Christina: [00:00:00] Welcome to the taking the lead podcast, where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Hapner with my cohost, Leslie Haskins in Timothy Cuneo. I can't believe we're already in the summer months and it is going to be a crazy summer for me. I don't know about you guys, but my sister gets married in September.
So, you know, all that bachelorette
Leslie: planning, the party planning is bridal shower, bridal
Christina: shower, all that fun stuff.
Leslie: Are you made of honor? I am. That's a big responsibility. Yes.
Christina: Um, I hope that I can,
Leslie: are you ready for such to have, yeah.
Christina: Um, I got to write a speech, I think, um, which.
Leslie: You know,
Timothy: are you going to grab, get, get the boat?
Kay. When she throws it, are you going to die
Jill: for it? Yeah.
Leslie: I don't know if she's going to do that to me. I
Christina: don't know if she's going to do it, but I don't know if I'm ready for that.
Leslie: We didn't do that at our [00:01:00] wedding. I have been in. Eight weddings in my, my wedding career, if you will. And I don't believe that is counting mine.
So I am a bit of a professional bridesmaid here. If you have any questions. Oh, wow. Okay. I will pick your brain. Okay. Lots of experience. Lots of planning parties. That's for sure. But this summer I'm excited to be out on the lake and going swimming and get the kids out in the back yard and go for walks and maybe teach my oldest how to write a book.
All that good stuff. That's so exciting and such a great
Christina: milestone because he was able
Leslie: to skate right. For the first time she went ice skating for the first time this year. And he's got, you know, the pop patrol bike with the training wheels. But I think he's ready. I think it's time. We'll see.
Christina: I remember that we used to ride our bike.
We had a square driveway around the square and. That's where I took my training wheels off. Well, my dad and I didn't take them off
Leslie: [00:02:00] Timothy.
Timothy: Yes. What do I got planned? Oh, well, uh, going on a cruise to Alaska in August, uh, going to leader dog, hopefully in August. Um, what else is going on September? I guess I still S.
She's still summertime going to Wisconsin to go visit the puppy raisers and having a fundraiser with the lion's club up there and shell lake Wisconsin. I bought our tickets earlier, so they're already purchased. So we're going, can't wait. So busy, busy summer.
Leslie: That'd be great. Hopefully the weather stays nice so we can continue to enjoy it.
Um, yeah. And get out there. I know one of my favorite things about summer too, is, is just training and working with clients and the nice warm weather and being able to take the breaks outside and not having to go in and cooling down with some nice water lemonade from our kitchen staff. So.
Christina: Three [00:03:00] months in Michigan that we really, really love, which it's probably the opposite for you, Timothy.
You're probably like
Timothy: it'll be 110 degrees down here by July. So you guys got made in July in the summertime, but I got it made in a winter time. So
Leslie: we got to pack everything in and say these three months ago, Uh, well, I'm so glad everybody's got big plans again, Christina, you know, you let me know if you need any help with that bridesmaid stuff.
Lots of experience here. Uh, but today we're really excited to talk about our Knights in shining armor. The team members who are constantly traveling and our feet on the streets are boots on the ground. They are our field rep representatives. Yes. And joining
Christina: us is a Jill Vannie and she's a guide dog mobility instructor, as well as the supervisor of our field representative.
And she's been with leader dog for 12 years. And prior to becoming a guide dog mobility instructor, Jill was an elementary school teacher for 10 years and she taught everything from elementary to sixth grade. And Jill also [00:04:00] completed her graduate degree in adult studies, which she has been able to apply in her career as a guide dog mobility instructor here at leader dog, Jill, welcome to
Timothy: the podcast.
So let's start right off the bat. What brought you to leader dog when you decide to work with.
Jill: Well, first of all, thank you for that. Um, lovely, welcome. Um, well, I first came to leader dog back in 2008. I had, uh, my husband had been transferred from his job in North Carolina to Rochester, Michigan, and I saw these really happy dog trainers walking around town.
And I was really kind of, well, I was intrigued and I spoke with several of them on different occasions and thought it sounded like. Cool. Interesting job that was very related to teaching. And I applied when an apprenticeship position came open. Um, fortunately I was, I got, I got the apprenticeship job and spent the next [00:05:00] year, three years training as an apprentice.
