Guide Dogs of America is an non-profit organization established in 1948 that provides guide dogs and instruction in their use, free of charge, to blind and visually impaired men and women of the United States and Canada. The guide dog recipients and family members receive guide dog instruction from professionally licensed trainers, room and board at the Guide Dogs of America campus for 28 days for the instruction period, a specially designed harness, follow-up care, vet care, and travel expenses all paid for. This organization also provides public education through their website, tour and speaker programs, and educating individuals on access laws for the visually impaired.
This organization was very interesting to me. This organization is helping the visually impaired live a better life, and gain a best friend in the process. I think that its great that the recipients receive the guide dog, among other things for free, however, if it costs the organization $42,000 to breed and train EACH dog, how does this organization pay for this? I’m sure that there are many volunteers and donators, but if each dog costs this much, then I wonder how many guide dogs they have breed and trained and how often?
That's amazing how expensive it is to train a guide dog. I think it's really cool that it's no cost to the person who needs the dog. There are probably plenty of volunteers who are constantly training dogs all the time.
ReplyDeleteThat is a crazy amount of money for just caring for and training an animal. I think this would be an organization that would recieve alot of grants and donations from local organization. I;m sure that the way they have set up their organization has made it possible to breed and train dogs year-round.
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