I’m not a guide dog puppy raiser, but I’ve had several close friends with guide dogs, so I can answer Kotick’s question. The dog only knows to follow specific commands; it doesn’t know where to go. So, for example, when my friend got a new dog, I went out with her and her dog one day to “practice” with the dog at a major intersection near her house; we walked back and forth across the street, helping the dog learn the patterns of the traffic and traffic lights, for a couple of hours until the dog was confident about the intersection and, more importantly, the human was confident the dog was trustworthy at the intersection.
They are dogs, and although they’re just incredibly smart and well-trained dogs – they have to be, to learn to judge the space around them not just for themselves but for a human, not to mention follow the myriad of commands they have to learn – they still act like dogs occasionally. The smartest guide dog I ever knew, a black lab named Wayne, was just amazing – early on he walked his human into the underside of an open staircase, and you could see the sheer mortification in his eyes, and he clearly at that point realized she could not see and it was up to him to protect her from things like that, and he never did it again. But at the same time, one hot day they were walking by a series of fountains, and suddenly he simply could not resist and leaped into one of the fountains! Needless to say, his human was laughing so hard, she couldn’t even get upset with him.
But it’s up to the human to give the dog commands, not to just tell the dog where to go and expect the dog to get them there. Obviously, the dog learns regular routes, but it’s still important that it follow commands so it only acts independently when necessary. (Guide dogs are trained, for example, not to walk a person out into traffic even if commanded. Like I said, they are VERY smart.)
How dumb am I? When you said “purse dog” my first thought was - “Why would someone need a dog to carry their purse?” My second thought was “Where can I get me one of them?” Then I realized you were talking about those little, yappy rodents that women carry around in their purses.
I found out about it through a friend who was raising a puppy. To get involved you have to attend at least 3 meetings or outing with your local club. Then you can fill out a puppy-sitter application, which allows you to, well, puppy-sit. You can watch other people’s pups a few times and see if you like it. Then, when you’re comfortable with the whole thing, you get a puppy-raiser application. They do a home inspection to make sure that you have an adequate fence and a home safe enough for a dog. (Apartments don’t require fences) Then you wait a while and get a puppy. You have to keep about 80% attendance at monthly meetings and 2-3 times a month outings while you have your dog.
Training was mostly on-the-job. You pick up a little at meetings before you get the dog, and you have a manual to read with all the dos and do nots. With new puppies they have a weekly puppy class held by one of the leaders so that you get hands on supervised training before you can train improperly. And the leaders are always available for questions and help.
I still wonder about how I’ll react when I give up my first puppy, especially since we won’t be getting new one afterwards. It’ll be within months of graduation, and with post-grad life uncertain my co-raiser and I decided that it’s best that way.
As an aside - a friend of mine also trains guide dogs. He definitely had separation anxiety the first time until he met the little girl that his dog was assigned to. That gave him all the motivation in the world.
Also - hawksgirl, what happens in your program if the dogs aren’t selected? I know in my friend’s course, after you raise and do the training, they go to “guide dog” boot camp. There’s a pretty high wash-out rate - only about 1 in 4 dogs make it through. If your dog doesn’t make it through the program, you get to keep it. My friend has trained four (five counting his puppy) and only had two make it. One he still talks about wistfully as the greatest dog ever (his puppy is actually from the same line as that “mythical” great dog - so he’s pretty excited).
His latest dog (the one before this puppy) washed out when it freaked out during training. Apparently they do drills where they have guys in freaky masks jump out from hiding places screaming and flailing their arms. Dogs who make it through are not supposed to get distracted (even by that). He was happy though - because even though his dog had washed out, they got to keep her - and his wife had gotten plenty attached.
We also get the first option of keeping our “career changes”. If we don’t take them, they adopt them out to people who apply for the rejects. They apparently make AWESOME pets and people get on waiting lists for failed guide dogs.
I think I heard the success rate for ours being about 1 in 2, but the vast majority are dropped before they get to final training, and mostly for health problems. They try really hard to catch health issues before they get that far.
