[nagdu] Retirement Age

Sheila Leigland sleigland at bresnan.net
Fri Apr 8 03:35:47 UTC 2011 

I'm curious about where you got your dog. People that knew next to nothing had opinnions about when we should have retived our dogs drake and anna who were twelve when we had to put them down because of illness.

-----Original Message-----
From: Marion Gwizdala <blind411 at verizon.net>
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 6:14 AM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,	the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [nagdu] Retirement Age

Lisa,
    I am of the opinion that we, as handlers, are the best to determine the 
retirement of our dog, not some arbitrary measure of age nor the opinion of 
someone who has no intimate knowledge of the dog's ability or temperament. 
Some programs require retirement at 10 years old. My Collie worked until she 
was 12 and my Labrador worked until he was nearly 15. They told me when they 
were ready to retire. the program from which I received my dogs honored and 
respected my judgment. Mike Sergeant called my Lab "Super Dog" because of 
his longevity and energetic work. When my Collie didn't come when I called 
her with the harness in hand, I knew she was ready to retire.

Fraternally yours,
Marion Gwizdala




----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Lisa Irving" <lirving1234 at cox.net>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2011 3:09 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Issuing dogs at 18 months - is it too young?


> My analogy will be a far stretch of the imagination, but hear me out, 
> please.
>
> We have child labor laws for a reason. We also have retirement guidelines 
> for a reason. There are reasons why dog guide schools advise retirement of 
> guide dogs at what ever age your school advises. My intended point is 
> this. we need to protect the health and psychological well being of our 
> dogs; yes, our dogs. Our guides are dogs first. Most of us know that the 
> life of a guide dog is tension filled and stressful too. To me, it's more 
> humane to let these guys be puppies first. The thought of a dog guide 
> working, and that is what is, at a very young age troubles me the more I 
> contemplate this topic.
>
> Lisa and Bernie
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Julie J" <julielj at neb.rr.com>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 11:34 AM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Issuing dogs at 18 months - is it too young?
>
>
>>I can vouch for at least my Boxer mix taking a while to mature.
>>
>> Things I noticed before I considered him mature were: difficulty in 
>> remaining focused on a task, interest in all sorts of things to the point 
>> of distraction, inability to process multiple streams of information at 
>> once, inability to make complex decisions and difficulty with staying in 
>> one place for long stretches.
>>
>> When I first got him he was around 8-9 months old.  He peed on the floor, 
>> stole food off the counter, dug holes in the yard, jumped up on people 
>> and chewed up pillows among other things.  These behaviors are all pretty 
>> typical of puppies, but I wouldn't necessarily call them a lack of 
>> maturity. You could have a mature dog that did all of these things due to 
>> poor training, health problems or other reasons.
>>
>> Julie
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>> From: "Lyn Gwizdak" <linda.gwizdak at cox.net>
>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 10:51 AM
>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Issuing dogs at 18 months - is it too young?
>>
>>
>>> Yes.  Besides Poodles, I think German shepherds, Boxers, Curly Coated 
>>> Retrievers all need more time to mature.  It also varies from dog to 
>>> dog.
>>>
>>> Now to all you who responded with how young your dog or someone else's 
>>> dog was, what kinds of behaviors did you see in these dogs.
>>>
>>> Personally, I've see less puppy behavior and chewing in dogs that are 22 
>>> months or more when they were issued.  I've noticed this in class and in 
>>> my own dogs in general.
>>>
>>> Lyn and Landon
>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>> From: "Sarah Clark" <goldflash9 at sbcglobal.net>
>>> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2011 8:28 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Issuing dogs at 18 months - is it too young?
>>>
>>>
>>>>I was told by someone at one of the schools that poodles tend to mature 
>>>>more slowly than the labs, so they tend to stay in their puppy homes 
>>>>longer and they take longer to go through training.  Has anyone else 
>>>>heard this?
>>>>
>>>> Sarah & Miguel
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message ----- 
>>>> From: "Tamara Smith-Kinney" <tamara.8024 at comcast.net>
