guide dogs, was Re: [AlwaysLearning] linoleum---OT
nellebelle
OH OH OH! I just got a call yesterday from SE Guide Dogs. We're having our
interview inn Sept.>>>>
How many members of your family want to be trainers? Which breed are you hoping for?
I've been taking my 10yod to Puppy Pals meetings for 5 or 6 months. She learned about the guide dog puppy program when she was 8 and thought she would like to raise a pup. We have a guide-dog puppy with us this weekend while his "family" is on a short vacation.
It is much more time consuming than even I thought it would be. By the end of the first day, Lisa said she doesn't feel ready to have a pup of her own. It takes a fair amount of strength to give proper corrections. Plus, someone needs to be paying attention to the dog nearly all of the time. This is definitely a family project!
On the second day, the pup (5 mo-old black lab) got excited and playfully mouthed her arm, resulting in Lisa getting 3 stitches. Today is his third day with us, and I've been doing most of the handling since yesterday. Lisa has done some handling since the incident though. She does not want to be afraid of him. She was so worried that he would be dropped from the program for biting. (I don't like to call it biting, it really was a playful accident, not an attack - what would be a better word?) We have been told that he will be evaluated, but not necessarily dropped. It had already been noted that he does excessive mouthing.
There are some aspects of the program that seem harsh - the puppies don't get to play in the same ways that other puppies do, for instance. They are lucky dogs though, because not very many dogs get to go just about everywhere their owners do.
I'm glad that my daughter had the opportunity to try this for a weekend before having to commit to a year or more with a pup. She may wish to look into it again when she is older, or not.
Mary Ellen
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
interview inn Sept.>>>>
How many members of your family want to be trainers? Which breed are you hoping for?
I've been taking my 10yod to Puppy Pals meetings for 5 or 6 months. She learned about the guide dog puppy program when she was 8 and thought she would like to raise a pup. We have a guide-dog puppy with us this weekend while his "family" is on a short vacation.
It is much more time consuming than even I thought it would be. By the end of the first day, Lisa said she doesn't feel ready to have a pup of her own. It takes a fair amount of strength to give proper corrections. Plus, someone needs to be paying attention to the dog nearly all of the time. This is definitely a family project!
On the second day, the pup (5 mo-old black lab) got excited and playfully mouthed her arm, resulting in Lisa getting 3 stitches. Today is his third day with us, and I've been doing most of the handling since yesterday. Lisa has done some handling since the incident though. She does not want to be afraid of him. She was so worried that he would be dropped from the program for biting. (I don't like to call it biting, it really was a playful accident, not an attack - what would be a better word?) We have been told that he will be evaluated, but not necessarily dropped. It had already been noted that he does excessive mouthing.
There are some aspects of the program that seem harsh - the puppies don't get to play in the same ways that other puppies do, for instance. They are lucky dogs though, because not very many dogs get to go just about everywhere their owners do.
I'm glad that my daughter had the opportunity to try this for a weekend before having to commit to a year or more with a pup. She may wish to look into it again when she is older, or not.
Mary Ellen
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]