It was a sunny Saturday morning and 39 degrees F. at the Cool Springs Costco in Franklin, TN. Five Labrador Retriever puppies and their trainers lined up in a row outside the tire center for a 2-hour Southeastern Guide Dog puppy-training session. Costco was chosen because there are so many sights, smells, and sounds there: new people, lots of children, food, cars and car mechanics, grocery carts, and lights. The more the guide dogs are exposed to, the more likely they are to accept these situations with confidence when they become adults.
At first, my duty was to be the distracter. I walked in front of, behind, and between the puppies; so they could learn to stay seated when given the command, “Sit, Stay.” Then, I was handed a leash with an 8-month-old black Lab, Laney, on the other end. Little did I know that I was the one being trained.
With their royal blue coats on, which are precursors to the harness, the puppies were not only officially practicing their skills but also were acting as ambassadors of the guide dog program. Passersby chatted with the puppy trainers about the dogs and their own dogs. Children wanted to pet the dogs, of course, and they were allowed to pet Buddy, since he is only 11 weeks old. The older puppies are supposed to stay focused on training.
Older puppies were expected to go by the food court pizzas and hot dogs without begging for food. In addition, people suddenly appeared from around corners. They stopped. They changed directions. Televisions blared from the electronics section. Laney strode past cleaning supplies, dog food and cat food, sweet rolls, raw meat, and rotisserie chicken. The lady at the buffalo chicken sampling station asked me if Laney could have a little treat. Of course the answer was a polite, “No.” This was a well-intentioned request, but can you imagine if Laney went diving after every food opportunity while leading a visually impaired person?
Not one of the dogs, which are bred for disposition and obedience, barked at or appeared anxious about anything. There were “corrections” being made by the trainers, but praise is the primary motivator for the dogs. No food treats are given for performing duties.
Most of the puppies will graduate from this puppy training program and are sent to the Southeastern Guide Dog “college” in Florida. About 40% of the puppies become guide dogs. Others are retrained to perform as bomb-sniffers, facility therapy dogs, or Veteran service dogs. Some may become family pets.
I practiced 3 or 4 commands with the help of Laney’s trainer. You only tell the dog to “sit” one time. If the dog sits, you praise them. If they don’t, you push their rear ends down into position. At every doorway, we stopped and she sat. Then we passed through, and again stopped on the other side to alert the visually impaired person that they are in a doorway. One of the coolest commands was saying, “Left-left; Left-left,” to Laney. She was supposed to turn left at the next opening wherever that was. She did! I was amazed. I praised her and she wagged her tail. It would be hard to tell who was the happiest.
For more information about this wonderful program, visit Southeastern Guide Dogs at http://www.guidedogs.org/. Check out the puppy cam.
*Many thanks to Area Coordinator Becky Dan for editing the blog this week.
©Rita Venable 2013