Owner Training: The Beginning

After making the very big decision to embark on the journey of owner training my own guide dog, the next thing to do was to acquire a puppy or dog that would be a good candidate for the work ahead. It took me a very long time to decide on what sort of dog I wanted. I thought about it a lot, talked with family members and researched breeds on the internet. Finally I settled on a sporting breed or sporting breed mix, age 8 to 18 months old, female, short hair, light colored, friendly, curious and with stable temperament. Some of that was just preference and some was necessity.

I felt getting a dog from a rescue organization was the best option for me. There are way too many dogs without homes. It feels good to know that I have helped one more dog to find a forever home. I browsed listings of local rescue organizations for months. Finally there looked to be a couple of possibilities at one particular shelter. My husband and I went there to have a look.

The first hopeful was a black lab named Libby. She was the most likely candidate from the web site info. When we approached her kennel she grabbed up her blanket, growled and retreated to the furthest corner of her kennel. Next was a little border collie named Suzie. She was very quiet, calm and intense. She had long hair and was a bit smaller than I was looking for. The temperament seemed right though.

Next was a male German shepherd. He was very high energy, jumping and barking and running little circles in his kennel. I crossed him off the list because of the energy level, extreme barking and anxiety.

Next was a little German shorthaired pointer. She was adorable, sweet, kind, quiet, stable everything I thought I wanted. We spent some time with her and quickly found out that she was too shy to handle the stress of guide work. She was hesitant to go up to new people. She would flinch and draw back from loud noises or quick movements. She would have made an excellent pet in our home. But I didn’t think she would be able to emotionally cope with the unpredictability of the bigger world she would encounter as a guide dog.

Finally there was Jewel. She was very similar to the pointer. She was calm, quiet, stable and unphased by all the people, other dogs and crazy happenings at the shelter. She sat in the front of her kennel and intently watched everything that was going on. When we visited with her she turned out to be everything that I was looking for, excepting the color. I had wanted a light colored dog so they would be able to tolerate the bright sun and summer heat. I could live with a solid black dog though. We’d just have to be careful about the heat.

Jewel ran around and checked out everything. She came up to strangers but wasn’t overly friendly. She played with the kennel staff easily. She recovered quickly from sudden loud noises or sudden movements. She was in excellent health and generally a happy dog. So we took her home and she became our Belle.

For the first few weeks I kept her on leash with me as I went about my daily chores. At night she slept in a crate next to my bed. I fed her by hand. I wanted her to come to trust me and learn that I would take care of her.

She turned out to have excellent house manners. She was housebroken. She does not bother food on the kitchen counters or table. She leaves the trash alone. She doesn’t beg for food. Overall she was a pleasant dog to be around.

I just let her get used to everything for the first few days. I didn’t actively train anything, but we were working very hard at getting to know each other. I didn’t want to start formal training with her until I was more in tune with her, her personality and quirks. I felt I needed to get to know her so that I could have a better idea of how to go about teaching her.

I quickly realized that she hadn’t had much experience with the world. She was fascinated with the Christmas lights, the decorations on the tree, hated stairs, and loved children and loved to pounce on moving things.

Over the next few months I worked diligently with her on obedience skills. Although she had excellent house manners, she had absolutely no formal training. We worked on sit, down, stay, come and walking on a loose leash. I also introduced left, right, and stopping at the edge of a street. I used my cane during this phase of training. I simply paired the word with the action so she would eventually make the association. She learned, left, right, inside and outside in this way.

She was so curious about everything. She was so fun to work with. I let her have as many opportunities to check things out as I could think of. We went to the park and played on the toys. We walked to the creek and peeked over the bridges. We went on long walks on gravel roads, dirt roads, across grass pastures, under overpasses, near busy streets and in rural areas with only the cows and horses for company. We visited the school bus stop so she could learn to remain calm while getting attention.

Then as she got more experience with the world we began going into places of business. Very short trips at first, then I increased the duration and complexity gradually. I always tried to pay very close attention to how she reacted to everything. If she showed hesitation or curiosity, I continued with the activity giving her some space to explore and figure it out on her own. If she showed any anxiety or fear, I backed away from that particular lesson. I would try to break up the task into smaller bits, making sure that she was able to handle the smaller parts without fear. Then as she showed more confidence I would put the bits together.

Her initial training including basic obedience and basic guide skills took one year. She was 21 months old when she began working as a guide dog.