Where can I get my Golden Retriever puppy trained in GA so that he may serve as a guide dog for my blind child?
I did not want to wait for five years for the free dogs that some organizations offer visually impaired people. I want to know if there are any personal trainers or companies that would train your own dog to become a service/guide dog.
Childhood is when blind children should be learning orientation and mobility skills with a cane. A blind person must first have a good foundation in orientation and mobility in order to work effectively with a guide dog. Guide dogs aren’t Lassie. A guide dog provides information to its handler about the environment, but ultimately the handler must make the decisions about where to go. You should be working with your school system to make sure that your child is getting the proper skills training. If your school is refusing, I suggest contacting your local chapter of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children http://www.gopbc.org/ They’ll help you fight for what your child needs and get you in contact with people who can serve as mentors and role models for your child.
When your child is older, he or she may wish to apply to Southeastern Guide Dogs (the program closest to you) http://www.guidedogs.org/
November 28th, 2009 at 6:47 am
You could contact the lighthouse for the blind and they can give you that kind of information.
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November 28th, 2009 at 7:17 am
if you plan to use your dog as a guide dog, this would mean giving up your dog in question when your dog turns a year old.. or a service dog as well. Well after 12months of training… you’ll really have to contact someone who does this, i only met one person in my area who owns a guide dog. And read a book about someone who trains them.
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November 28th, 2009 at 7:52 am
You will need to go through the organization. There are no private companies that train guide dogs.
It is HIGHLY unlikely that your dog will make a suitable guide dog. I raise guide dogs, and from birth we desensitize them and work on their training. These dogs have been selectively bred for decades to produce a calm, brave, obedient, loyal animal. They do ever command, ever time, without hesitation because we drill them constantly. The same can not be said about your puppy.
Not sure how old your son is, but most organizations won’t adopt a dog to someone until they are 16. This is to make sure that they are old enough to properly care for it by themselves.
Try The Seeing Eye in New Jersey. Not sure how long their wait list is right now, but they have a surplus of puppies and the wait list should be fairly short. They adopt dogs to everyone in the US/Canada.
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November 28th, 2009 at 8:07 am
There are lots of places that will train service dogs. The question really should be does your dog qualify to be a service dog. Not all dogs that are entered into their program turn out to have the genuine qualities it takes to be a service animal. On top of that, it does take several years of training to complete the rigorous courses the animal goes through to become a service dog. Your puppy may not fit the initial qualifications to even be accepted into their program. Don’t be disappointed if that is the case. It’s not all in the training…there are temperament issues to be addressed as well. If your puppy does not have the proper temperament, the organizations will not accept your dog for such training.
You won’t have to wait 5 years to get a service dog for your child. First of all the child must be 16 years old. Second, there are dogs currently in training, waiting for placement in a home where they are needed…that’s the no waiting part. I can’t say you can bring home a service dog today, but there is a process that your family will have to go through to qualify for a service dog as well. Your local Guide Dogs for the Blind or Hearing Impaired should be a resource your child’s doctor can discuss with you. Good Luck!
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I am a certified dog trainer.
November 28th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Nowhere.
Guide dogs are chosen for their outstanding temperament and ability to perform a highly demanding job. They are bred and raised to be guide dogs. The chances that your puppy qualifies to be trained as a guide dog are slim to none.
You said "blind child". How old are we talking about? Guide dog agencies do not place guide dogs with children. The individual must be able to navigate safely on their own (have sufficient orientation and mobility skills) first before being an appropriate applicant for a guide dog. If your child is under the age of 16, he or she cannot get a guide dog from a reputable agency in the US.
The dog doesn’t just "know" where to go. The blind individual must be able to navigate on their own.
There are agencies that train service dogs for severely disabled children, but rarely will they use the person’s dog. Either way, it will be expensive and the wait will be long. It typically takes 18-24 months to train ANY service dog.
Keep in mind that the average cost for training a guide dog (from birth to placement) is nearly $40,000. Regardless of the fact you would have one heck of a time finding a private trainer to train a guide dog for you, you should be willing and able to pay that much out of pocket.
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disabled; waiting for service dog to finish training
November 28th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Childhood is when blind children should be learning orientation and mobility skills with a cane. A blind person must first have a good foundation in orientation and mobility in order to work effectively with a guide dog. Guide dogs aren’t Lassie. A guide dog provides information to its handler about the environment, but ultimately the handler must make the decisions about where to go. You should be working with your school system to make sure that your child is getting the proper skills training. If your school is refusing, I suggest contacting your local chapter of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children http://www.gopbc.org/ They’ll help you fight for what your child needs and get you in contact with people who can serve as mentors and role models for your child.
When your child is older, he or she may wish to apply to Southeastern Guide Dogs (the program closest to you) http://www.guidedogs.org/
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I’m a blind person
November 28th, 2009 at 8:56 am
The average wait time for a Guide from Guide Dogs for the Blind is around 4 months. However, the minimum age is 16 AND the candidate must have already had extensive Orientation and Mobility skills training using a cane. If the candidate has not had the training in O&M, chances are that the use of a Guide will fail miserably, as the handler is the one who controls the dog; not the dog controlling the handler. And if the candidate does not know how to navigate using a cane, they will not know how to navigate using a Guide.
One must also consider that out of every 100 pups bred and raised specifically to be a Guide, only 20-25 actually make it all the way through the program training…..and those are dogs that have been specially bred, raised and trained just for Guidework. A non-specifically bred family pup most likely will not have the desired characteristics needed to succeed at being a proper Guide. Not that the pup will not make a great family pet…..but that it will not make it under the rigorous strain of being a Guide.
My suggestion: Have your child complete proper O&M training and when your child has mastered that, wait until they are old enough for the responsibilities of using a Guide before applying at one of the professional Guide providers.
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Husband of Guide dog user (who has been blind since birth and used a cane for the first 15 years beginning when she was 10 years old, but only using a Guide for the last 10 years) and 4-H Guide puppy raiser.
November 28th, 2009 at 9:03 am
It typically takes 18 months to 2 years to fully train a guide. Few dogs are up to meeting the demands of the work. Of the general population of dogs only about 1 in 100 has all of the requirements in temperament, health, trainability and bidability.
Private training will cost tens of thousands of dollars. Programs that train guide dogs meet their costs with the help of charitable donations, donations that will be difficult to procure for a private trainer when there are so many 501(c)3 programs out there doing the same work, and doing it better.
The waiting list for the Seeing Eye isn’t years long, though they will not place a dog with a person under 16. For a reason. It is critical for a blind person to master O&M skills before acquiring a guide. Getting a guide for a blind child before they do master these skills will permanently impair their ability to learn these vital skills and will significantly negatively impact their ability to use a guide.
There is also the issue of stewardship. A child under 16 is not yet ready to take on sole responsibility for care of a guide not just at home, but in public where people and stray pets will try to harm the dog and the owner must be prepared to defend it. It’s like being responsible for the care of a toddler in a busy city. Few parents would turn a toddler loose in such a situation in the hands of a child younger than 16.
But if you really are determined to pay thousands of dollars ($20,000 to $50,000) for an inferior dog, such trainers can be found with a google search of the internet.
Edited to add:
The current wait at the Seeing Eye is between 1 and 4 months depending on the specific needs of the blind handler.
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