How long does it take to train a guide dog for the blind?
Hi! I raise seeing eye dogs. Here’s the timeline of a seeing eye dog’s life…
birth-7 weeks: with mother. Exposed to strange sounds, lights, weird stimulus.
7 weeks-1 1/2 years: with a family. The dog goes to big cities and gets used to weird things like traffic, loud noises, and learns not to chase other animals. It learns basic manners and commands, like sit, stay, come, down, et cetera. it also learns to poo on command in the proper place, so the blind person can pick it up.
Then, the dog returns to the Seeing Eye. The dog is then evaluated to see if it has the proper potential to become a guide dog. If it does, it is sent to training.
The dog then spends around 4 months with its trainer. This is where the dog learns to walk in a harness and learns how to guide a human.
Next, the dog meets its blind person. It spends a month with the new owner learning that person’s routine. After that month, the dog gets sent home with the blind person to start its career.
It’s a very hard process and many dogs don’t pass- only 50% of all puppies bred are accepted to become guide dogs. The dogs spend their whole lives preparing for the career.
When the dog finally goes home and becomes a guide, it is around 2 years old.
July 14th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Not t sure on this dear friend, but it could be up to a year to fully train one, iam sure some one will let you know better ….x
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July 14th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
It will take up to two years to train them. There are some dogs that are better guide dogs then others. Labs make great guide dogs.
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July 14th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Hi! I raise seeing eye dogs. Here’s the timeline of a seeing eye dog’s life…
birth-7 weeks: with mother. Exposed to strange sounds, lights, weird stimulus.
7 weeks-1 1/2 years: with a family. The dog goes to big cities and gets used to weird things like traffic, loud noises, and learns not to chase other animals. It learns basic manners and commands, like sit, stay, come, down, et cetera. it also learns to poo on command in the proper place, so the blind person can pick it up.
Then, the dog returns to the Seeing Eye. The dog is then evaluated to see if it has the proper potential to become a guide dog. If it does, it is sent to training.
The dog then spends around 4 months with its trainer. This is where the dog learns to walk in a harness and learns how to guide a human.
Next, the dog meets its blind person. It spends a month with the new owner learning that person’s routine. After that month, the dog gets sent home with the blind person to start its career.
It’s a very hard process and many dogs don’t pass- only 50% of all puppies bred are accepted to become guide dogs. The dogs spend their whole lives preparing for the career.
When the dog finally goes home and becomes a guide, it is around 2 years old.
References :
Raising seeing eye dogs for years
http://www.seeingeye.org/aboutUs/?M_ID=165
July 14th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
I know its definitely less than 15 years
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July 14th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
The puppies go to their puppy walkers when they are around six to eight weeks old, where they are socialised and taught some general good manners and basic obedience, when they are about twelve to fourteen months they are assessed and if suitable they go on to their advanced training which takes about ten months, they are then matched to a partner and the team are trained to work together, the teams are then given aftercare where training standards have to be maintained
References :
ex Guide Dog employee
July 14th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Hi Skycat,
I think it’s about 18 months..They have a lot to learn and to be safe..
Your Friend,
poppy1
References :
Little1
July 14th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I think its 1 to 2 years to train them?
References :
guidedogsofamerica.org/training.html
July 16th, 2009 at 5:45 am
In the UK it takes around 14 months after they go from puppy walking into training. You can read about it here:
sponsorapuppy.org.uk/pages/training