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VIDBE-Q Volume 63 Issue 4
Emily Caudill, B.S., TVI
Master's Student
University of Pittsburgh
eac76@pitt.edu
Where are you?
Completing an internship is part of the training required to become a Certified
Orientation and Mobility Specialist. There were several places I could have applied to
fulfill this requirement. However, there is only one facility in the country that offers both
an Orientation and Mobility program and a Dog Guide program within the same building.
Approximately 2% of the population is blind and only 2% of that group choose to use a
guide dog. It's a niche group. But what it lacks in numbers it makes up for in wags and
licks.
This May, I chose to leave Pittsburgh, PA to spend my summer days at Leader
Dogs for the Blind in Michigan. It was a daunting task to leave my home knowing I
would spend 3 months in an unfamiliar environment. Add on the pressure of being
observed, followed, and critiqued, I was a nervous wreck. I wasn't sure I even wanted
the summer to come. Ready or not, May came and I drove the 6 hours from my home
to the Leader Dog campus to do my training, carrying the weight of the unknown in my
suitcase. The first day of my internship was upon me and I did not know what to expect.
Dog Days of Summer: An O&M Intern's Perspective