I remember the police dog that got forced retirement because of accusations of racism, but are other working dogs ever fired for say incompetence?
Can you link to that story about the police dog? I find the notion that a dog harboring racist tendencies to be hilarious, although I am sure this is more about the dog’s handler having a propensity for siccing the dog on minorities.
As for other working dogs, if I was blind and my guide dog led me out into traffic I would consider terminating his or her employment.
No.
I’ve met a number of dogs that flunked out of service dog training. They’ve all been very good dogs but one moment of weakness resulting in barking at or chasing a squirrel is all it takes.
I’ve never known a dog that got fired after becoming a service dog. I suppose it could happen.
Guide dogs do get retired when they get too old to perform their job. If you don’t mind adopting an older dog, I understand they’re wonderful companions.
I’m not talking about during the training process or after they retire, but they’re fully certified and trained and then screw up.
I also remember a story about dogs that search for survivors during disasters getting depressed when they don’t find anybody alive.
Let’s say for example a blind guy forgets to feed his dog so later the dog leads him into some low hanging poles.
That one is just silly, Superhal. However, I am in a position to give two examples that might meet your question. My wife became a guide dog user in 1980. Her first dog was retired due to health issues in 1990. She obtained another dog from the same school later that year, a dog who served her well until 1999. These dogs were both Golden Retrievers, as was the third dog she obtained in '99, from a different school. Glory was a little more problematic; she did not form a bond with my wife very quickly. In addition, she had been raised by a family who perhaps made her feel too much at home, AND the puppy raiser lived locally to us and would visit us a lot more often than either of her previous puppy raisers had. As an aside, it was largely on the experience of how sad the second puppy raiser was, and his refusal to respond to efforts to contact him, that we were supportive of Glory having visits from her raiser.
Trouble was, Glory had the kind of temperament that made her easiy distracted and obsessed by other things, even when she was in harness, which is when a guide dog knows she is ON DUTY, and being the guide is Job One. The head trainer from school came out a couple of times to troubleshoot her problem, and once even brought her back to the school for refresher training for a couple of weeks. All to no avail. Eventually, the decision was made to retire her early, back to the family that had raised her as a puppy. Both parties to that reunion were ecstatic.
After a dry spell of available berths in the SoCal schools that lasted a couple of years, pkaylasmom was offered a poodle from her first school. Francis had been fully socialized as a puppy, and had gone through basic guide dog training with a sighted trainer (just like all guide dogs) for six to nine months. But when he was issued to kaylasmom, he showed no inclination to bond with her, or to accept her as his “pack leader.” They lasted through two weeks of training, filled with failed training runs and misbehavior at the living quarters. The staff insisted that the problems were all on kaylasmom’s part, and refused to issue her another dog, or assign her to a subsequent class; instead, they sent her home empty-handed.
We later learned that Francis also failed to graduate with the next partner assigned to him, and he was dropped from the program; in the meantime, kaylasmom returned to school #2 in 2007, and is currently partnered with Valor, a black Lab who is both a gentleman, and a conscientious worker who takes his job seriously (and a playful puppy in his off-hours).
So it was just a bonding issue? I’m wondering if some dogs are just jerks.
There was a story on Have I Got News For You once about a guide dog that had killed three owners, leading one into traffic and abandoning him. I’m not quite sure how true it was, but it did say he was still being given to new clients, so he wasn’t sacked.
A friend had to retire his guide dog because the dog’s behavior wasn’t reliable. This was after a few years of partnership. He got a new dog a year or so later and is still with Major now. The first dog had a great temperament but just couldn’t be relied on anymore.
With Frrancis, it was a combinatioon of not bonding AND not being willing to submit to someone who wasn’t in a position to watch him.
Glory submitted, but her bonding to kaylasmom was always secondary to what she had with her puppy raisers. That, and she had ADHD, or doggy OCD, or something.
Here’s a story from here in Indy last night where police had to shoot a K9 officer when he latched onto an officer’s arm and wouldn’t let go:
http://www.theindychannel.com/news/local-news/deputy-forced-to-shoot-fishers-k-9-after-attack
Snopes has the story about the Lucky, deadly guide dog killing 4 owners , including “leaving the owner in traffic” as FALSE… Like, it obviously is false…
Once is just a freak event, twice is too much, three times ?
Recently a blind person stepped off a train… and fell, along with his guide dog, down to the tracks 5 feet below… the train was longer than the platform.
Guide dog fail
I know a number of people who’ve adopted would-be service dogs who wash out of school. As long as you’re willing to miss the puppy stage, it’s a great deal; it’s a smart, healthy, pretty well-trained dog.
I’m not sure depressed is the right word, but do recall seeing that rescue dog handlers will sometimes hide someone in the wreckage so the dogs can “find” them. I think it is less about the dog getting depressed and more about it being better for their training to have regular successes for which they can be rewarded.
Tangentially related: I know somebody who had her service animal confiscated by the NPO who had donated it to her because she failed to periodically reinforce the dog’s training. You really gotta keep it up, or they will start regressing and acting like dogs are wont to do.
I firing your dog.
We adopted a wheelchair service dog when she retired. I knew the person who had her, so I had known the dog for several year, and the had been around my dogs before. The rehoming went pretty smoothly, although we had to reinforce that the older dog already in the house was the alpha. (giving her a treat first, things like that)
This dog probably could have had another two years as a service dog, but she was developing recurrent bladder infections, and after her second incident of peeing in a public place, the owner started thinking about rehoming, she had very limited means, and all she could do was just treat each infection symptomatically. We could afford a bladder biopsy (negative), a long term antibiotic treatment, and another med she took daily. She still had to go out a lot, but the incontinence stopped.
Anyway, she was a great dog. She would still sometimes turn the light on in a room, if she felt like it, and she knew how to open the door at my FIL’s to let herself out, and taught his dog how to do it.
Funny thing, all our dogs were friendly, and would go up to anyone who wanted to pet them-- with one exception. If the person was in a wheelchair, this dog would hide behind my husband, I guess because she was RETIRED, and this looked like work.
Yes, obviously fake. There may be a teeny, tiny chance a guide dog would get a second chance if that sort of thing happened once (although I’m dubious at even that), no way in hell would there be any more after that. The guide dog school would not only be liable each time, but all the outgoing recompense would run them out of business.