Comments on: 3 Essential Tips On How To Train Your Dog Like A Guide Dog

By: Julie Patterson

Julie Patterson — Sun, 18 Sep 2022 21:14:52 +0000

I have had dogs most of my life and they were generally all well trained and behaved. A few years ago l had a brain tumor. Treatment is causing my vision to steadily deteriorate. I would like to find out about training my own support / guide dog. It will give me and a dog time to learn together. I do not know when my vision will go to zero and you do not qualify for a guide dog until your vision is zero. Then is cost thousands of dollars.
How can l learn how to choose a puppy and train them before l am completely blind

By: rachel poore

rachel poore — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 13:49:55 +0000

In reply to Katie.

I too have a new puppy who is so HYPER, LOL. I find that a brisk, long-ish walk helps calm her down before working on training (or grooming). She’s tired so it’s easier for her to sit and stay. I am a liberal treat user but also apply intermittent reinforcement – mix it up between treats and praise only. l

By: Katie

Katie — Mon, 02 Apr 2018 18:01:40 +0000

We just got our new puppy Nora on Friday. She is 7 weeks and into everything. She’s doing pretty well with potty training–we’ve had her for 3 full days and she’s only had 3 accidents all three were our fault of course. She plays very rough with her toys and she’s biting and attacking ALL THE THINGS. I read your post about biting and we were on track with training but not following through completely. I’ll be better about that. Nora is a STRONG WILLED girl. She was told no and barked at us…she’s only now learning that word but it’s because we’re using it A LOT! I wanted to teach her to sit and stay but she gets so hyper and it’s hard to do when she’s constantly getting into things. Should I wait until she’s gotten better about biting and more acquainted with her new surroundings before I focus on the rest of the commands? Right now we’re teaching Nora her name, the command No, potty training, crate training, biting inhibition, and socialization (we live in an apartment complex with a yard and dog park so socializing is happening no matter what.)–I feel like I’m expecting too much of her and myself to try and teach it all right away. Should I wait until she’s mastered one of the above and then add to it or does it need to all be done at the same time?

By: Sandra Hardy

Sandra Hardy — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 16:34:02 +0000

I was given a a lab puppy he was donated to me to have trained for my guide dog. At what point can we take him to Dog parks and stores without the threat of Parvo or other diseases.

By: Mimi

Mimi — Mon, 11 Sep 2017 16:35:10 +0000

Is it common for a person to bring a young puppy up to an area where they serve food and hold the puppy while ordering?

By: Colby

Colby — Wed, 28 Dec 2016 00:25:21 +0000

In reply to Barbara Rivers. The guide and service dog schools issue vests and ID cards to puppy raisers like myself. We are also trained in how we (humans and puppies in training) should act and interact with the public.

By: Barbara Rivers

Barbara Rivers — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 16:37:44 +0000

How do you go about taking puppies you raise to the movie theaters, Colby? Do you have some kind of a training vest that identifies them as GDA in training puppies, or some other kind of ID?

By: Colby

Colby — Tue, 09 Feb 2016 02:05:01 +0000

In reply to chris. That's great! I've seen Guide Dogs for the Blind has been doing work with different methods of training for their guide dogs which is great. However, I'm just a puppy raiser and I have minimal input with the Guide Dogs of America trainers and how puppies are trained in their program. At the moment I'm raising and training a service dog using clicker training. I'd love to hear more about how others are training their guide and service dogs. Thank you for stopping by!

By: chris

chris — Sat, 30 Jan 2016 16:46:26 +0000

I definitely have nothing against this article and am glad you use force free training methods. However I just wanted to make a note about how you use no food in training because you think it will make it harder for the dogs to ignore food. Actually, when used correctly food is an extremely powerful- and effective- reinforce and only if used incorrectly will it make the dog LESS attentive. Guide Dogs for the Blind thinks so as well- they found that when they began using food as rewards the dogs were even better at ignoring food, not worse.

By: Colby

Colby — Mon, 11 Nov 2013 21:22:13 +0000

In reply to meghan nieto. The guide dog school I volunteer for breeds all of their own dogs. As far as I know they usually do not accept outside dogs into the program.