Guide Dogs for the Blind is a guide dog

Guide dog

Guide dogs are assistance dogs trained to lead blind and visually impaired people around obstacles.Although the dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are partially color blind and are not capable of interpreting street signs...

 school located in the United States, with campuses in San Rafael, California

San Rafael, California

San Rafael is a city and the county seat of Marin County, California, United States. The city is located in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area...

, and Boring, Oregon

Boring, Oregon

Boring is an unincorporated community located in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States, on Oregon Route 212. It is approximately eight miles south of Gresham and about the same distance from Clackamas, both suburbs of Portland. The town is roughly twenty-two miles southeast from downtown...

. It was founded in 1942 to help veterans who had been blinded in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

History

Guide Dogs for the Blind was the first guide dog training school on the West Coast. Its creation was a dream shared by Lois Merrihew and Don Donaldson, who recognized the need to help wounded servicemen who would return from World War II without their sight. They believed in the potential of dogs to serve as guides for the blind. A German Shepherd named Blondie was one of the first dogs trained; she was paired with Sgt. Leonard Foulk, the first serviceman to graduate from the new school.

In 1947, Guide Dogs moved to its present location in San Rafael, California, about 20 miles north of San Francisco. In order to meet the increasing demands for services, the school opened a second campus in Boring, Oregon in 1995.

Breeds used

Originally German Shepherds

German Shepherd Dog

The German Shepherd Dog , also known as an Alsatian or just the German Shepherd, is a breed of large-sized dog that originated in Germany. The German Shepherd is a relatively new breed of dog, with its origin dating to 1899. As part of the Herding Group, the German Shepherd is a working dog...

 were used as guides, but these are being phased out and the last German Shepherd "graduated" along with its visually impaired handler in November 2009. New dogs are primarily Labrador Retrievers (only black and yellow, chocolate labs are very rare due to the fact that they are genetically prone to health and behavior problems. Two chocolate labs are currently being raised, Snickers and Sweety) Golden Retrievers and Labrador/Golden Retriever crossbreeds.

Breeding

At the end of the puppy raising phase, dogs are recalled and returned to the Guide Dog campuses, either directly by the raisers or collected by the puppy truck. If the dogs have not already been neutered or spayed, they are screened as potential breeders before going into formal training. Guide Dogs also exchanges breeders with other schools both locally and worldwide to ensure sufficient diversity in the gene pool. Breeders are placed with families who are local to Guide Dog's San Rafael campus.

Puppy raising

Puppies are given to volunteer puppy raisers at 8 to 12 weeks of age. The raisers have one of the most important jobs: they must train the dog in basic commands and socialize the dog by taking it with the raiser wherever he/she goes. There are raisers in 8 western states (Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, Idaho

Idaho

Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....

, Nevada

Nevada

Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

, Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, and Washington) that raise puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind.
The Puppy-raisers work with these dogs for about a year and a half before returning them to Guide-dogs for formal training

Formal training

The dogs are recalled for formal training at one of Guide Dogs for the Blind's campuses at approximately 14 to 18 months old. Recalled dogs go through formal training, a 8-phase training program in which the trainers use the BEST Guide Dogs training techniques ("BEST Guide Dogs -- Balanced Education System for Training Guide Dogs"). The dogs are continuously assessed during the formal training and may be dropped from the program ("career changed") at any stage (including during their time with the puppy raisers if intractable health or behavior problems emerge). Trained dogs are then matched with appropriate visually impaired individuals who train with the dog at the school's in-residence program for up to four weeks.

Career change dogs

Dogs that are not suitable for Guide Dog work due to health, behaviour or age issues are dropped from training and are described as "career changed".Around 40% of all dogs that go through the program are career changed. Career changed dogs are often adopted as pets by their handlers or their puppy raisers. Many dogs also go on to have other careers such as search and rescue dogs, Dogs for Diabetics

Dogs for Diabetics

Dogs for Diabetics, also known as Dogs4Diabetics, provides trained assistance dogs to alert people with type 1 diabetes. Dogs for Diabetics dogs are trained to identify and act upon the subtle scent changes that hypoglycemia creates in body chemistry...

. Some career change dogs enter the Guide Dogs for the Blind program "K9 Buddy" or "Community Canines" programs.

K9 Buddies are dogs that are placed with visually impaired children as pets, giving the youngster not only companionship, but the opportunity of learning to care for a dog. This experience helps prepare them for the responsibilities involved with having a Guide Dog someday. "Community Canines" are dogs placed with blindness professionals and organizations and act as community ambassadors for the Guide Dogs programs.

Breeders

Guide Dogs breeds most of the dogs used in its program. Breeders are exchanged and loaned between programs to ensure a sufficiently wide gene pool. During formal training, dogs may be selected as breeding stock dogs. Most breeders live in the homes of volunteer breeding stock custodians within a 50-mile radius of the California campus. A slightly longer distance from the campus is allowed for breeders living with custodians who were also the dog's puppy raisers.

Guide Dogs in the news

In early 2011, an outbreak of Parvovirus at the San Rafael campus resulting in the death of a small number of puppies was reported in the local news.

External resources

• Guide Dogs for the Blind