And, um, that was my introduction.
Leslie: That was incredible. And so you started out as a, an apprentice and then of course, onto a guide dog mobility instructor on campus. So you were really involved in all of the training aspects of the class and all of that good stuff. Um, and now you are a field rep. Can you tell us what is a field.
Jill: So a field rep is a GD my first and foremost. So we're, we're just like the JD Mies on campus. But we, our job is to work with clients in the field, meaning in their homes and for us, that field encompasses, uh, Canada and the us. So we visit clients in their home environment. Sometimes we're visiting them.
Train with them with a new dog in their home because they're unable to come to campus or it's preferential for them to do the training in their home area. Sometimes we're visiting them [00:06:00] because maybe they're having a little bit of a difficulty with a particular behavior for the dog, or maybe they need assistance with, uh, introducing the dog to a new route.
Um, a new, a new routine. It could be that we're also visiting clients who are applying either for their first leader dog or their second, third, fourth, fifth, who knows. Um, but we, we perform all of those functions and basically, again, it means that we are traveling to the client in their.
Christina: So you do obviously a lot of traveling all over to all over the country and Canada, which is awesome.
So what, you know, you started off on campus. What made you want to go and do the field rep position?
Jill: Well, I, I loved being on campus and an on-campus DDMI and being part of the team there, leader dog, or as I always called it, my family. Um, and then in, in 2016, [00:07:00] my husband took a position on the west coast.
We're just, we actually live about 40 miles south of Seattle. Um, he took a position here on the west coast and it meant that I had to resign my guide dog position with. Uh, at the time there weren't any open field rep positions. We, we had folks in all of the roles. So I had to resign my position, which let me tell you that was a very, very sad day when I left, because I always felt like it was my dream job.
So it was a, it was a sad day to leave. Um, And then two years later, a field position opened up. And of course I jumped on that and, um, was, was invited to join the field and the rest is history. So that's since 2018, I've been in the field.
Timothy: So how many field reps are there that work.
Jill: There. So we have three full-time field reps.
We have [00:08:00] four contingent field reps, meaning they do work for us on a contract basis. So, um, in each of those cases, the contingent field reps are field reps who have either retired and just do a little bit of work here and there for us as suits their schedule and location. And then we have one field rep who like me moved.
Uh, resigned her job and now just does contingent work that comes up in her neck of the woods.
Leslie: So do we have a field reps that have to live in certain parts of the country?
Jill: No, we actually don't. Um, historically we, we did ask that field reps actually live in Michigan so that they could do all of their, you know, the, the meetings with the rest of the group on campus.
But now with. The all the amazing technology that we have with being able to connect virtually, like we're doing today, our field reps can live anywhere. So for [00:09:00] instance, I live in Washington state. Uh, we have two field reps who live in Michigan, one, not right in Rochester. And then our contingent field reps.
We have spread out along the east coast and the Midwest. So yeah, you could, you could pretty much live in.
Christina: Yeah. And so I guess to your trailing, you said it's different situations. You're either delivering a dog or you're just going to brush up on skills. So how many days, I guess out of the year, or how many days do you spend them with a client in their home area?
Jill: So it varies. We, we typically plan on spending about 14 days in the field and there's some give and take sometimes wear it longer sometimes, um, wear out last, depending on, um, need. And in terms of how long we spend with each client. Again, it's a variable. If we're doing a delivery that is typically eight to 10 days is the length of time that we actually [00:10:00] train with the client.
Those are full days, sometimes it's longer. And I suppose there could be occasions where it's less than eight days, but eight to 10 is probably a pretty good average for delivery time. And if we're working with a client who's needing support with some sort of either learning a new behavior with their dog or doing a route that could be as short as being there for a couple hours or we could be there five days.
Timothy: So what is the difference between going and what are the benefits of going to a, have a field rep come to you compared to going to the campus of Rochester?
Jill: So the difference between I'll T I'll take the delivery. First is typically we like new clients to come to campus to get their first dock. It allows us to really build a, a routine of behavior that will be important for a new guy, dog team.
