[nagdu] Issuing dogs at 18 months - is it too young?

Wed Apr 6 12:57:09 UTC 2011

I have heard this. When GDF bred the lab/poodle crosses, there was some talk 
about leaving them in puppy homes longer. I'm not sure if this ever 
happened, since they stopped issuing that particular breed not long after I 
heard this.

Shannon and Caroline
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----- 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 11:28 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
>>
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>
>
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