Training Your Own Guide Dog
Bill Stephan of Kansas City, Missouri has trained seven dogs to guide visually impaired individuals, three of which have worked successfully for him personally. His current guide, an Australian Shepherd, was still going strong at age ten at the posting of this document in fall, 2005. Of the four other dogs trained by Bill, who is totally blind,two were successful guide dogs and the final two were not able to do the work necessitating a “career changed.”
With the advent of The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), more accessible books and materials, not to mention rapid communications between large numbers of far-flung people has come an increasing awareness of self-empowerment. All of this has led to an increased desire by some visually impaired individuals to realize their potential more fully than in times past. One arena in which the quest for empowerment has expressed itself of late is that of the procurement of a guide dog for the blind, specifically, training one's own guide. Generally, those who have chosen this way of acquiring the benefits of the use of a guide dog, are referred to as Owner-trainers, and that is the term I shall use here.
An appropriate approach to this subject is to break the process down into it's three main components, i.e. The Dog, The Environment, and the Trainer. Obviously, these are not in any way mutually exclusive, and I will discuss one aspect of the work in two or more contexts.
Part I: The Dog
In keeping with my comments above, one theme which will be present in all of these discussions is that of mission focus. Our mission here is to; after all the acquisitioning and training are over; have a dog who will work well, safely and willingly, hopefully for nine or ten years. The dog is; arguably; the most important component here, and your first mission then, is to obtain one that is: of an appropriate size and breed, is physically healthy and hardy, and is temperamentally sound and attitudinally robust and willing to do the work.
The first decision then, which you must make, is whether you wish to obtain a pup, or a dog of an age suitable to begin training in the very near future. Having raised pups, and acquisitioned older dogs, I am of the opinion that the older dog offers the best potential for success. There are frankly a myriad of reasons for this, but a few are:
- What you see is what you get, meaning that you can in fact evaluate the dog's temperament, disposition and observe his behavior, something which is simply not possible with a pup.
- In general terms, the older dog may be less costly in the long term. His previous owner, hopefully a good commercial or amateur breeder will have already absorbed the costs associated with the raising of this dog, including feed, vaccinations, and hopefully the expenses of providing an appropriate level of socialization for this young dog.
- When raising a pup, it is entirely possible to succumb to another form of blindness, which is potentially worse than the lack of visual acuity; the effects of which this dog will hopefully mitigate. This is the blindness that sneaks in when a trainer has a large investment, emotionally, financially or both, in one given dog. When this happens, sometimes there is a tendency to gloss over problems, to minimize the effects of unacceptable behavior the dog may be exhibiting, simply because of the time and effort the trainer has devoted to this dog. Don't let this happen, it will bring misery and potentially danger for as long as you own this particular dog which you've raised.
The second decision you must make is what breed of dog you wish to train and work with. There are in fact many breeds that are suitable for the work. Which breed is right for a given trainer and situation is far outside the scope of this discussion, however, in general terms, it's the wise trainer who looks to breeds which contain large numbers of dogs. While there are some little known or offbeat breeds from which a dog could be drawn, the more dogs to look at, the better the possibilities for selecting a good one and improving the odds for your success.
There is a tendency among some potential owners of dogs to minimize the importance of a dog's breeding in favor of providing a safe haven, or a "forever Home", for a dog of mixed or unknown breeding. I am aware that some mixed-breed dogs are outstanding individuals, make excellent guides, etc., but remember, you must stay focused on your primary mission at all times, , which is not about providing homes or jobs for unwanted mongrels. While these dogs are often suitable as pets, and as objects of sympathy, statistically, they are far less suited to serious work like guiding than are dogs with a history, hence a more knowable future.
After you've determined which breed or possibly breeds you wish to work with, you reach another critical decision point, i.e. where to acquire the dog of the breed you want. Though, with a lot of luck, and being in the right place at the right time, it is possible to obtain a good purebred dog from a breed rescue or animal shelter, in general, these are inappropriate sources for the dog you want. The experience of going through rescue, or being housed in a shelter situation is traumatic, and though it's effects can be mitigated by good solid training, why start with a dog who has a higher probability of failure? Remember, Mission Focus!.