It [00:11:00] allows, uh, our clients to travel in the downtown Rochester area, which gives us a lot of predictable experiences in terms of. Making street crossings both at a stop sign control, intersections and light control intersections. Rochester also has it's laid out on a nice grid. Um, good sidewalks. We have APS units.
It just makes it a lot easier in terms of consistency of trailers. And I think are really important part of coming on to campus, especially for your first guide dog is being able to meet a peer group because those clients who come into class will be in class with other clients, some of whom are also brand new.
And many of whom are going to be returned clients getting, um, successor dogs. So I F I feel, and I think most clients would probably tell you that coming onto campus, especially for the first dog is a really valuable [00:12:00] experience in that. But sometimes we have clients who, whether it be their personal situation, like maybe you're a parent and you're not able to get childcare for your kids to be away for the 21 days of on-campus training.
Uh, maybe have another family member you need to care for. Some folks actually have a job and we work around their work schedule and some folks live in a really. Environment that we can't replicate easily in Rochester. So in those instances, they would be, um, people who would qualify for delivery. And then one other instance I can think of where I delivery would be good is if you had some sort of medical condition that made it either difficult for you to travel or to be in the class training basis in Michigan, and you'd be more comfortable training at home.
So those would be instances for, um, having a delivery.
Christina: Yeah. And [00:13:00] I think that's so awesome that leader dog is able to meet clients where they're at. So, you know, if they can't come to campus, we go to them. Um, I'm just curious though, cause I know sometimes. When they do that first meet with it dog. It doesn't happen often, but they may have to get a new dog because it wasn't a match right away.
Um, what happens in the field if that happens? If that dog, you know, doesn't click with that person, correct. A
Jill: question. Um, we tend to be, oh gosh, I better knock on wood here. Pretty successful with the matches with, with the matches we take out in the field. Um, We tend to do, obviously we do our due diligence every single time, but we're, we're really careful at the dogs that we look at taking out into the field, but you're right.
Sometimes for whatever reason that doesn't work, if that happens, if we make the decision during the [00:14:00] delivery that the matches and working, then the instructor would return back to campus and we'd make an appointment to. Retrain at another time when we come up with a more suitable match, but you're right.
Christina, working with clients in the field, delivering dogs to clients in the field and being able to know how the match is going to work out. Is it it's tricky. So you never know. So we're all kind of on pins and needles those first several days as we wait to see how the team does together.
Leslie: So I'm curious, uh, kind of a two-part question here.
One, are you involved in that matching process? So like when you know you're going to go do a delivery, are you involved or are the instructors on campus doing that? It
Jill: depends. So I have personally been involved in some matching where I potentially was the one who may be, did the initial visit with the client when they applied, or it could be, [00:15:00] in some instances, I know I've had clients that I worked with as a GDM.
Who are reapplying for a dog and they're applying for delivery. I know them and perhaps have matched them with the dog in the past. So if I have personal knowledge of the client and I feel I have information that is valuable to add, I will participate. In the matching. And honestly, a field rep is invited to participate in the matching at any time.
Typically though we leave that to the guide dog mobility instructors, because they know their dog's best and the way they're actually making the matches. They're looking at videos of our clients. If you've ever applied for a leader dog, and you've had to submit a video, that video is a key component and ITMI or guide dog mobility instructor making a match.
So they watch those videos to get a sense of. What is the daily [00:16:00] routine of the client? Where do they walk? What type of environment do they walk in? Are they walking on sidewalks? Are they walking on gravel roads on the shoulder? Are they in a, in a busy urban environment or a more quiet rural area? Are they a student in college or school?
We'd like to get an idea of what the client's pace is, what their gait looks like. Their size in relation to potential dogs. Um, I remember as a 2d and my one time we were deciding I'm not chasing a dog to a client and we had a couple dogs in mind and, and one, one dog in my, my mind was the dog I was training and I thought.
I think this dog might be a good match for this client, but during the video that the client's son took of him for us to use for matching purposes, the son scanned around the dog, the sorry, his, his dad's office scanned around the walls. And I saw. Three Stooges on the wall. [00:17:00] And I saw that picture. I went, yes, this is the right dog for this client.
