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Guide Dogs Current Practice. Thomas R. Harrison, Editor. Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia: Guide Dogs of New South Wales, 2006,1,447 pp., paperback plus CD-ROM, $249 AU ($234 U.S.).
Lukas Franck
Guide Dogs Current Practice, edited by Thomas R. Harrison and written by individuals at the Australian school Guide Dogs of New South Wales and Australian Capitol Territories (GDNSW/ACT) and numerous other contributors, is a landmark publication for the fields of dog guide (the preferred term of JVIB) training and instruction and orientation and mobility (O&M).
Most dog guide schools develop instructors through apprenticeship programs that last about three years, during which time apprentices gradually progress through various training stages (from working in the kennel, training a small number of dogs, to training several classes of student-and-dog-guide teams) (Whitstock, Franck, & Haneline, 1997, p. 268). The professional development of dog guide instructors, however, has been evolving at many schools over the last decade or more, spurred on, in part, by the quality of information exchange experienced by participants in the biennial conferences of the International Guide Dog Federation (IGDF). In fact, the release of this publication coincided with IGDF's July 2006 conference in New York City. In addition, IGDF has proposed apprenticeship standards, which, if adopted, will become binding upon member schools as early as 2010. Many dog guide programs in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere have been upgrading and formalizing their apprenticeship policies and procedures in response to the changes proposed by IGDF and to the needs of their programs. Some university programs are also contributing to the development of dog guide school staff members. For example, Southampton University in the United Kingdom has been working in partnership with the Reading, England-based Guide Dogs for the Blind Association; and San Francisco State University has been working with the apprenticeship program of the San Rafael, California-based Guide Dogs for the Blind, and the university offers a Masters-level program in dog guide mobility.
This two-volume instructional manual presents a competency-based approach to training, and it includes clearly defined objectives, competencies, and outcomes. It is currently being used by GDNSW/ACT to train mobility specialists in the basics of dog...