[nagdu] Guide dog starter age

Jenine Stanley jeninems at wowway.com
Tue Feb 2 15:49:20 UTC 2010


I received my first 2 dogs from Pilot and here's what they told us about
that program. 

First off, a local doctor was a breeder of collies. They didn't say whether
these were smooth or rough coated collies. He donated a litter to Pilot
under the condition that they be given to kids. Pilot developed a trial
program in which they gave, I want to say either 5 or 7 blind kids these
puppies to raise. There was no guarantee the kid would then receive the dog
he or she raised, once trained. I believe they said that 2 of the kids
decided not to get dogs but I want to say 5 kids did train with the dogs at
age 11 to 13. 

The program was very staff intensive and dealing with parents wasn't exactly
easy or productive at times so Pilot stopped the program. 

Several of the people did go on to have guides for the rest of their lives.
One or two did not. Nope, don't know all of the people involved in this
program but it took place in the early '70's. I happened to hear about it
from one of the participants and knew two of the others. I also asked Jay
Gray about it which is where I got the details of the collie breeder and
conditions. 

Seems one of the hardest things was to screen the kids and families though. 

Jenine Stanley
jeninems at wowway.com





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