May is National Guide Dog Month, designated to raise awareness of guide dogs and their role in the community. Guide dogs greatly improve the lives of blind and seeing-impaired people. Breeding and training these dogs costs thousands of dollars. Most of these dogs are provided at no cost through donation-funded institutions to people who need them.
Guide dog institutions breed specially chosen lines of dogs for this purpose. These breeds are usually Labrador retrievers, Golden retrievers or German shepherds. Puppies are screened at weaning time and those who don’t make the grade as a potential guide dog go on for training in some other type of service work or become pets. Only a portion of the puppies are considered qualified for training as a guide dog.
Raising Guide Dog Puppies
At six to eight weeks of age, each chosen puppy is sent to live with an approved puppy raiser family to learn manners and social skills. Socialization is very important. Puppies destined to be guide dogs must grow up to feel comfortable and confident in any situation so that they can safely guide their charge later on without becoming distracted.
At an early age they become familiar with all kinds of noises, sights, and smells. They learn to ride public transportation, walk along busy streets, move calmly through stores and elevators, and obey simple commands. This is the very important basic foundation on which their formal guide training will be launched.
Training Guide Dogs
Somewhere around a year of age, the puppies go back to the guide dog school to begin formal training. This is where they learn to walk a straight course at a steady pace while ignoring distractions. They learn to stop at all curbs as well as the top and bottom of stairs, and wait for the forward command. They also learn to rest quietly, ignoring distractions, while their handler is not moving. Only when the harness is removed does a guide dog relax and behave like any other dog.
The guide dog and his handler work as a team. The handler gives the dog direction but the dog guides the handler safely through traffic, hazardous street conditions, and other obstacles. Guide dogs must sometimes make decisions and choose selective disobedience when there is an obstacle that would put their person in danger such as a low hanging limb or oncoming traffic that the handler failed to detect. It takes a lot of concentration on the part of each team member and this is why it’s so important for people in the public not to pet or talk to a working guide dog.
At the end of formal training, which typically lasts four to six months, still more dogs may be weeded out of the program and go into other lines of work or become a companion pet. It’s important that guide dogs be reliable, intelligent, friendly, obedient, and sturdy. Standards are high and only about one-half to three quarters of these dogs make it through the course to be matched with a seeing-impaired person.
Guide Dogs for the Blind
In the last phase of schooling, the dogs are matched with their new owner. Everything from length of stride to height and lifestyle are taken into consideration. Then the team must learn to work together. This usually takes about a month.
The dog and handler first spend time just getting acquainted. The new handler must learn the commands and the dog must learn to obey the new master. They practice walking together and must pass a test before they are released on their own. By graduation, dog and handler have learned to trust each other and are familiar enough to be able to understand each other’s every move.
Depending on the individual dog and the rigors of the situation, guide dogs usually work until the age of around 8 or 10. The owner has the choice of keeping the dog as a pet and getting another guide dog or turning the dog back over to the school where it may be returned to its puppy raiser family or retired to another loving home as a pet.
Petco Donating to Guide Dog Schools
In honor of National Guide Dog Month, Petco offers, during the month of May, specially marked bags of dog food with spokesperson, Paula Abdul’s picture on them. Fifty cents of purchase price will be donated to participating guide dog schools. Petco also offers shoppers other options of helping guide dog schools.
Sources:
Joy Butler - Writer, retired lab tech, mom, and animal lover with over 20 years' experience rescuing, kenneling, training and showing dogs.