If he appreciates the three Stooges, this goofy dog is perfect for him. And I have to say it was a really good man, quiet after the fact. I said, you know what solidified our match was that picture of Larry curly and Moe. That is so then it boils down to some of our matching is honestly. We say, it's just a gut feeling where you, you get a sense of the client's personality and you think, you know, I have the right dog for this person's lifestyle for their pace, for their pull, um, and for their needs.
And I think there'll be a good personality match.
Leslie: That's so funny. So my second part of the question too, is that, so you're not because you're not the one training. Do you find it difficult or challenging to issue dogs that you don't know yourself? Or do you kind of have like a ritual the first couple of days to really get to know the [00:18:00] dog?
Jill: Great question. It, it certainly can make things a little bit more challenging in some ways. Um, what happens right now is the instructors. When they do their last blindfold training route with the dog that is videoed and it's sent to us so we can watch. Um, it's unedited. So we see the whole thing. We see how the dog and the handler worked together.
So that's a great piece of information. Um, and if we can't meet in person with the trainer of that dog, we will have a, like a zoom or a teams meeting where we conference together. And we talk about the video. We talk about how our thoughts are. In terms of the match and things that we need to be aware of.
Um, we like to ask about quirks of the dog, you know, what's neat about this dog. What was the dog like early in training? Because we'd like to have stories to go to share with the client. When we get there, we'd like to share a little bit of personalized [00:19:00] information about the dog. And then when we come to campus to get the dog to take it for the delivery, we.
In both in Rochester or in my case, because I'm typically flying everywhere. I'm going, I'll be staying in a hotel on my way to see the client. I will have traveled in a car with the dog. I will have been on an airplane most likely with this. Sometimes I'll even bring the dog to my house for a few days beforehand.
If it's on the west coast that allows us both to readjust to the time zone change. And it gives me a chance to get to better know the dog. So I'd say by and large, uh, we field reps do get to know the dog. Pretty well, by the time we deliver it, but we've also done lots of background research with the original GDM I and team that train the dog.
We get lots of information one way, and that it is good to, uh, be the field rep to deliver a dog. You [00:20:00] didn't train is you don't have. And bond that is really hard in class where the dog is always looking for. Where's my trainer, where's my trainer, my trainer. Um, so we don't have that typically to worry about.
So I would say in that regard, it makes it easy.
Christina: Chill. That is so interesting to hear. I didn't know any of that, that goes on between, you know, our instructors on campus in our field reps, in that relationship that you all have is great. And Joel, I know I'm sure you've been so many places and visited so many clients, but are there any, um, visits that have stood out to you that, um, you'd like to share any stories?
Jill: Oh, my goodness. Wow. Well, they're also interesting. I love that. There's such a variety. Um, in terms of visits, it's always interesting to take our dogs into. Places that are really unique that they don't see often in training. So I've trained with a couple of clients here on the west [00:21:00] coast who use fairies.
So I think that's kind of fun taking a dog on the ferry for the first time. It's interesting to, to see their reaction as, as the boat is pulling away. And I mean, they're big ferries over here on the west coast. I have a couple of hundred cars on them. So they're like little mini cruise ships without the open bar.
Um, so it's just kind of fun watching the dog, smell the ocean air and the ocean breeze watching the seagulls fly by that's. I think that's a fun one for me.
Timothy: You show up at the client's front door and you're getting ready. What's that first day, like when you first show up, what does it entail for that entire visit?
Jill: Well, we CA we have contact with them before we get there. So we've already established a little bit of a relationship beforehand. Um, often, especially in the case of deliveries, where we have a lot of information where we have to set up and we're, we're planning for what our [00:22:00] schedule will, will be. We will have spoken on the phone many times.
So at least we have that comfort of we've already started to build a little bit of a relationship. But I would say in general, when we do show up at somebody's door and knock on the door and ring the doorbell and introduce ourselves, we just spend some time getting to know. Especially if we're coming to help them with a particular issue, they may be having, we sit down and we talk about it.
We, we asked what they've tried, what's worked what hasn't worked, what, what are they concerned about? How can we best help them? We talk about their schedule, how we'll accommodate for their schedule. So we get, we get to know. Folks pretty well. I think when we go out into the field and like I said, sometimes I've, I've gone out to work with clients with, with a particular issue or training that we have to work on where we're I'm there five days.
