[nagdu] Issuing dogs at 18 months-is it too young?

[Mardi Hadfield]

Hi every one,Mardi here. When I got Shaman,he was 10 months old and had
never had any training. I started with obedience, house manners and
socialization first. He was such a friendly Shepherd and loved riding in a
car or bus. We worked in the mall a lot during the hot months and he loved
riding in elevators and finding things, places and certain people.I worked
with him attached to Nala's harness and he learned a lot from her.Shaman was
19 months when he was working as a graduated guide dog.He loves working.My
previous guide Nala, was 2 years when I got her and her training only took 4
months before she was working as a graduated guide dog. She sailed through
her training as though she had been a guide all her life.She loved
working!Things were very different with my first dog Lily. I started
training her at 13 weeks to be a service dog. She learned obedience,
socialization,retrieval,ect. and by 2 years was pulling my manual
wheelchair. She could pick up a dime or credit card off the floor and hand
them to me. Soon after she learned to work with my power wheelchair.When I
became legally blind, I worked with a trainer to train her to guide me from
a wheelchair.Lily was almost 5 years old when she became a guide dog.I think
it really does depend on the dog as to when they are mature enough to work
as guides or service dogs. Mardi and Shaman and Nala retired.

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