Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Has anyone here ever trained their own seeing eye dog, formally or otherwise? (self.Blind)
submitted by SunOnTheInside
Hi folks. Some close family friends of ours have recently bred their therapy dogs (standard poodles), and my blind partner and I will be adopting one when she has reached the appropriate age.
Regardless, she will be a family dog and companion, first and foremost, but we both got to thinking about training and wondered if it was even possible to train your own service dog, or to enroll her in a program.
Or if anyone has experience training the family dog in ways that helped them, we’d love to hear it.
Regardless, she will be a family dog and companion, first and foremost, but we both got to thinking about training and wondered if it was even possible to train your own service dog, or to enroll her in a program.
Or if anyone has experience training the family dog in ways that helped them, we’d love to hear it.
MaplePaws 6 points 1y ago
I have actually trained my current dog to do most of the guide tasks unassisted, but I was dealing with light sensitivity so I could analyze videos of guide dogs working to deconstruct what exactly the dog is doing into parts. The main part I have not taught because there is not really a safe way to do it without the super controlled environments that the guide dog schools can create is intelligent disobedience when a car might hit you, at the end of the day it is just a "wait" with the command being an approaching car. To train that however you need to be able to have a safe car approach the team repeatedly while also insuring that a rogue driver won't scream past and injure or kill the dog/trainer. Without that skill I don't feel safe having her lead me across busier streets where it is harder to hear an individual car approaching.
The short of it is that it is tough, I do not recommend it and there is also no guarantee that the dog you pick will have an appropriate walking speed for you. The fact is that my lab mix has a slow guiding pace compared to the walking speed that is most comfortable for me, I am taking a male German Shepherd in a week to train with the assistance of a trainer for the same job but the reality is I do risk the fact that the guiding speed just won't be right. But I need much more on top of the guiding, despite noticing deterioration of my vision outside of the light sensitivity.
The short of it is that it is tough, I do not recommend it and there is also no guarantee that the dog you pick will have an appropriate walking speed for you. The fact is that my lab mix has a slow guiding pace compared to the walking speed that is most comfortable for me, I am taking a male German Shepherd in a week to train with the assistance of a trainer for the same job but the reality is I do risk the fact that the guiding speed just won't be right. But I need much more on top of the guiding, despite noticing deterioration of my vision outside of the light sensitivity.
SunOnTheInside [OP] 1 points 1y ago
Thanks so much for the detailed response!
To be honest I’m not surprised to hear what you have to say- I figured that training was professional level and very rigorous, for safety and consistency, and not really something we could do on our own. I really appreciate you taking the time to be specific instead of just saying “no way!”
I respect the work of pros and wouldn’t want to try to do something that could put my partner or our dog in danger.
To be honest I’m not surprised to hear what you have to say- I figured that training was professional level and very rigorous, for safety and consistency, and not really something we could do on our own. I really appreciate you taking the time to be specific instead of just saying “no way!”
I respect the work of pros and wouldn’t want to try to do something that could put my partner or our dog in danger.
MaplePaws 2 points 1y ago
It is possible, I technically did like 90% of it without help. But the difficulty and number of variables attached does mean I heavily recommend against it, and the only reason I am doing it is because I am not getting sufficient care with my optometrist who is now striking anyways. So my vision reports all say I have perfect vision without even a mention of the huge issue of not being able to even open my eyes in a majority of situations. As such there is not a guide dog school that will train for me because on paper I have perfect vision, as a result it is the largest reason why I am independently training my guide dogs. If you are training guide work I would argue that at least in the beginning a sighted person should accompany you whenever are out training to act as a safety net and describe to you what exactly is going on so that you can work with your dog appropriately.
The other part is expense, and going with a program is just going to be cheaper and less time consuming in the long run. Training a service dog is about $10,000+ if you are owner training, and 2+ years especially when you realize that guide work is tougher on the dog's shoulder than a lot of people initially think so it should not even really be started until about 2 years of age. So owner training you are realistically looking at $15,000 per dog/attempt and about 24-30 months of training, dogs often retire around 8-10 years of age so taking an average you would be doing it every 7 years assuming you don't have a dog not complete training. Basically a very real scenario is you are 3 years between dogs when with a program typically it is like 6 months max.