Um, you spend a lot of time together, especially [00:23:00] on deliveries. We spend an enormous amount of time to get. That's
Christina: awesome. And I bet that relationship that you're able to build is a great for both parties. And I know sometimes you guys help applicants as well. What goes into an app? If someone is needing help with their application, what does that entail?
Jill: When, when somebody has a, what we call an applicant visit, we come to the home and we actually, we get to know them a little. And we have a standard set of interview questions that we're asking them, just to help us better understand how to make the match, um, what their lifestyle is like is a guide dog, the right thing for them, because some, sometimes a guide dog isn't the right tool for everybody.
Sometimes we have folks who. Would perhaps benefit from additional orientation and mobility training before they come to our campus. So that could be an option that we could discuss with them. [00:24:00] We're very honest, when, and by honest, I mean transparent when we're talking to clients, if we think that a guide dog, maybe isn't the right match for them, or maybe they're not ready, we have those conversations with them.
Um, so it's not a surprise. We are happy to. Send them in the direction of perhaps more appropriate resources if that's the case. But typically when we're going to see somebody for a guide dog application, we're having a conversation about what they're looking for in a dog and what a dog from our perspective can actually provide.
So we have the interview. We ask an awful lot of questions about their daily routine. I like to ask what qualities they look for in a dog. I also like to ask folks, what are the top behaviors that are really important for you in a guide dog? Because that answer. Depending on clients. Um, some clients have a [00:25:00] preference that they have a dog that has an exceptionally well settled, whereas another client that might not be important at all.
So it's important for us to know that information for matching purposes. And then in addition to doing the interview, we will do video of them traveling with their cane so we can see their cane skills. And so we can get an idea of their orientation and mobility skills. And it also allows us to get an idea of what their working environment, what their routes are like.
So that the TD and Mies, when they're doing the matches, they can see the community that the client lives in and work.
Leslie: And it's so interesting that those applicant visits are so beneficial for both the applicant and us. So it's a mutual benefit, um, to, to be able to provide those.
Jill: Absolutely. And, and it is very much, I would say a very comfortable conversation.
You know, I say the word interview, but I, I don't even like to say interview because it really, we [00:26:00] sit down and it's more of a conversation because we w it's the start of building, what will be. We hope a very long and fruitful relationship.
Christina: Yes, definitely.
Leslie: That's what we tell our podcast guests.
Jill: no, that's, that's the best part of what we do, right? That's the best part of what we do is we we're building relationships with people. And as a, as a guide dog mobility instructor, That was a big revelation to me. You know what, after my first couple of classes and the client with leave was knowing, wait a minute, I'm going to be in this person's life for at least as long as they have this dog, we're going to be in touch, maybe not all the time, but every now and then we're going to be aware of where each other is and what's going on in their life.
And it it's an important relationship. And I think most TDMs will tell you it's [00:27:00] one of their favorite parts of the.
Leslie: Absolutely. I mean, I agree as a, as a comms and working with clients all the time, Timothy and I this year are celebrating our three year friends. Aversary a lot comes out of these relationships.
You know, you meet people and you have both lives are impacted both clients and, and us as the professional on the other side,
Jill: That's so true and then follow through to the puppy raisers too. Um, I, when I used to be on campus, I would participate in the night where puppy raisers would be. And then meet clients.
So it's interesting to think about them throughout the years, too, because many times they stay in touch with the client and have that continuing relationships. So I think it's a pretty special thing
Leslie: full circle for sure. Well, thank you Jill, for joining us today, this has been incredibly fun to hear about all of the things that field reps do, um, and your personal experience too.
So thank you for joining.
Jill: Thanks for inviting me,
Leslie: [00:28:00] of course. And thank you so much to our listeners for listening to another episode of taking the lead. I'm Leslie Haskins with host Timothy Cuneo and Christina Hapner. We hope you enjoyed learning about the time and dedication of our field representatives.
Please join us next week. When we continue to dive into the. Blindness.
Christina: And if you'd like to learn more about applying the leader dog, you can head to leader, dog.org or call us at (888) 777-5332. And don't forget, you can reach us at taking the lead at leader, dog.org with any questions or ideas, if you like today's podcast and make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever pod history. .