Training a Guide Dog

The school has its own breeding stock living within a 50-mile radius of the campus. The puppies are born at the school where they stay with their mothers until they are about 6 weeks old. From 6 to 11 weeks of age the pups are tested by volunteer puppy testers who check reactions to strange sounds, obstacles, footings, etc. The pup's general intelligence and willingness to learn are also observed during this period. Another group of volunteers, called puppy socializers, come to the campus to give the puppies play and exercise time outside of their kennels. When the pup is about 3 months old it is placed in the home of a volunteer puppy raiser, generally with a 4-H family. The pup will stay with the puppy raiser for about 15 months during which time the development of the pup's social skills will be encouraged. When the young dog is about 18 months old it must be returned to the Guide Dog school to begin the formal part of its education in guide work. All training is done by California state-licensed instructors who work with strings of approximately 28 to 30 dogs. Each training string is assigned an instructor assistant who walks and grooms the dogs and helps build each dog's confidence. The dogs receive individual daily workouts beginning with basic obedience work and leading up to the specialized skills of Guide Dog work. Part of the advanced work includes training the dog to work in a special leather harness. After 15 workouts the dog is given its first real test as a Guide Dog. At that point in training the instructor puts on a a blindfold and works the dog in downtown San Rafael, a suburban town with a bustling business section. The dog will learn when it is safe to cross intersections, to avoid obstacles (even those the dog could easily pass under) and will become comfortable working in stores, office buildings, stairways and elevators. Eventually the dog will be worked in downtown San Francisco by a blindfolded instructor. A dog must have successfully completed at least 40 full workouts before it can be ready to enter class with a blind person. Only 50 percent of the dogs will become Guide Dogs. Those who do not are offered back to the puppy raiser as a pet or are adopted out to good homes. There is a long waiting list of applicants for these dogs, known as career-change dogs. Having completed training with an instructor, the Guide Dog is now ready to be matched with a blind person. California law requires that the blind person participate in 28 days of residential training. At Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc., the students live with their new Guide Dogs in a spacious, modern dormitory. The students and dogs are transported to various locations for their daily workouts together. To develop navigational skills and teamwork, the students learn to work their dogs in neighborhoods ranging from the streets of suburban San Rafael to the busy Chinatown section of San Francisco. The dogs sleep in their blind partners' dormitory rooms and accompany their partners into the dorm's dining room. This training program gives the blind person and Guide Dog every opportunity to experience situations that may occur when the blind person is back home. The production of a Guide Dog-Blind person unit is very expensive. However, there is no charge whatsoever to the blind person for either the valuable animal or for the in-residence training. Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc., is supported entirely by private donations, including a membership program. Any legally blind person over age 16, who is physically and temperamentally suited to us a Guide Dog may apply for the in-residence training. Graduates of the school include business consultants, investment counselors, ministers, attorneys, judges, justices of the peace, ranchers, cabinet makers, musicians, social workers, secretaries, homemakers, teachers, real estate and insurance agents, restaurant operators, piano tuners, writers, laborers, mechanics, entertainers, students and individuals from all walks of life. Many students return to Guide Dog school to train with replacement dogs for ones that have died or have been retired. There is no charge for this service either.