent, current, and timely! Now, enough of the lecture portion for today; lets step out and work this new route!

How to Calculate Your Dog’s Real Age

[This article originally appeared on The Conversation, and is republished under a Creative Commons license. Source URL: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200106-how-to-calculate-your-dogs-real-Age]

Your pet clearly ages faster than you do, but new research is giving us a much clearer idea of just how old your dog really might be.

By Christian Yates

6th January 2020

If your dog has been alive and kicking its paws about for a decade, the widely held belief is it has aged as much as a human would have done over 70 years. This conversion factor – each year of a dog’s life accounting for seven human years – comes from dividing human life expectancy of around 77 by the canine life expectancy of around 11.

The underlying assumption is that each calendar year a dog lives through is equivalent to seven human years at any stage of a dog’s life. But new research suggests that things aren’t so simple. And if we look at some basic developmental milestones, it’s clear why.

For example, most dog breeds reach sexual maturity between the ages of six and 12 months – the upper end of that range corresponding, by the traditional conversion, to a human age of seven. And at the other end of the spectrum, although unusual, some dogs have been known to live for over 20 years. Under the “factor-of-seven” conversion rule, this would equate to an unfathomable 140 human-equivalent years.

New insights into how dogs age suggest our pets move into middle age more rapidly than most owners might suspect.

To make matters more complicated, dogs’ life expectancy depends significantly on the breed. Smaller dogs tend to live significantly longer , suggesting that they age more slowly than bigger dogs.

All of this raises the question of what exactly we mean by age. The most obvious way to describe it is simply the length of time that has passed since birth. This is known as the chronological definition of age.

When it comes to comparing animal ages across species, the biological definitions of age are far more useful than their chronological counterparts

However, there are other descriptions. Biological age, for example, is a more subjective definition, which relies on assessing physiological indicators to identify an individual’s development. These include measures like the “ frailty index” – surveys that take into account an individual’s disease status, cognitive impairments and levels of activity.

Then there are the more objective ageing biomarkers, such as levels of gene expression (genes produce proteins at differing rates at different stages of life) or numbers of immune cells. The rate at which biological age increases depends on genetically inherited factors, mental health and lifestyle.

Rather than celebrating chronological age, looking at the levels of methylation on a dog’s DNA is a much more accurate measure of aging

For example, if you’ve spent a lot of time eating junk food and smoking cigarettes instead of taking exercise and eating healthily, the chances are your biological age will exceed your chronological age. Or, you might be a 60-year-old with the body of a 40-year-old if you’ve looked after yourself well.

A dog’s life When it comes to comparing animal ages across species, the biological definitions of age are far more useful than their chronological counterparts. Knowing a hamster is six weeks old doesn’t give you a good picture of that animal’s life stage, even if you know the life expectancy of a hamster is only three years. Learning that a hamster has reached an age where it can reproduce gives a much better picture of its level of maturity.

The authors of the new ageing study suggest that a sensible way to measure biological age is though so-called “epigenetic clocks” – changes to the packaging of our DNA that accumulate over time in all mammals.

In their first year of life, puppies grow up so quickly that they age the equivalent of 31 human years. In particular, “methylation” – the addition of methyl groups (a carbon atom bonded to three hydrogen atoms) to DNA – seems to be a good indicator of age. Many prominent physiological markers, such as the development of teeth, seem to occur at the same levels of methylation across different species. So by matching the levels of methylation in Labrador retrievers and humans, the researchers derived a formula to map dog age to its human equivalent.

That formula is: human equivalent age = 16 x ln(dog’s chronological age) + 31.

Here “ln” represents a mathematical function known as the natural logarithm. The logarithm function is well-known in the non-linear scales for energy released during earthquakes (Richter) or for measuring sound (decibels). It comes in useful for measuring quantities whose sizes vary over many orders of magnitude. It’s even possible that a logarithmic experience of the passing of time might explain why we perceive time speeding up as we get older.

A handy short cut is to remember that the first dog year counts for 31 human years. Then, after that, every time the dog’s chronological age doubles, the number of equivalent human years increases by 11. So eight calendar years represents three “doublings” (from one to two, two to four and then four to eight) giving a dog age equivalent of 64 (that’s 31 + 3×11).

In eight calendar years a dog will approximately age the equivalent of 64 years.

Most dog lovers will already have suspected that the human-to-dog age relationship is non-linear, having noticed that, initially, their pets mature much more quickly than the linear factor-of-seven rule suggests.

A more sophisticated refinement to the factor-of-seven rules has suggested that each of the dog’s first two years correspond to 12 human years while all subsequent years count for four human equivalents.

In practice the new molecular insights into human-to-dog age conversion encapsulated by the logarithmic law suggest that dogs move into middle age even more rapidly than most dog-owners would have suspected. It’s worth bearing in mind, when you find that Rex is reluctant to chase the ball like he once did, that he’s probably got more miles on the clock than you’ve been giving him credit for.

