I met someone this week with an assistance dog from another UK training organisation, one of the main differences that I can see, between the rules of that organisation and the one my dog comes from (Dogs for the Disabled), is that we are allowed to travel abroad.
All the assistance dog organisations in the United Kingdom have been in existence since before the Pet Passport Scheme (PETS) was introduced for dogs and cats travelling from certain European countries on 28 February 2000. The Scheme was extended to Cyprus, Malta and certain long haul countries and territories on 31 January 2001. Bahrain joined on 1 May 2002. Mainland USA and Canada joined on 11 December 2002.
Naturally, there are health considerations with travelling abroad, but with common sense and enough reasearch and advice one can travel into and out of the UK with very little trouble at all. Caesar and I first travelled abroad in 2004, and the ability to have him with me, working in various countries that I have wished to travel to has enabled me to become truly independent and for both of us has been a very validating experience.
I cannot imagine how I would feel, ably assisted by my assistance dog within the confines of the UK but as soon as my advocacy work took me abroad we'd have to part company.
Surely, the whole object of becoming independent with the help of an assistance dog is freedom ... freedom to choose where one travels being included in that?
Naturally, all our travels are undertaken after a full assessment of the risks involved to both Caesar and myself, and of course we would not travel together if it meant he would suffer in any way ...
I'm really glad to have a dog from an organisation that understands the autonomy of partnership and doesn't treat partnerships in a paternalistic way, making rules which deny freedom.
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4 comments:
Wow, that's totally foreign to me. Are the guide dog schools in the UK the same I wonder? Because really how much independence can they really feel they are giving a blind person if they're limited in where they can travel with their eyeballs?
I just can't even comprehend having to do such a thing; truly a blessing, I guess.
Oh, and off topic a tish: I moved my blog to a new domain.
Hi Cyndy, as far as I know the guide dog school in the UK allow their partnerships to travel. It was quite a surprise to me to discover one of the other programs still restricting travel. I guess there are circumstances where perhaps the dog isn't up to it healthwise, or perhaps the partnership is new and inexperienced, or even perhaps some folks might find the pet passport scheme too onerous to manage for their dog, but to make a blanket arrangement is a bit like saying you can have freedom, but only this much! A bit paternalistic really.
Well, I know of restrictions that places have in terms of traveling from here - I mean, even Hawaii has some pretty tight requirements. But I do agree, seems a bit counterintuitive to make such a blanket statement on the issue as a whole.
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