[nagdu] Age of Qualifying Guide Dogs

Raven Tolliver ravend729 at gmail.com
Wed Feb 19 23:47:33 UTC 2014


Hi,
This kind of maturity is not a matter of how young a dog behaves, but
has more to do with a dog's work ethic, physical maturity and
endurance, and behavioral consistency. Adolescent dogs are not done
growing mentally and physically, and they do not demonstrate behavior
consistently as older dogs do. Not that certain adult dogs are not
difficult or stubborn, but adolescent dogs are difficult on a
completely different level. They do not generalize as well, and they
definitely go through short periods of what seems like forgetfulness.
Personally, I attended a guide dog program that gives out dogs ranging
from 2 to 3, and not any younger. I'm glad that they go against what
seems to be common with many US guide dog schools.
If I opt for a program-trained dog my next go round, I might not be so
picky about my dog's age. With my experience in dog training, I will
be far better able to handle a teenage dog. But as someone who had
never cared for, worked with, or owned a dog before, I felt it was
imperative to get an adult dog for my first guide.
I've corresponded with the guide dog school of Sweden a couple times.
I think it's great that they only issue adult dogs. What's also nice
about that program is that they are a very small school, so the
trainers are able to keep the dogs in their homes for the duration of
their training, rather than putting the dogs up in kennels. The kennel
environment is incredibly stressful on a dog mentally and physically,
and it deteriorates some of the manners dogs are taught by their
puppy-raisers.


On 2/19/14, Sherry Gomes <sherriola at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nagdu mailing list
>> nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nagdu:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/tami%40poodlemutt.com
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/sherriola%40gmail.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nagdu:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/ravend729%40gmail.com
>


-- 
Raven




More information about the NAGDU mailing list