[nagdu] New guide dog school

[Julie J.]

I spoke with the founder of Gallant Hearts on the phone several years 
ago.  she is very knowledgeable about dogs.   She has been breeding 
Dobermans for a long while.  she has been working guide dogs since the 60's.

Honestly I'm excited to see what happens with Gallant Hearts.  the main 
interest for me is that they will have Dobermans and Boxers as two of 
their main breeds.  That alone wins them many points in my book!  They 
are also offering home training as a standard not an exception.

they are still a ways away from actually placing dogs.  I think they 
have just started puppies into puppy raiser homes within the last few 
months.  They are currently looking for a trainer. It will be many years 
before they are well established.  I am comforted that they are very 
open about what they are doing.  Every program had to start somewhere.  
In the past few years I'm thinking there have been 2 or 3 guide dog 
programs close their doors.  It doesn't surprise me too much that a new 
one is just starting up.

I'm not sure what to think about the co-ownership thing.  I know that it 
is fairly common among show dogs, but I honestly have no idea how it 
will work with a guide dog.

The founder is also very opposed to treat training.  I happen to be a 
big fan of clicker.  I wish they were more open to operant conditioning 
training methods.   So for me that is a negative.

She plans on using half check collars on all the dogs.  I like this.  
It's what I use on Monty.  The founder feels that dogs should not be 
issued with prong collars or head collars because it shows that the dog 
needs more training.   I'd tend to agree with this.  There are always 
exceptions, but for the average guide dog handler I think it's 
reasonable to expect that the dog be easily handled without a lot of 
mechanical means.

Anyway I'm watching to see how things progress.  As of right now I would 
consider this school as an option for my next dog, if I decide not to 
owner train again.

Julie