So, you've decided to acquire your potential guide dog from a breeder, hopefully either a large-scale amateur breeder or a good commercial one. Again, you're looking at the larger breeders, because they're the ones more likely to offer you a better shot at selecting the right dog than are the smaller ones.
Here's a cautionary note: AS you've learned, the dog is arguably the most important element here, and if you think spending eight-hundred to a thousand dollars on a dog is not reasonable, or if it's beyond your resources to do so, you probably have no business attempting to train your own guide.
At a minimum, you should visit the breeder's facilities and see as many dogs as possible. You will want to pay particular attention to the parents of the dogs you are considering purchasing, and you should, again at the minimum, get a good feeling about the breeder and how he/she manages his operation.
Be Creative: Talk to the breeder about your plans for the dog. Find out what if any contractual obligations the breeder may impose on you as a purchaser. Ask about the breeder's policies or practices relative to taking dogs back, say five or six months after he/she sells them. Remember, you only have need of one dog, and you're not running a rehoming service, so you want an outlet for this dog with hopefully some kind of buyback provision, should things go south.
In general, the gender of your dog candidate is not of particular importance, which is to say that both males and females can excel in the work. In general, I think it's best to leave the breeding of dogs to others, so you'll probably want to have your dog spayed or neutered before commencing serious training. A frequently overlooked benefit of this is that it's possible that the breeder from which you'll purchase the dog will offer it at a reduced price with the understanding that the animal will be rendered incapable of reproducing.
Part II: The Environment
A good rule of thumb is that the properly trained and handled guide dog should be able to work in all environments where a human can do so without specialized protective gear. You will therefore, as a conscientious trainer, expose your dog to environments which are, hopefully, even more challenging than those you work or live in at the moment. Yes, dogs do have the ability to generalize good behavior from environment to environment, and indeed, this is one of the linchpins of what a guide dog is. But, this process will be made much easier for the dog by exposing him to many sights, sounds, places and things as you train.
Ideally, you will want to train in an area other than the one in which you'll actually be working the dog. This is because mistakes will be made, and because the dog is in a very susceptible mode during training, those mistakes made in the beginning at a certain spot in the environment may recur for a very long time. Again, ideally, you will be located in an area through which you can walk from stimulating to less stimulating environments, and visa versa, and in which there are features like revolving doors, controlled intersections, crowds, etc. Remember, your dog at this point represents only the potential for becoming a fully trained guide, and in general, you have no access rights with this dog in training. Therefore, public transportation will not be available. If you have access to a privately-owned or operated vehicle, you may of course travel in this way. However, there is a significant drawback to this in that the ride itself may be very stimulating for the dog, and the training may seem less interesting and relevant to the animal, which is not what you want.
During the dog's training and for an appropriate period afterward, the animal must never be left in a position where it can ignore your commands or instructions. This probably means that a crate will be used to house the dog, and the dog will wear a line of some light material, attached to the collar by perhaps a grab handle when it's not in the crate or on leash. From day one after you acquire the dog from the commercial or large amateur breeder you've selected, you should leash relieve your dog, and begin conditioning it to accept your touching its back while it is performing relieving functions. This will facilitate your picking up the dog's waist, which is virtually impossible without knowing where the dog has relieved.
Socialization, or the lack thereof, can be a cause for failure in the owner-trained guide. Hopefully, your dog's breeder has had the insight to expose his or her pups to a variety of situations and experiences, which would include, noise, livestock, small animals such as cats or rabbits, birds, and people of differing appearance. While good, solid obedience work can be used by a knowledgeable trainer to overcome many small fears and peccadilloes, the less time you must spend on this the more time you can devote to the work itself. In keeping with our recurring theme of mission focus, your goal in selecting environments will be to locate situations where the level of stimulation or background noise can be controlled or changed easily. This might mean working for example in a mixed commercial and residential neighborhood, with a variety of features.
Part III: The Trainer
The traits which distinguish a good handler from a trainer are illustrative for purposes of discussion here. Certainly, handler and trainer have many attributes in common. Good physical coordination, "fast hands", and the ability to quickly analyze a situation; read a dog, and act decisively, are traits common to handlers as well as trainers. There are however, traits found in a good trainer which may be absent in a proficient and successful handler.
