Future Guide Dogs

[whalelover]

Hey
I'm just reading a book called "A different kind of beauty" and in it's about a girl who fosters soon-to-be guide dogs. When they're puppies, she gets to foster them, and I guess just train them and take care of them before they go into real guide dog training. Also, she has to take it to lots of public places, like malls, schools, etc., it just wears it's "future guide dog vest". This sounds like such a cool thing, fostering future guide dogs. Does anyone know of anything like this, like do people actually do it? If so, I'd like to look into it!

[luvofallhorses]

You can research it on the internet

[K9soul]

There is a member here who fostered/helped raise a future service dog! Her username is "Aspen and Misty" and she raised Breeze. Here is one of her threads with pictures.

http://www.petoftheday.com/talk/show...ghlight=Breeze

[bckrazy]

my friend Lyss is raising a future guide dog! He's a Lab, named Smokey, and he's super sweet. They bring them everywhere, and he goes to high school with her! Everybody LOVES Mokey

It does seem like fun. . I would totally do it, if only there were BC guide dogs. .

[Corinna]

LOts of 4-h dog projects raise the guide pups. I know of 3 in my group alone when I was a kid.

[Suki Wingy]

A teacher at my school is raising one! He is a really cool looking lab w/ a liver nose and olive green eyes, but I don't think he will make it to be a guide dog because he is neering the end of his training and he still can't handle crowds like pep rallys and he still pulls on the leash
I really wish they would train rescue dogs for the blind instead of breeding them all and only a few making it. Most dogs for the deaf are rescues or you could send your own dog off for traininng. I like that idea much better. A very close family friend is deaf and she adopted a dog specifically for the training, but she is about to get another one because her poor old hearing dog is now deaf herself!
Also I think the dogs for the disabled are rescues a lot too.

[Aspen and Misty]

As said previously, I raised a Foster dog named Breeze who has gone on for formal training and was recently assigned to her futue person!! I'm so proud of my girl . It is a very rewarding and fun thing to do. But it is also time consuming and heart braking.

Suki Wingy, please do not jump to conclusions you do not understand. Breeze, who was a black lab, was calm ALL the time. She did play and run, but it was always calmly. Why? Because of her breeding (some had to do with her personlity, but most PAWS dogs are calm and quite which leads us to beleave it is due in part to genitics, as stated by my PAWS trainer, Cindy.) Also, animal shelter rarly get in puppies. Older dogs have baggage, whiile shelter dogs are an exlent choice for people who want a compainion, please understand Service dogs are around people 24/7, which means NO aggression or bad behaviors. They go to work, go to the mall, go to grocery store, soccer games etc. etc. They have to be calm, quite, yet able to work long hours. They have to be well trained and they have to have a love for their job.

To help you better understand I have some Quotes from the Paws With a Cause Website:

Last year, we tested a total of 1,235 dogs in shelters. Only 80 of these dogs passed our temperament testing and went on for further evaluation (medical, etc).

Three years ago we were able to rescue 260 dogs to begin our training. Last year only 80 usable shelter dogs were found. This is a 70% decrease in just three years. We have spoken to other organizations across the country that use shelter dogs and all attest to the growing lack of appropriate dogs from shelter sources. 1 out of 8 rescues successfully complete our training We have been rescuing dogs to train as Assistance Dogs for nearly 25 years and our statistics have continuously shown that only

. We have taken in over 5,000 dogs for training and only 625 have been successful in our program. We test over 1,000 dogs annually and only an average of 6% can pass the preliminary temperament test.

We have had a small breeding program for years. 3 out of 4 puppies that we bred have successfully completed training over the past five years. We have had a small breeding program for years. This is quite a difference from the 12.5% success rate of shelter dogs. "

You can read more here: http://www.pawswithacause.org/history.asp



Ashley

[whalelover]

Wow, thanks for all the info!

[Iilo]

I second the "no jumping to conclusions, please."

Just as conformation dogs are bred for their looks and temperment, guide dogs are bred for their temperment and ability to preform. If I had not been educated and gone through the process of raising a guide dog myself, I would probably think the same as you.
And just because your teacher's dog still pulls on the leash and can't handle pep rallies does not mean he won't become a guide dog -- it just might take a lot more time than it usually does. My Abby-girl's brother took a year to be able to go into training with a blind person, and even then the match wasn't right so he's back in holding. My Abby was a puller (probably something to do with my lack of training skills at that time) and she graduated basic and advanced training and went into holding within 3 months. That's faster than most dogs.
I have never EVER met a lab as calm as my Labby-Abby. But when you wanted her to be up and working, she would. When you wanted her to be "off," she would. You can't get that from a dog with baggage; you can't get that from a dog of indiscriminate breeding.

Oh and to the person who asked the original question: lots of research is needed to decide whether or not you're the kind of person who can handle raising a guide dog. It's a huge emotional investment, and just as the dog is getting to be a nice dog, not a puppy terror, you have to give him away.
It's such a rewarding expierience and I can't wait to do it again -- right now I'm focusing on my school, but as soon as I get on my feet and out of high school and college, you can bet I'll have another GDIT.