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On-Campus Training

Students travel to our Yorktown Heights, New York campus to participate in an immersive training program. Our training school facility is designed to be modern and comfortable – a home away from home as students train to become a guide dog handler.

Our modern accommodations include 18 single-occupancy rooms with doors that open onto an easily accessible corridor. The second door in each room leads outside. Each fully air-conditioned dorm room has a TV, coffeemaker, fridge and WiFi network. Rooms are numbered with Braille and raised letter and number signage

Ed and Serina with GDMI Jolene

The entire staff, including the dining, nursing, and support staff, were so welcoming, friendly, and easy to talk to and genuinely interested in me. The CEO took the time to have a meal with us. It was an amazing experience.

Students are assigned their dog on day 2 of training, a day affectionately known as “dog day.” Following dog day, the class travels to Yorktown Heights, White Plains or other local town to give the new teams an opportunity to become familiar with a single environment and route as they learn to work with their new dog. Our field-training center in White Plains offers students access to real-life settings to enhance their training, such as a restaurant complete with booths – which doubles as our actual dining area.

As the training continues, students participate in workshops and discussions to learn topics related to the care of their dog and legal rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act and state statutes.