OK - I have gone and done it! I have applied to become a guide dog puppy walker. The assessor is coming on May 12th to see if we are suitable. Then, if all is well, the puppy will arrive in July. Tatze will be 15 months old. My friend has been bringing up a guide dog puppy since September and I have spent a lot of time with them and thought long and hard about it, asking many people many questions. I enjoyed Tatze's puppyhood so much I just wanted to do it again and again!! She is very good with other dogs and pups so I hope she'll be a great help in bringing the puppy up. Exciting times!
Re: I have applied! Very, very, good luck with it! I'm sure it's a fab thing to do (apart from the bit where you've got to give the puppy back, but I suppose you're ready for that from day one).
Re: I have applied! How exciting! I'd love to hear all about it, and I'm sure others would too. Please let us know how you get on
Re: I have applied! thats great news, let us know you get on and what it is like. we thought about doing it before we got puzzle just to see what it would be like having 2 dogs in the house, but we would never have given the dog back. I commend you for doing it, such a rewarding thing to do
Re: I have applied! Well done Mags.....Sophie and I were talking about that just yesterday! I was in the *how can you give up a pup after a year?* camp. Sophie reckoned it would be okay if you were going to get another pup afterwards 8) We disagreed on the point about already having/not having a perfectly well behaved and trained dog to have as an example ;D Good on you! How exciting! ;D
Re: I have applied! Thank you all! I'm a teacher, now semi-retired. I just teach Thursdays and Fridays. My husband is home those days so he will look after the dogs, as he does now with Tatze. As to giving the pup up - I will be trying hard not to think of him/her as *my* pup at all and to talk to it often about the job it's being raised for. As a Year 6 teacher I wave goodbye to a class of kids I've become close to all year, for them to go to 'big school'. I see this as similar. But I'll let you know if it is when the time comes!!
Re: I have applied! Mags that's a lovely thing to do. My neighbour also did this for years and got 9 out of 10 puppies through to the next stage of training and they all made it as Guide Dogs so she is rightfully very proud. I used to love seeing her out and about training the most gorgeous Labradors. What a great gift it is for the eventual owner. Love to hear all about it. Good luck x
Re: I have applied! Well done this is a fantastic thing to do. A friend of ours is a 8 times puppy walker and has a brood bitch who has just had her 4th and final litter of pups for guide dogs and he said it is a very rewarding experience. X
Re: I have applied! The most miserable and stressed dog I ever saw was a guide dog for a blind man, I felt deeply sorry for it. It did have 'time off' occasionally and stayed with another couple, it had stressed related skin problems. Apart from that, I couldn't bear to have a pup and then give it up, especially after all that hard work. Conversely there was another guide dog who always looked happy, had a different type of owner.
Re: I have applied! You are not the first person I have heard express concern over the lives that guide dogs lead, but I'm happy to say that all the guide dogs I have met, have been contented, happy dogs. I guess there are great homes, not so great homes, and poor homes, in all the different roles that dogs play. I have known a few gundogs that didn't have very happy lives, though most have a brilliant time In a perfect world, all dogs would have wonderful lives. One day maybe.. I still think that training dogs to work as guide dogs is a fantastic and worthwhile objective, they certainly transform the lives of visually impaired folk.
Re: I have applied! I was a socialiser for a while for medical detection dogs and it was very rewarding, fun, and flipping hard work. I'm not in a position to do this anymore but as for the "giving the dog up" while I missed her I knew she was going on to do great work. To my mind if I could save a life by bringing up a young dog and being a bit sad at the end then that was a small sacrifice indeed. Good luck with the guide dogs and if for some strange reason they don't want you there are lots of other service dog charities and their requirements of the handlers vary. (some don't like you to have your own dog and some encourage it for example)
Re: I have applied! That's a fantastic thing you about to do, good luck, a let us know how you get on.
Re: I have applied! She comes to assess us a week on Monday (12th) I am excited and apprehensive at the same time! ;D :-\ We have started getting everything ready even 'tho it won't be until July at the earliest when the pup comes. I can't think about anything else so fingers crossed we pass - or I will be totally gutted!
