How are guide dogs taught?

Question

Like other animals who are taught to look after thier owners, I think they are not only so inteligent, but beautiful in many ways.
The people who teach them must also be very skilled!

Answer 1

My Mum has a guide dog, so I'm quite well versed in the manner.

First of all, they're bred from a stud dog and a b*tch dog who are selected by the guide dog organisation.
At around 6 weeks, the males will have their gonads cut off, and at around 8 weeks, they are given to a "puppy walker"
At around 6-8 months, they are then given to a handler, sometimes at a training centre, for the core part of the training, the handler is sighted.
After this, at around 21-24 months, they are matched with a suitable recipient, this is not always based on size and such, but also factors in the owners lifestyle, the area they live in, the speed they walk, the things they do, and so forth.
From this point on, for the first year, there are checks done every 6 weeks to make sure, everything is going on fine, from this point on, they are checked every year.
They are also trained to pee and dump at certain times, as well as when to eat, (this is done by a whistle, with 2 short bursts indicated to start eating, as well as to stop eating, should the owner so wish).
The dogs are kept on a dry food diet, and have weigh-in's every 3 months, and have to be kept to a strict diet.
At around the age of 8-9 years, the dog may be retired, and the owner will have the choice of keeping it, if they choose to relinquish the dog, the original handler may get the 2nd choice.
Guide dogs are also assigned a letter to their breed, in the case of the litter to which Tony, the guide dog my mother recieved, they woul have names such as; Tango, Trixie, Twix, Tony, Trent, and so forth, all beginning with "T".

If you wish to know any more information, I'd ask my Mum if she would like to commicate with you, my Aunt is also blind, and I'm sure she'd be willing to do the same, (her dog; Naylor; is from the "N" litter).

The duration of training for a guide dog is about 21 months, give or take a month, and will cost £3,000-£4,000, and throughout a guide dog's life, the total cost will be between £30,000-£40,000.

Answer 2

Dog training is a skill that can be learned by most people. It involves co-ordination, timing, and knowing how to 'read' a dog.
Training is teaching, there is a method, and an expected outcome. You do something, the dog reacts, you reward it. The dog is more likely to repeat the action next time because it sees you as pack leader and wants to please you. It likes the praise. Its called positive re-enforcement.
Each of the tasks they leartn is broken down into easy stages, and they learn a small step at a time. Once they are trained, it looks very difficult. The most difficult taks is teaching them to cross the road safely, they have trouble reding the traffic and a lot of dogs fail at that point.
Training is based on positive re-enforcement. If the dog does well and gets a reward, it feels good. All that depends on having a good relationship with the dog in the first place.
Guide dogs are specially bred to be balanced, stable, friendly dogs. But they're also a bit stubborn, so once they learn to do somehting a certain way the will prefer to always do it that way. They are bred to have those characteristics and thats why other breeds aren't used so often.

Answer 3

a good form of time a blind individual is conscious what bus to take. My mom is blind a had a handbook canines an prolonged time in the past. She went to the bus end and the driving force stops and tells you what bus he/she is. if this is the bus that they want the guy will command the canines to get on the bus. canines bypass by using months of coaching the two with the college, and around 2 to 3 week with the aptitude proprietor to get then adjusted to a minimum of one yet another. Blind every physique is self sustaining and positively do not opt to be helped yet while they like it they'll ask or different than help. some human beings get indignant while they ask to help then and that they say no. If there's a line of buses each and each bus many times end and locate out if it is the bus they want. Now while my mom is downtown she will settle for help from human beings besides the fact that if that's provided. besides the fact that if she had a canines because all of us understand that canines can not examine.

Answer 4

Yes the people who do train the dogs do a very good job and it takes many month's

Once the dogs are trained, they then have to train the blind owner to not only use the dog, but to take care of the animal.

Always give to Guide Dog Appeals

Answer 5

It is a long process and not every dog that starts training is suited to being a guide dog. Check out the Guide Dogs for the Blind website to see more about the teaching process:

http://www.guidedogs.org.uk/

Answer 6

Guide dogs are taught using positive reinforcement, food and toy rewards and possibly even clicker training.

Answer 7

They are usually sent to live with people to teach them. Usually the people have to go to school first to learn how to teach them.

Answer 8

They go to Dogs centre or something like that

Answer 9

it is tuff traning for the puppy at a early age 10 weeks old

Answer 10

What happens to the dogs who dont make the grade......or the older dogs who retire?..........
The answer will shock and amaze you. Reasearch it via google!