[nagdu] Puppyraising for owner training

[The Pawpower Pack]

All of my owner trained guides have been from rescue or high-kill  
facilities.  Laveau-- my current Doberman mix guide is from the very  
scary New Orleans inner-city high kill shelter and it was *not* my  
intent to get a dog from there.  I really wanted to go through a  
breeder, but Laveau has turned out to be one of the most unexpected  
gifts I've ever received.
I did adopt her with the realization that she may not work out as a  
guide because regardless of her flawless temperament tests, she had  
been in a horrible inner city shelter for five weeks with minimal  
outside contact.  Temperament tests done under these conditions are  
hardly reliable and a dog that looks like a fantastic candidate in the  
shelter can review a totally different side of itself once it lives in  
the home and gets over shelter shock.  However I knew I could find her  
a home if she didn't make it and she was such a wonderful dog that I  
had to take the chance.  When I took her in for her physical, half the  
staff at my vets office were praying for her to flunk the exam because  
they wanted her.  Lucky for me, unfortunately for them, she is healthy  
as a horse aside from a few small issues which are not a problem if  
she gets her medication on a regular schedule.

She was around a year old when I got her.  My other dogs were between  
10 months to a year when I got them as well.  I love this age to begin  
training.
However I must confess that I do harbor a secret fantasy of raising my  
own puppy.  Not now, not maybe even my next dog.  However if I can  
plan Laveau's or next dog's retirement early enough, and if I'm lucky  
enough to be working from home by that point, and if I can find the  
right kind of golden retriever breeder, I'd love to raise my own  
puppy.  I know it would be a great deal of work and my husband is  
trying to talk me out of it-- he has been for several years now.
However one of these days I'd love to have that opportunity.  Until  
the time is right however, I'd like to stick with dogs between the  
ages of 10-18 months.  I'd like my next dog to be another Doberman  
because Laveau has caused me to fall madly in love with the breed.   
I'd also take a golden retriever because they are tied with Dobe for  
my favorite breed or a Dalmatian because I really, really want one and  
think they'd fit in great with my lifestyle.  I almost got a Dal bitch  
from a breeder this time around but she flunked her temperament test  
so here I am with the Doberdog.

Tami is right about how exhausting owner training is.  I kept a  
journal even before I got laveau of things that I needed to work on,  
and once I got her I was either writing in my journal, reading other's  
journals, training the dog, reviewing training sessions with other  
owner trainers, thinking about future training sessions, planning out  
future training sessions with other owner trainers, and the list just  
goes on from there.
You have to like dogs a lot! to be an owner trainer.  You have to be  
interested in all of the tiniest minutiae of behavior and training to  
be an owner trainer.  You need to have good orientation and mobility  
skills.  You also need to know your rights and responsibilities under  
the law/s and be a strong advocate for yourself because nobody else is  
going to be advocating for you.  A thick skin is also helpful because  
you are going to have to deal with ignorance from the sighted  
community, the blind community, professionals who work in the  
blindness field and other PWD.  All of these people probably mean well  
but many of them don't think a blind person is capable of training an  
assistance dog.  Your actions need to speak louder than your words.   
People will watch you, they will watch your dog and they will make  
judgements.

I was the first owner trainer to work where I do and there were  
several program trained teams who entered our facilities every day and  
I had to consistently prove, time and time again that my dog was just  
as well trained as theirs.  That I was just as good a handler as they  
were even if I do things differently because I use strictly clicker  
training and most guide dog handlers don't.
People will ask you questions about yourself, your choice to owner  
train, about your dog, how you trained it, where you got the harness  
and the list goes on and on.  If you think people invaded your privacy  
and asked you probing questions with a program trained dog, well it is  
my personal experience that I get even more questions now.

Jessica, I'm not trying to discourage you from owner training.  It is  
your right to have an individually trained assistance dog; however it  
is important to know what path lies ahead of you.

I wish you the best, and I don't want to make it sound all gloom and  
doom and tedious toil.  I love my dog, and I love owner training.  I  
will probably owner train again in another million years when Laveau  
gets old.


Rox and the Kitchen Bitches
Bristol (retired), Mill'E SD. and Laveau Guide Dog, CGC.
"It's wildly irritating to have invented something as revolutionary as  
sarcasm, only to have it abused by amateurs." -- Christopher Moore
pawpower4me at gmail.com

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