In short, guide dogs are taught how to find and follow a clear path, maneuver around obstacles, and stop at curbs. The handler can figure out what the dog is up to by feeling the dogs back. While the dogs are at the training school they generally live with one of the volunteer boarders, people who look after trainee guide dogs, guide dogs and former guide dogs in their own homes. The remarkable abilities of guide dogs are the result of highly specialized training and not just due to innate factors. What exactly is a guide dog trained to do? Guide dogs retire. Many blind people can’t get around without the help of a well-trained guide dog. There is a lot of training a guide dog will do before they are taught familiar places. Guide Dog Trainers work with the dogs for around 19 weeks, helping them develop basic guiding skills, for example, dealing with kerbs and avoiding obstacles. Guide dog pups try their first solid food between weeks three and four - and mealtimes become a messy affair. Guide Dogs CAN get bored with a routine, however. I know a man who owns a guide dog, and he says that while the dog is wearing the harness, it knows that it is on duty. This is because making sure they guide a person safely is much more than knowing where to go. When so many intelligent, loving shelter dogs are in need of homes, why don’t guide dog schools rescue dogs like some of the other service-dog programs? From work and school, to shopping malls, restaurants, and hiking trails, guide dogs lead very active lives. Essential core traits of guide dogs The charity favours a device called the … Blind Foundation guide dogs can also be taught to use a toileting harness. The answer lies in the nature of the work guide dogs are required to do. What dog wouldn't envy the life of a guide dog? The dogs then move to certified trainers employed by Guide Dogs for the Blind, a national NGO that partners with the program, before ultimately graduating and … It takes between 2 and 5 years for a guide dog to be ready to be matched with a … In this article, you will learn more about guide dogs for the blind in terms of their essential characteristics, how they are taught to help the handler and what they cannot do. After that time the dog is generally adopted by a new family to live out its golden years and is replaced by a younger dog. The regular career span of a guide dog is 7-10 years. Easy! No, not of their human companions. Life for a Working Guide Dog. Guide dogs help blind people in many ways, beginning with giving unsighted people independence. Guide dogs go through extensive training. I didn't know that personality issues could actually keep a dog from becoming a guide dog! This transition period is extremely hard for both the owner and the dog, who have become so dependent on each other and built such a close connection OeKc05 February 21, 2013 . Guide dogs get to go everywhere and do everything their partners do and they are showered with attention. A guide dog is like the eyes, and sight of a blind person.Guide dogs are used to help blind people become more independent. This enables the dog to poop in a bag which the handler can then remove, tie up and dispose of. @cloudel – Yes, they do live with their dogs, and yes, they do show them affection. Guide dogs undergo a comprehensive training program, and only the best of the best complete the training and become working guides. This also gives them a good idea of where any poop might land so they can clean it up. Each year, guide dog schools—independent nonprofit organizations that provide guide dogs for blind and visually impaired individuals—breed close to 3,000 dogs. 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