[nagdu] Age of Qualifying Guide Dogs

[Sherry Gomes]

I think the same could apply to labs. My current guide is a reissue, so she
was three when we trained together. what a difference! I don't want my next
guide to be 18 months old as so many are when graduating. Two years old is
the youngest I'd want and I'd jump to have a reissue again. Though having
said that, Bianca, who was about 2 when we trained and is 13 now is still
young at heart and full of spirit and a sort of happy puppy mentality. Olga,
my working guide is 8 and has a very old soul. I'm sure she was always that
way even when she was a baby.



-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Tami Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, February 19, 2014 12:01 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Age of Qualifying Guide Dogs

Ooh! Research! Poodles are said to mature later, both physically and 
mentally, and I did find that with mine. She really came into her own 
between 3 and 4. Then again, I've heard of a few people getting really 
young poodles that seem to work out well. Okay. Off to read. /smile/

Tami

On 02/19/2014 10:22 AM, "Leye-Shprintse Öberg" wrote:
> BS"D
>
> Raven,
>
> * "... I did some research and found a study on Seeing Eye dogs that
concluded that goldens and GSds are more successful as guide dogs if they're
formal guide training is longer than the standard 4 months. This is because
these dogs mature around age 2, not 1.5 or 1.75 years, which is when many
schools seem to be pushing dogs through. Here's the link to the abstract.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1558787806000256  ..."
>
> I think this is very interesting. I know that SRF:s Ledarhundsverksamhet
(Guide Dogs Sweden) took the decision that the dogs needed to be between the
age of 2 and 3 years when they did the qualifying test some years ago. The
dogs here generally get around seven months of training by a guide dog
trainer. Anyhow, they think this has led to more stable partnerships; I've
any statestics tough.
>
> Kind regards,
> Leye-Shprintse and Hera <3
>
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