In a previous post I already introduced you to our current Guide Dog To Be Puppy named Riggs. So I thought it would be a good idea to put up a range of posts about this wonderful organisation (The South African Guide Dogs Association) is all about as well as give some insight on the role we as Puppy Raisers play.
As you can see from the header image we have 5 dogs that are all grown up and either working as Guide Dogs or as Service Dogs. As an organisation we actually produce three type of dogs:
- Guide Dogs - This is the best know of all. They are the ones you see guiding a blind or visually impaired person along the way. What they are actually taught is absolutely mind-blowing, but I think I will keep that for another post.
- Service Dogs - These are dogs that helps people with physical disabilities for instance people in wheel chairs. Their training differs slightly from a guide dog in that they are taught to fetch and pick up stuff. They are even taught to open and close doors and switch lights on and off.
- Autism Companion Dogs - Not so well known and relatively new in South Africa. These dogs are specifically trained for children with Autism.
The Puppy Raising program is a vital part in the overall career development of the dog. We get the puppy at 7 weeks old and will keep him/her for about a year until they start their formal training. Our most important function is to expose the puppy to as many situations, people and other animals as possible. To that end the puppy goes with us wherever we go whether it is the local grocery store or visiting friends. We actually have a checklist that we have to tick off whenever the puppy was introduced to something new, like a horse or a vacuum cleaner,etc.
The puppy also lives with us and needs to be taught to do their business outside. We actually teach the dogs to go on command, as once they are with a blind person, this person might only have certain times in the day when they can take the dog outside. We also need to teach it some basic commands like sit, down, stay and watch. For the first few months we have a weekly Puppy Class at the Guide Dogs Association (GDA) premises that is compulsory.
To be able to do all these things you need to be full-time at home, which is why my wife is mainly responsible for the training and exposing. I work full-time so cannot really contribute much on that front, but I need to be aware of all commands and rules so that we all apply it consistently. Initially I am responsible for the night shift. That means that I am at 2 or 3 in the morning outside with the puppy whether it is raining or freezing. The neighbors must think I'm crazy loudly praising the puppy when it goes and constantly saying "Busy Busy"! That's the command to go and gets ingrained at a very early age.
This post is already getting a bit long so in a later post I will expand a bit on the rules that we need to comply with when we raise these puppies and why they are there.
In the mean time here is a picture of our current Puppy Riggs as a farewell. He will soon start his formal training. Also feel free to visit our blog https://conradiezoo.wordpress.com/ at any time. We talk about our Guide Dogs as well as our own pets there.
