PUPPY POWER: RAISING A PUPPY TO BE A GUIDE DOG FOR GUIDE DOGS FOR THE BLIND
Guide dogs are specially trained dogs, usually Labrador or Golden
Retrievers, or German Shepherds, who have learned the skills to guide a
blind person. A guide dog gives his partner mobility and independence,
by giving him the opportunity to move safely around in the world. The
dog needs highly specialized skills and a sound temperament. These are
not learned overnight. It takes about two years to develop a guide dog.
During the first year of life, the puppy is growing up. It starts its'
life in the whelping kennels at a school such as Guide Dogs for the
Blind, Inc which is located in San Rafael California. GDB puppies are
bred especially for their temperament, their sound health and their
intelligence and willingness to work. Only the very best dogs of every
generation are chosen to be the parents of the new generations of
puppies. And more than a thousand puppies are born every year at the GDB
kennels. Most of these puppies will come back to the Guide Dogs for the
Blind (GDB) school to be trained when they are about 14 to 16 months
old. But at 8-10 weeks, they leave the kennels at GDB and go to live
with very special people, their puppyraisers.
Puppyraisers take this tiny ball of fur, still wobbly and with deliciously
smelling puppy breath, and turn it into a confident, healthy young dog,
bonded to people, experienced in being in many environments, and with
basic obedience skills. They house train, go through teething (probably
losing a shoe or decorating their furniture in the early toothmark style
of interior decoration in the process!!) They help the young pup through
the early fear stages, slowly developing the puppy's confidence in new
situations. They endure the raging hormones of doggie adolescence, and
finally reach the point where the pup is ALMOST perfect. Then they must
say goodbye, and turn the puppy back in to Guide Dogs for the Blind, where
the pup will undergo a thorough physical examination, and be spayed or
neutered if it isn't going to be a part of the breeding program. If the physical health and
temperament of the pup is found to be sound, it begins work with a
professional instructor. You can find out much more about the training
process at the following websites.
The puppyraiser doesn't get to follow the puppy into training.
We have our last glimpse of the puppy we have lovingly raised as it steps confidently into the GDB
truck, not looking back, eager and ready for the new things it is about
to learn, on the way to becoming a very special partner for a blind
person. A few of the dogs don't make it through training. Perhaps they
have a physical problem. Perhaps they never develop the confidence and
initiative to be a successful guide. If they are "career changed" perhaps
they will come back to their puppyraiser. Maybe the puppyraiser cannot
take on the responsibility of the dog for the rest of it's life, and the
Career Change dog is adopted by specially screened families and becomes
a beloved, and wonderfully trained pet.
If the dog is successful in training, the puppyraiser receives weekly
"reports" tracing the puppies progress through the stages of training.
And finally the big day comes, and the trained guide begins a two to four week class with a blind person, eager to meet their new partner, and hone the skills that they will use together. At the end of the class the new partnership, human and canine, return to the person's home environment and begin their life together. Guide Dogs for the Blind continues to provide support for the human and dog. This support includes home visits by professional trainers as needed to help the partnership learn new routes or how to work in new environments. The trainer may also provide expert assessment and advice if needed when a dog is having some adjustment difficulty. While the blind person is responsible for food, and basic veterinary care for their guide, the school also may assist with specialist veterinary consultation and care and there is a special counselor at the school to assist with dealing the inevitable retirement or illness of the guide who has become such an integral and important part of the life of the person. Occasionally, when the guide retires, it retires back to the home of the puppyraiser.
Sky says: "Isn't that an important job? My mommy says that's why I'm
such an important puppy.
Puppy raising is an important job, too. In our family we all contribute in teaching Sky the things that will help her in her future job. Every day she
goes to work, sometimes with dad, Mark, who teaches in a high school.
She is a very good puppy at school. She lies quietly by Mark's desk or
sometimes she goes with one of the students. Mark's students at Everett
Alternatives High School help with the puppyraising and training. They
take her out to "do her business." and they learn the skills needed to
train her. Sometimes sbe goes to school with Sarah, who is the official
puppyraiser. Sarah is a high school senior, and she is a member of Puppy
Power 4H in Redmond Washington. Sometimes Sky goes to meetings with her
mom, Nancy, who is a nurse midwife. After 5 months of age, when she was
fully vaccinated, Sky went out many more places in public: the grocery
store and to restaurants, and ride on buses and trains and maybe even an
airplane, for example.In Washington State, where we live, the law states
that a guide dog puppy may go everywhere that a Guide Dog is permitted to go. This
allows the puppy to learn what is needed to be a good guide dog by
practicing being in public in all kinds of situations. She learns to not
be distracted by noise or food or other dogs. She goes to 4H meetings
where she learns to behave herself around other dogs and we learn more
about puppyraising. The puppy raising program is a combined program of
4H and Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc. Guide Dog puppies are also shown
at the County and State Fairs where Sarah competes with other raisers
demonstrating her skill in Fitting and Showing, Obedience and in an
Evaluation course.
My mom belongs to a special group of puppyraisers from all over the
world, including raisers in Scotland and Australia. These people raise
puppies for many different organizations. Not all of the puppies are
going to be guide dogs like me. Some will grow up to help people in
wheelchairs, or people with seizures or people who are deaf. You can
learn more about puppy raising all over the United States on the PUPPY
RAISERS WEB PAGE
One of the most common questions a puppyraiser gets asked by the public (or sometimes we ask it of ourselves!!) is "How can you give them up after a year? Aren't you too attached?" The following excerpt describes eloquently WHY we do it.....and it is written by a blind man, who himself uses a guide dog.
How puppies are chosen
