Perhaps the abrupt change in lifestyle would make them miserable/confuse them? Not that I’m endorsing it understand.
Greyhounds have two different breeding registries, because the AKC refuses to condone putting racing dogs to death when their sporting days are over.
And I once heard, although I don’t have a cite, that all those well cared for horses used for carriage pulling in parades by the British royal family, are put down when they get past working age. That may or may not be true. I think I’ll try to look it up.
The policy on what to do with retired guide dogs varies by school. I know that dogs from The Seeing Eye[sup]TM[/sup] belong to the blind person and they have to find a retirement home for the dog – or keep it themselves; I had a friend who had a former dog of hers who’d had to be retired abruptly at age 5 when she panicked at a thunderstorm and dragged her human out into heavy traffic (!!). The dog lived with her until her death at age 12 or so. We used to have her over for the weekend (the dog, that is); she was such a sweetie! And another friend’s dog went to live with Grandma for a thoroughly spoiled retirement.
Other schools, the dog belongs to the school forever and has to be returned. I haven’t heard of any schools who put down retired dogs, however – in fact, last year when we were looking for a new dog, I checked a bunch of the guide dog schools and they have “adopted a retired guide dog” programs. So hopefully that’s no longer the case!
A non-sighted mom and BoringMom went to the zoo with two small kids in strollers. The zoo has a fenced in area where emus and wallabies roam free and the people stay on a concrete path that winds through the area. They asked an employee if her working dog would be a problem in the enclosure. Zoo employee said “Hmmm… we’ve never tried it. Let’s see!” And the employee went into the area to make sure things were OK.
For anyone else tempted to try this… emus do NOT like dogs.
They started around the walk. The emus, which normally stand well back from the walk and ignore the people, started investigating. They are normally silent. They started making noise.
And then the slapstick comedy movie started. EMU ATTACK!
The emus reared back, began flapping their stubby wings for balance, and their feet began flailing infront of them like windmills. Pandemonium. As the birds rushed at the dog feet first, moms and kids in strollers hurled themselves out of the way. Zoo attendants screamed “ALL IS WELL! REMAIN CALM!”* Grown men wet themselves at the ferocity of the emu attack.** The dog began leading for her life away from the emus.
They safely made it out of the gate with the emus hot on their trails. No one was hurt. The Zoo employee calmly mentioned “Perhaps working dogs should not go into the emu area.”
*Zoo Attendant did not say this, but story needed some jazzing up.
** This may be true as far as I know. BoringMom said that she didn’t conduct a survey.
BoringDad … that was great! You and Wang-ka should tag team for storytelling!
A hint: Adult male gorillas don’t like dogs either. When J and I went the silverback male lunged at the glass… I swear it bowed. We beat a hasty retreat!
Working cats would never work out… the cats would be like “hell its been FIVE MINUTES since my last nap I am wiped OUT!”
Or “you want to to do what?” then roll around laughing hysterically…
Wow, that’s quite shocking, I am always appaled to hear stories about people who lack the ability to think about the underlying meaning of a law and try to strictly enforce it. Apparently the clerk was too stupid to understand that in the case of guide dogs, the usual Wal-mart policy doesn’t apply
As for no dogs at restaurants: That’s just insane! I always take my dog to any restaurant and he sleeps underneath the table. Although I made the mistake of giving him food at our table at home, he understands the difference between home and a restaurant and consequently doesn’t beg for food when we are there - as I said, he sleeps under the table and doesn’t disturb anyone. But to suggest that I can’t bring him with me? Well, I guess it’s the restaurants management’s decision to bar me from entering, but from a “making profit” point of view, isn’t that a tad counter-productive?
Ah well, I guess I am fortunate that around here I am not aware of any restaurants, who prohibit dog owners from bringing their dogs.
Sometimes I wish things were like that here. Mind you, I often wished people would PICK UP after their dogs, in France. It is nifty, however, to be able to take the dogs anywhere - and I’ve found french dogs very well socialized/behaved in public BECAUSE they’ve been out and about since they were little.
Beh. Different cultures, different ways, I suppose!
I should mention that Vachss’s program was started in the 1980’s, and the policy about killing old guide dogs has been changed. Since seeing eye dogs worked so well, people did find many other uses for service dogs, including the ones stated above.
Elenfair neglects to mention that not only are her dogs smart, but they are friendly and sweet and so very nice. They also have llama-butt. We went to breakfast on my Big Trip, and Zap (younger dog) went along with us. Zap, who is a ball of pent-up puppy energy and bounces off the walls, was perfectly behaved while wearing her coat.
Spanky, the pet rather than working dog, is the prettiest dog I have ever seen. What was that about a box of hair?
It’s more than just different registries. DesertRoomie and I belong to a lure coursing club here (a saluki deigns to live with us) and it’s easy to tell the track greyhounds from the AKC ones. They look coarser and they got thighs like this. But, man, are they fast in the sprint.
I saw a neat show about a woman who got a seeing eye dog for her seeing eye dog when the working dog lost his/her site due to old age. I can’t remember if the owner was then sited or not, for some reason, I vaguely recall the she had surgery and now had limited vision. I do remember that she no longer needed a working dog herself, but was so appreciative of her dog’s long history of helping her that she didn’t want to dog to lose its independence.
I remember when I was in third grade, this guy came to our school with his seeing eye dog (he was a family friend of one of my classmates), and answered our questions, and stuff. The dog’s name was Prina, and I THINK she was a huskey type. BEAUTIFUL dog.
He explained the grabbing people thing-he had one of our teachers come up and blindfolded her, then show what to do and what NOT to do when she asked for directions. (Don’t grab her arm and say, "Well, RIGHT OVER HERE! and pull her along-instead, offer your arm, and say, "Well, if you’ll take my arm, etc, I can direct you this way,).
Then he let her try and lead the dog. It was so funny, because Prina ended up right in the face of a student and started licking her face.
He said when she would be retired, she’d simply go and live at the training center, I think, and become an ordinary pet.
Eats_Crayons: I’ve read of dogs who volunteered themselves to help their dog companions who’d gone blind – putting themselves between the blind dog and hazards, walking alongside them, etc.
Guinastasia, that might have been a Samoyed. They originated in Siberia, and were used for herding reindeer as well as hunting and pulling. I’m told they were raised with the kids, and if they turned out mean or stupid they would end up decorating somebody’s collar, so they’re mostly a lot less aggressive than similar breeds, and certainly smart enough to work as a helper. The Sammy my ex and I had years ago was never happier than when he was in a swarm of little kids.
There’s a woman I see on the bus sometimes with her standard poodle seeing-eye dog. The dog waits in line, takes the escalator at the station, and waits for the train (right where the door will stop), with its toes on the yellow line.
