Training Guide Dogs For The Blind

I have ALWAYS wanted to see what it was like to train a dog for the Guide Dogs For the Blind program! Has anyone done this before? Or, can you give me a link to see what it's all about?! Thank you SO much, and whoever has the best answer, well, get's BEST ANSWER! Thank you SO much!

Maybe contact your local animal shelter & see if they have any numbers or contact details for a Guide dog place.

http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/index.php?id =1465&type=33
http://www.guidedogs.com/site/PageServer ?pagename=about_careers
http://www.learndirect-advice.co.uk/help withyourcareer/jobprofiles/profiles/prof ile439/

Here are some links, i hope they help!

2007-08-05 11:21:43 by

A popular myth is guide dogs are only trained for blind people. Learn who benefits from guide dogs from a guide dog training expert in this free ...

So I was thinking as I was driving to work today... I saw a blind woman and her German Shepherd guide dog. I wondered in this day in age, it isn't out of the question for some awful person to mug a blind person..... my question is, All the money and training and time that goes into Guide Dogs... Do they get trained in protection/bite work as well?

Just curious... thanks Dog Section.

Guide dogs are NOT trained for protection and bite work.

The point of a Guide Dog is that it is also suppossed to be socialized and tolerant of the general public. What if their blind master needed physical/medical assistance? That would not be good for the dog to bite and attack anyone who is trying to help his master.

Guide dogs are not suppossed to display ANY aggressive behavoirs.


Shepherds are naturally proctive tho.. Im sure if the dog felt his master was in danger, he would protect him/her.. but the dog is not trained to do that.

2009-05-22 07:06:20 by Peter Griffin

Price: $29.95 $29.95

what does there training consist of?

i know they have reward training and clicker training but what type of training do they do?
how do the trainers teach them to walk in straight lines and know when to cross the road..?

ive just ALWAYS wondered about this!
thanks
xo

This is a general overview of the concepts of training guide dogs. It won't tell you how to train one yourself.

Most of the work is done on obstacle avoidance. The dog needs to learn two key things: 1. he is wider than normal when his handler is beside him because he must calculate passing distances including the width of the handler, 2. he must halt at any obstacle (the bulk of training is teaching the dog what constitutes an obstacle and generalizing those concepts to apply to all similar obstacles).

People often fail to realize just how much of the work is being done by the handler. The dog says, "there's an obstacle in front of us." But it is the handler who must decide what to do about it, whether to go right or left around it or go straight over it. It is the handler's responsibility to pay attention to traffic and know by the sound when it is safe to cross. The dog's job is to find the curb and wait for the "forward" command. The handler is responsible for paying attention to how many blocks they've gone, where they are based on that counting, and where they are going. The dog's main job really is just to avoid obstacles. The handler does most of the rest of the work.

I've had to teach my service dogs to avoid blind canes because I have a blind friend. That's a type of obstacle avoidance training. My dog doesn't mind being whopped in the head with a cane occasionally, but this interferes with the information my friend is supposed to be getting from her cane. So even though it doesn't bother him it still becomes my dog's responsibility to pay attention to the movement of the cane and stay out of it's way as it swings.

For my dogs I find it effective to simply yelp as if injured when he touches the cane. My dogs heard the yelps when they were young and mouthy each time their teeth touched my skin, so my yelping already has meaning to them ("ouch!"). They think I'm a pansy but that's okay. My dogs will attempt to avoid causing me to yelp. I train a certain kind of dog that is very good at problem solving and learns well through solving puzzles. I train German Shepherds. I yelp, they stop and ponder, "what did she get into this time?" They usually have it figured out by about the third time. Then we just practice it until it becomes second nature to them and they do it all the time automatically.

Most guide dogs are Labs and Goldens, which do better with pattern (repetition) training. If I were training a pattern dog, I'd be doing a lot of corrections and repetitions and no puzzles. Each dog is an individual and the trainer must teach the dog in a way that works for that specific dog.

So guide dogs are often taught with corrections. There are some limits to what you can teach a dog with only positive reinforcement. But correction doesn't have to mean smacking the dog. I correct my own dogs by saying, "ah ah." Not yelling, just saying it in a neutral tone. Not very harsh, is it? But it gives them information that what they are doing isn't what I want them to do. It's like playing "find the thimble." I give my dog hints when he is getting "warmer" or "colder." With purely positive training you only give the dog half the information. I'd rather help him as much as possible.

I can't imagine raising a dog or a child without ever saying the word, "no."

2009-03-24 09:54:12 by Carly

I need to buy a trained dog to direct or guide blind people in the state of Connecticut or the entire USA i dont care wich state, but it has to be in the USA territory even Puerto Rico.

This is the only one i can find : www.guidedogs.com

hope that helps

2006-05-14 19:49:05 by javierporras1983

when did they come to Australia

History of Guide Dogs: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/studorgs/compa nion/ccfaqhistory.html

In Australia: http://www.guidedogsvictoria.com.au/faq/ history-faq/

Why don't you Google this stuff? It is easy to find.

2008-11-13 02:46:18 by jobees