>>>> To: "'NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users'" 
>>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2011 6:07 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Issuing dogs at 18 months - is it too young?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Rox,
>>>>>
>>>>> Way to go Laveau!
>>>>>
>>>>> So Mitzi poodle was trained in terms of having the skills down by 18
>>>>> monmths, but I chose to let her go to 24 months before I considered 
>>>>> her
>>>>> graduated.  She did do some full working trips and handled it very 
>>>>> well, but
>>>>> I didn't want to put a full-time guide dog burden on her because I was
>>>>> concerned about her maturity and how much it might strees her and how 
>>>>> that
>>>>> might affect her future work...
>>>>>
>>>>> Then again, I was 8very* aware that my poodle pup was burdened with a 
>>>>> total
>>>>> newbie self-taught -- and still working on it -- handler, so asking 
>>>>> her to
>>>>> take full respsonsibility under those conditions seemed a bit much!
>>>>>
>>>>> Reviewing that period of our lives together now, I'm thinking that I 
>>>>> could
>>>>> have let her work progress with her knowledge much more rapidly, 
>>>>> assuming I
>>>>> knew what I know now.  And what I hope to know by the time I do it all 
>>>>> over
>>>>> again in a few years.  /smile/
>>>>>
>>>>> She was still really, really puppy at 18 months, though, and it was 
>>>>> tough
>>>>> for her to work for long periods without showing signs of having had 
>>>>> too
>>>>> much...  One reason I keep thinking dobie is that they do seem to 
>>>>> "grow up"
>>>>> more quickly than poodles, while having some of those same character 
>>>>> traits
>>>>> I really adore in Mitzi.  Even mellow poodles like Mitzi are wound 
>>>>> pretty
>>>>> tight, much like their curls.  /lol/
>>>>>
>>>>> Of course, Mitzi has DD hooked on poodles, so I may find myself doing 
>>>>> the
>>>>> whole poodle thing all over again, just 10 years older.  I'd better 
>>>>> start
>>>>> catching up on my rest!  /grin/
>>>>>
>>>>> Tami Smith-Kinney
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
>>>>> Behalf
>>>>> Of The Pawpower Pack
>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2011 4:43 PM
>>>>> To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>>>>> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Issuing dogs at 18 months - is it too young?
>>>>>
>>>>> Steve,
>>>>>
>>>>> I totally agree with you here.  Bristol was a program trained dog
>>>>> issued at 18 months.  She was very matured and retired due to medical
>>>>> reasons.  The dog I had gotten before that was issued at 24 months and
>>>>> was very immature.
>>>>>
>>>>> I start formal harness training around 12-14 months and usually my
>>>>> dogs are finished between 18-20 months.  My border collie, Gracy
>>>>> didn't really grow up until she was 4, and she retired when she was
>>>>> 7.  Laveau was born mature, I think and she guided me around Boston
>>>>> (which was a totally new city for her) when she was 15 months old and
>>>>> her work was flawless.
>>>>> It really just depends on the dog, I think.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Rox and the Botanical Barkers:
>>>>> Bristol (retired), Mill'E SD. and Laveau Guide Dog, CGC.
>>>>> "The only problem with troubleshooting is, sometimes, trouble shoots
>>>>> back."
>>>>> http://www.pawpowercreations.com
>>>>> pawpower4me at gmail.com
>>>>> AIM: Brissysgirl
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> nagdu mailing list
>>>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>>>>> nagdu:
>>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/tamara.8024%40comcast
>>>>> .net
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> nagdu mailing list
>>>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>>>>> nagdu:
>>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/goldflash9%40sbcglobal.net
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> nagdu mailing list
>>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>>>> nagdu:
>>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/linda.gwizdak%40cox.net
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nagdu mailing list
>>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>>> nagdu:
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/julielj%40neb.rrcom
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>> nagdu:
>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/lirving1234%40coxnet
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nagdu:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/blind411%40verizonnet 


_______________________________________________
nagdu mailing list
nagdu at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/sleigland%40bresnan.net

More information about the NAGDU mailing list