The handler is working with an already trained dog, and in most cases will have available the expertise of a trainer in the event of serious problems or behavior issues developing. If the dog has been well trained, if the handler has been properly indoctrinated as to the needs, appropriate use and care of the dog, and if the handler can follow instructions, then so long as the handler practices the techniques used by the trainer, they will likely work out well as a team.
The trainer on the other hand, must possess a clear understanding not only of what the dog's work will be, but the attitude and skills to mould the untrained dog into a happy, competent and safe worker. Just as it's possible to learn good mechanical skills and apply them as a handler, so it is possible to learn some training skills through reading, observing and conversing with others, and by experimenting with a number of dogs.
Acquiring, maintaining and projecting the attitude and philosophy necessary to train dogs effectively and in a resource-efficient fashion however, may be a more difficult proposition than learning mechanical technique. I've made mention several times of the concept of mission focus, and the attitude you bring to the enterprise of training a dog must absolutely reflect that mission focus at all times.
Given the nature of the work we require of a trained guide, and the hopefully long service anticipated from the animal, here are a few things to keep in mind when deciding if Owner-training is the right route for you. First, be sure you have the financial and other resources to carry this project through to completion. There's an old saw that says the purchase price of a given dog is the least expensive part of owning it, so be prepared to see the quality of your dog be reflected in the amount you pay for it. Dogs in training need to be worked daily, in good weather and bad, and even when it might not be convenient to train because of some other commitment or more appealing activity. Much of what you're going to train into this dog will be accomplished while you're walking, so be prepared for doing a whole lot of that, again in all kinds of weather and at differing times of day.
In addition to the time and effort and initial cost of the dog, remember you're going to have to assume the responsibility for all the care of the animal, even if you wind up having to wash him out of training for some reason. You're also going to have to find sources for appropriate tack, i.e.. Harness, good leads and collars, and these are sometimes quite expensive.
Given these costs and the level of commitment to the enterprise, it should come as no surprise that should the dog you've picked be found to be unsuitable, or should your skills, level of commitment and understanding of the work, or of dogs be inadequate, failure is entirely possible. This is where an appropriately pragmatic attitude toward dogs as well as training technique becomes essential.
The truth is that theories and politics don't train dogs, knowledge, sweat, shoe leather and hard work do that. Compassion for animals is a fine thing, but common sense as to the potential of one given animal is far more valuable in terms of getting a dog trained.
I would define an Owner-trainer as successful after, and only after, he/she has trained and worked a minimum of two dogs. There are actually very few successful Owner-trainers around, and perhaps some of the following might help explain this paucity.
First, every year, the guide dog schools in America train and place thousands of perfectly acceptable dogs with people of varying levels of commitment, skill and natural ability. These dogs, as well as the costs of training, board and transportation of the handler, are borne by the guide dog providers. Keeping in mind then, the costs I've mentioned here as compared with those of obtaining a dog from a guide dog provider, one would be hard put to justify embarking on training one's own guide.
Second, I believe there are actually very few people with the requisite skills and attitude to actually train their own guides. This work is unlike any other, even that of other flavors of assistance dogs. By definition, the handler must be able to trust his/her dog's judgment, which is largely a function of the training the dog has received, in situations which are by there very nature, dangerous. Traffic work, obstacle work, etc., are areas where mistrust of a dog can get a handler seriously hurt in a very short time. Frankly, most people I know simply don't have the level of ego to basically trust their health or maybe their life to their ability to train a dog to work in dangerous situations. I am aware, that there are substantial numbers of disabled persons working dogs which have been trained by their owners. This however, should not be considered analogous to the situation of a guide dog and blind handler, simply because the work of the dog and level of input of the handler are not at all comparable.
Should you, after reading this and hopefully pursuing other research, decide that Owner-training is an appropriate way for you to acquire the services of a trained guide dog, keep in mind that it's perfectly appropriate to fall in love with the idea of having a guide, even with the idea of training one for yourself. But, it is profoundly inappropriate, unwise and dangerous to fall in love with one dog with the hope that somehow you're going to wish him into becoming a good and safe working dog. Be prepared then, to accept failures if and when they occur. Be ready to wash out dogs who don't have what it takes, and be prepared to modify your approach and techniques as you learn with the goal of keeping only what works.