The short of it is if you can get a program guide dog I really don't see a reason for a blind individual to not go that route, the fact is that the dog you get is much more likely to be a better fit than owner training even if you have a strong preference for a breed outside of the ones they train.
The other part is expense, and going with a program is just going to be cheaper and less time consuming in the long run. Training a service dog is about $10,000+ if you are owner training, and 2+ years especially when you realize that guide work is tougher on the dog's shoulder than a lot of people initially think so it should not even really be started until about 2 years of age. So owner training you are realistically looking at $15,000 per dog/attempt and about 24-30 months of training, dogs often retire around 8-10 years of age so taking an average you would be doing it every 7 years assuming you don't have a dog not complete training. Basically a very real scenario is you are 3 years between dogs when with a program typically it is like 6 months max.
The short of it is if you can get a program guide dog I really don't see a reason for a blind individual to not go that route, the fact is that the dog you get is much more likely to be a better fit than owner training even if you have a strong preference for a breed outside of the ones they train.
Ostreoida 5 points 1y ago
Depending on where you live, there may be a formal service-dog training center. Worth checking into. Maybe $1 has leads?
A long time ago, back in the Pleistocene I think, I volunteered there. The velodrome blew my mind. Slightly more recently I worked in a major city that had a Seeing Eye Dog training program near my office. Very, *very* good doggos. Always made me happy to see them out learning the ropes when I was taking my too-short lunch break.
As I'm sure you know, Standards can be amazingly smart, but when they're puppies are like Tigger - built out of rubber and springs!
A long time ago, back in the Pleistocene I think, I volunteered there. The velodrome blew my mind. Slightly more recently I worked in a major city that had a Seeing Eye Dog training program near my office. Very, *very* good doggos. Always made me happy to see them out learning the ropes when I was taking my too-short lunch break.
As I'm sure you know, Standards can be amazingly smart, but when they're puppies are like Tigger - built out of rubber and springs!
codeplaysleep 4 points 1y ago
I haven't, but I have a friend who has.
I don't know that she would consider him a fully qualified guide dog, and I've never known her claim him as such, but he has learned to provide the guidance she needs for her particular vision loss. He helps her a ton and the guiding he does is real - just maybe not as complete.
Note that not all dogs have the capacity to be guide dogs and there's a chance that the dog you've chosen won't work out for the purposes you want. I also have friends like that who tried to owner-train their pet to be a service dog (different type of service dog) and then later got professional trainers involved. In the end, the dog just couldn't do the tasks they needed and the end result was a very obedient pet, not a service animal.
I don't know that she would consider him a fully qualified guide dog, and I've never known her claim him as such, but he has learned to provide the guidance she needs for her particular vision loss. He helps her a ton and the guiding he does is real - just maybe not as complete.
Note that not all dogs have the capacity to be guide dogs and there's a chance that the dog you've chosen won't work out for the purposes you want. I also have friends like that who tried to owner-train their pet to be a service dog (different type of service dog) and then later got professional trainers involved. In the end, the dog just couldn't do the tasks they needed and the end result was a very obedient pet, not a service animal.
SunOnTheInside [OP] 1 points 1y ago
That makes a lot of sense, thank you. I was pretty much expecting that it wouldn’t really be possible, and for all I know our future dog might be dumb as a post, easily distracted, or otherwise a fantastic pet but a *terrible* fit for a service animal.
ginsenshi 2 points 1y ago
I know of a lot of owner trainers who have successfully trained their own guide dogs.
There are a few Facebook groups and groups email lists on the web
There are a few Facebook groups and groups email lists on the web
Trick-Regret-493 2 points 1y ago
Following.
[deleted] 1 points 1y ago
[deleted]
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