[nagdu] Guide dog breeds

Mon Apr 29 22:42:14 UTC 2013

To the person with "irsj" beginning their email - you didn't put your name! 
You wondered if Labs made the best guide dogs.

Many individuals of many breeds make great guide dogs.  I think the reason 
that Labs are used as extensively as they are is because the most number of 
blind people can use them.  There is a wide range of personalities, energy 
levels, and sizes in the Labrador Retriever.  I personally haven't seen this 
range to this degree in many other breeds.

I have had mostly Labs for my guides and I did have two German shepherds and 
Landon is a Lab/Golden mix - total of 8 dogs for me.  Personally, I have 
found that the Lab or Lab mixes work the best for me in energy level and 
more mellow so I don't have to give a billion leash corrections.  I had had 
a shoulder, neck and back injury and I really don't like to be constantly 
giving hard leash corrections like I found I had to do on the shepherds I 
had.

Shepherds and Dobies tend to challenge their owners in pushing the envelop 
as far as rules go.  They are very smart and think two steps ahead of many 
owners.  You really have to earn their respect and the owner has to think 
two steps ahead of the dog!  Many Labs are more laid back and don't 
challenge their owner's authority as much like a Dobie, Poodle, or shepherd 
does.  Also, Labs tend to birth large litters - about 8-10 pups.  For the 
schools, more bang for their buck and most in that litter will become 
guides.

In this country, the show world and the popularity of Rin Tin tin has ruined 
the German shepherd breed.  they either have health issues in their hips or 
they have a temperment issue with shyness or aggression.  I know that GDB 
has stopped putting out shepherds because of this problem.  there was a 
higher failure rate among their breeders and puppies and have quit using the 
German shepherd altogether.  Many schools have very few of them for the same 
reason.  Seeing Eye gets their German shepherd breeding stock from Germany 
because Germany's dogs are bred to work and the American ones were bred to 
look great.  I think Fidelco gets theirs from Germany as well.

I'm glad that many schools get individuals from breeds not usually used like 
Poodles.  I knew two people who had Belgian shepherds. a couple with Boxers, 
Dobies, and Hungarian Vislas.  Some were better than others but the major 
problems with these dogs was the handler and not the dog.

I am happy that good dogs can be found for the wide range of preferences of 
the blind folks who work with dogs.

Hey Eve, liked that about the mathematicians!  When God was installing the 
math brains, I was doing art and missed out on them! LOL!

Lyn and landon
"Asking who's the man and who's the woman in an LGBT relationship is like 
asking which chopstick is the fork" - Unknown
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Eve Sanchez" <celticyaya at gmail.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2013 8:22 PM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Hello

> My answer is "Absolutely not." Now my politically correct answer is
> more along the lines of it depending on the individual dog. Just like
> all people of the human variety, personalities abound as does
> intelligence. It is known that math was invented by an ancient Greek,
> so does that mean that Greeks make the best mathematicians? Heck no! I
> was lucky to get passing grades in my required math classes. I hope
> that answers your question without my prejudice showing, but everyone
> here likely knows how I feel about Labradors (it's a personal thing).
> Eve
>
> On Sun, Apr 28, 2013 at 8:08 PM, rhonda cruz <rhondaprincess at gmail.com> 
> wrote:
>>  hi i have a guide dog. it is a geramn sheppard.
>>  she does good.
>>
>> On Apr 28, 2013, at 5:38 PM, Larry D. Keeler wrote:
>>
>>> Depends.  I've seen all kinds do very well!  I have a labbradoodle and I 
>>> think she does just fine! This list has poodles, goldens, labs, boxers 
>>> and even huskies!  They all seem go do well!
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: <lrsj89 at aol.com>
>>> To: "the National Association of Guide Dog Users NAGDU Mailing List" 
>>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2013 8:11 PM
>>> Subject: [nagdu] Hello
>>>
>>>
>>>> Do you all thank that labs make the best Guide Dogs?
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPod
>>>>
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>>
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