Christian Yates is a senior lecturer in mathematical biology at the University of Bath. He is also the author of The Maths of Life and Death

Weimaraner Tales

Peter altschul

[From: http://www.peteraltschul.com/weimaraner-tales/]

Around forty years ago, I was sitting with eleven other adults with visual impairments in the lounge at Guiding Eyes for the Blind, an organization that trains dogs to be guide dogs, matches humans to the dog most likely to meet their needs, and nurtures the starting phase of the relationship. We were each waiting to find out which dog had been assigned to become our travel guardian.

“Peter,” the instructor told me. “Your dog is a Weimaraner—”

“A what?” I squawked.

“A Weimaraner.”

“What’s that?”

“You’ll find out!”

The Weimaraner named Heidi became the best-behaved dog in class. She led me through increasingly complex routes without making a mistake, and didn’t even dive for a pork chop that another dog handler accidentally dropped during dinner.

Even though Heidi was ten months old.

Five hours after returning home with Heidi, we went on our first walk together, my dad trailing several feet behind. On our return home, I heard a kid squeal and run towards us, but Heidi kept right on going.

“Good girl!” I said.

When my dad caught up with us as we were turning into our driveway, he told me that Heidi had snatched an entire ice cream cone out of that squealing child’s hand.

“Why didn’t the kid scream or something?” I asked.

“It happened so fast she was too shocked to,” he explained.

Heidi became a superb guide dog, swerving me around obstacles on New York City sidewalks, streets, subways, busses, and office buildings while walking at a four – to five-mile-and-hour clip. She yanked me out of the path of an ambulance that silently cut in front of us when the light was in our favor. She slept through endless meetings and recording sessions. When I got my first real job, she was the best-behaved dog among five other service dogs in the office.

But in order to benefit from Heidi’s strengths, I needed to provide accommodations for her Weimaraner disability.

Heidi was food-driven. But her palate was much broader than most Labradors. She snatched paper cups, napkins, cigarette butts, and candy wrappers from sidewalks and subway stairs as we prowled Manhattan streets. “No!” I would shout, sticking my hand in her mouth to remove whatever she had found. She also crunched on dead fish as my Mom and I walked on the sandbars on a Cape Cod bay beach. One Christmas night, she drained the glass of an unsuspecting guest of a cocktail that my stepmom had made in his honor.

Heidi hunted. She spent hours stalking birds in my stepmom’s fenced-in backyard and seagulls on a Cape Cod beach. She nearly caught a deer in the woods of Aspen, Colorado.

I occasionally felt Heidi’s body bend low to the ground through her harness handle as we walked those Manhattan streets. This time, pigeons were her prey. She didn’t slowed down very much, and never ran me into anything. But she once tried to climb the wall of a building in hot pursuit as a pedestrian from across the street shouted “you get that damn bird!”

Heidi hated getting wet. On rainy days, she howled as I dragged her into the rain, but assisted me in arriving at a dry destination, pawing the ground while waiting for a traffic light to change and poking pedestrians out of the way with her nose. On icy sidewalks, she picked up the pace, scattering pedestrians as we jogged past them.

Heidi had a large repertoire of barks, howls, purrs, and grunts. At the Aspen Music festival, she snapped at a mosquito throughout a performance of a piece I had written for soprano and bassoon. During a picnic for composers, she tried to persuade the wife of my composition teacher through impassioned barks, snaps, and howls in the spirit of a Wagnerian contralto to give her the hot dog the woman was holding.

For the past forty years, Guiding Eyes training staff has never trained another Weimaraner to be a guide dog, deciding that Labradors, golden retrievers, and the occasional German shepherd could get the job done with less drama. After Heidi retired eight years since we were connected, each of my Guiding Eyes-trained dogs have been Labs with ornery streaks. Each has worked well with me.

But for those eight years, Heidi was the perfect dog.

My spirit dog.

Sundance Partnership Extends Accessibility for Attendees With Disabilities

[Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sundance-film-festival-partnership-extends-accessibility-attendees-disabilities-1270602]

A new alliance with the Ruderman Family Foundation will improve the accessibility of closed captioning, audio description and assisted listening devices, among other resources, at the 2020 event.

The Sundance Film Festival is making changes to improve accessibility for attendees with disabilities.

The Ruderman Family Foundation on Wednesday announced a partnership with the Sundance Institute to provide more resources for attendees with disabilities and to include a greater amount of programming featuring people with disabilities, including an opening-weekend film.

The disability organization is helping to improve the accessibility of closed captioning (CC) at the fest with CaptiView devices and Feature Film Captioning Service. It will also be expanding Audio Description (AD) and Assisted Listening Devices (ALD) with headsets for AD and ALD and Feature Film Audio Description Service. American Sign Language interpretation will additionally be available at all official Sundance events and official panels at the festival’s Filmmaker Lodge.

All Sundance theaters have CC, AD and ALD devices that can be requested from theater staff at the start of an event and retrieved by them afterward. All theaters are additionally wheelchair-accessible and offer seating for attendees with disabilities and companions. Wheelchair-accessible shuttles are available on festival transit roads, and staff and volunteers have been trained to work with attendees with mobility devices if they ask for them.

In terms of programming, the upcoming festival is set to screen Crip Camp, a documentary about a summer camp for teenagers with disabilities and its effect on the disability rights movement, on the Friday of the event’s opening weekend (Jan. 24), followed by a Q&A. Additionally, the Ruderman Family Foundation is partnering with The Atlantic to host a panel on disability in entertainment and disability inclusion on Sunday, Jan. 26.

“The generous partnership with the Ruderman Family Foundation allows us to expand accessibility resources in theatres and official venues, providing audiences with disabilities the much needed capabilities to enjoy and experience our Festival programming, and activating all of our Artist Programs to deepen our creative and professional development engagement with artists with disabilities,” a Sundance spokesperson said in a statement.

The move follows Sundance’s announcement that a quarter of the recipients of 2020’s Press Inclusion Initiative, which offers cash stipends to 51 freelance critics from underrepresented communities, were people with disabilities. 

The Ruderman Family Foundation also put pressure on the entertainment industry to improve inclusion last month when it published an open letter asking studios, network and production executives to open up more casting opportunities for talent with disabilities. Signatories of the letter included Ed Norton, Bryan Cranston, Mark Ruffalo, Glenn Close, Eva Longoria, Orlando Jones and Peter Farrelly, among others.

“We are excited that Sundance shares our commitment to advancing the rights of those who have been historically underrepresented in film, media, theater and other artistic platforms,” Ruderman Family Foundation president Jay Ruderman said in a statement. “Our partnership will enable Sundance to infuse themes of inclusion of people with disabilities and diversity throughout the festival and its year-round programming, while casting a crucial spotlight among the festival’s 120,000-plus attendees on our work to pioneer a culture of greater inclusion in the entertainment industry.”

This year’s Sundance Film Festival is set to run through Feb. 2.

A Little Extra Convention Enticement, Especially for Baseball Fans!

As you know, the GDUI Convention occurs concurrently with the ACB Conference and Convention, which will be in Schaumburg, Ill in early July 2020! Soon our GDUI Convention Page will be coming to our web site, and convention related announcements will increase during coming months in this publication. Just to whet your appetite, though, we want to share this intriguing ACB Tour News which will surely be exciting for all of you who are baseball fans! What a great way to top off Wednesday of GDUI Convention Week – First, our fabulous awards Luncheon, then a trip to Wrigley Field!

If you like baseball you don’t want to miss this tour! Join the American Council of the Blind at the 2020 Conference and Convention for an interleague game between the Cubs and White sox! We will visit Wrigley Field on Wednesday, July 8th for a 7:05 PM game. Whether you wear blue or white, root for the north or southside this game is for you!

We will arrive in plenty of time for you to grab some food or sit back and enjoy the pregame action.

We are hoping to arrange a tour of Wrigley Field earlier in the day, if that happens you will have the option of attending the tour plus the game or just the game.

Here’s basic information about next summer’s convention, to help you begin searching for transportation, booking rooms, and making plans:

Convention dates are July 3rd through 10^th, 2020. The location is Schaumburg, Illinois. The hotel is the Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center. Room rates are $94 per night for up to four people in a room. This room rate does not include tax, which is currently 15 percent.

For telephone reservations, call 800.468.3571. This is a central reservations number, so please indicate that you are with the American Council of the Blind 2020 conference and convention at the Renaissance Hotel in Schaumburg, Ill. Rooms must be booked by June 10, 2020 to guarantee the convention rate.

Registration will cost $25 for pre-registration, $35 for on-site. This fee will include all general sessions, the exhibit hall, some affiliate programming and the many sessions offered by our sponsors and business partners. But wait, there’s more! All committee sessions that do not involve food functions will be provided free of charge. That means the transportation seminar, legislative boot camp, information access programming and so much more will all be included in the cost of registration.

Convention Contacts

2020 exhibit information: Michael Smitherman, 601.331.7740,

amduo@bellsouth.net

2020 advertising and sponsorships: Margarine Beaman, 512.921.1625,

oleo50@hotmail.com

For any other convention-related questions, please contact Janet Dickelman, convention chair, at

651.428.5059, or via email,

janet.dickelman@gmail.com

Or for specific GDUI Convention Information, contact Andrea Giudice, through our Secretary, Sarah Calhoun: 866.799.8436, or by e-mail:

DawgMawm@gmail.com

This room rate does not include tax which is currently 15.0%. For telephone reservations call (800) 468-3571, this is a central reservations number so please indicate you are with the American Council of the Blind 2020 conference and convention at the Renaissance Hotel in Schaumburg IL.

Thank you for reading and sharing our Paws for GDUI News You Can Use! We welcome your feedback and your involvement in our organization. Thank you for your friendship and support.

Penny Reeder, President

Guide Dog Users, Inc.

Andrea Giudice, Editor

Connect with GDUI

Visit our web site: https://www.guidedogusersinc.org/

Call us, toll-free, at 866.799.8436

Our Facebook page can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/GDUInc/.

Our Facebook group can be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/groups/GDUINC/.

Our Twitter timeline can be accessed at https://twitter.com/gduinc.

Download or subscribe to the GDUI Juno Report pod cast here: http://acbradio.org/gdr.xml

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http://smile.amazon.com/ch/52-1871119.

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