Cute Guide Dog Video!

Jaylie

Ooh! This is so cute! Watch it! Tell me what you think!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KTSyljGoSBo

iwantmypup

Awwe that is one of the most cutiest tthing ever (that doesnt make sense sorry :P )

I loved it hahah! was so funny!

Jaylie

Yes...That's a mean doggie though!!

iwantmypup

hehe yeaha...I loved when he peed on the ball LOL! funny meanie puppy!

sillylilykitty

That was a cute video! Hey Jaylie, can you tell me more about GDA??

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Jaylie

Sure! That's my favorite subject!! Some people think I talk too much about it so...I haven't talked about it much on this forum, but since you asked...Lol!

Okay! GDA is a non profit orginization that raises and trains guide dogs for people who are legally blind. (We don't like to use the phrase "The Blind." That's what hangs in your window.) The dogs start out in the breeding program that they have. The breeder dogs are dogs who have the best temperment, and they are usually chosen right before they would go in-for-training. Anyway, the puppies are with their fur-mom for seven weeks, and then the puppy raisers come and pick up all of them. It's really cool, because they assign "Litter Letter's" for naming purposes, so, Jaylie is in the "J" litter. Some of her littermates are Jordan, Jaclyn, JJ, Jensen, and Jaya. So, the pups stay with their puppy-raisers for sixteen months, and then they either get a "Career Change," (Where they become either pets or are donated to some other working/service dog field) or they go on for five months of intense training in the harness. After five months, if they haven't gotten too stressed out by all the change to become guides, (If they have, they go back to their puppy-raisers.) then they are matched with their partner! They stay for another month, so the instructors can teach the person how to use their new dog. The day is packed full of things they have to do to learn...It starts out easy, you know, just learning how to walk around the campus, but then it goes to crossing streets, riding subways, navigating through crowds, etc...When they aren't doing walks with their guides they are listening to lectures from the trainers on proper dog care, how to keep up on the training and such. And then they go home with their new dog, and live happily ever after!! At least, until the dog retires, usually at eight or ten years old. Then the person can either adopt him and get a new dog, or the dog will go back to his puppyraisers, and they adopt him. The only reason the person wouldn't want to adopt him, is sometimes the old dog gets jealous of the new dog that comes and takes his place.

Wow, and that's just part of it! Since it is a non profit orginization, they rely only on donations and fundraisers, because they don't have any government funding. So, there's constantly things that I am going to with Jaylie, because they like to have puppy raisers there, because when people see puppies, OF COURSE they want to donate! There's quite a few fundraisers coming up here...There's a motercycle run, with raffles and puppy stops, all sorts of things...Then there's a veterinarians hospital that's celebrating "Hero Dogs," so me and two other puppy raisers are going to be there, representing GDA. There's alot of stuff coming up! You can go to their website if you want, it's www.guidedogsofamerica.org it's a cool website. Check out all of their stuff! It's awesome.

sillylilykitty

Yeah I checked out the website it is cool and I am still interested. But what about you? How did you get into it? I read that in California you have to go to 3 years of training yourself first?! I dont think I could do that, you said they just tell you what to do.
I guess what im trying to say is that I get what puppy raisers do, but how do I get into it?

peace36

Loved the video thanks for posting that. Really made me smile.

Jaylie

Oh! Okay.

The three years thing that you saw...That's for the people to become the Instructors for the school...Doing the real training for the guides, and evaluating the blind students that want guides. Yay! You're interested in puppy raising? That's great. There's always a need for puppy raisers. Well, how I got into it: I wanted a dog, so I was googling and looking for breeders. I found a breeder that donated litters to a guide dog school, but that one was in MD. After reading more about puppy raisers, I knew that's what I wanted to do, so then I was looking for places in California for me to be with. I found GDA. All I had to do, was request an application, then about a week later, I got it in the mail, then I filled it out, sent it in, and about another week I got an introductory letter. It told me that someone would be calling me to set up an in-home interview. So, after I was accepted, (Which isn't that hard to do...The interview was mostly informing me of what I would be doing) I just waited a couple months, and then the puppy manager called and said that she had a puppy ready for me. Then you go to a puppy-orientation, and they tell you all what to expect and such, and then you go home with your pup! You can always call for problems, and there's obedience classes you can take, and you're required to go to a meeting once a month.

So, your thing by your name says you live in Colorado...I looked up some guide dog schools near you, and here's some of their names and their websites.

Canine Companions for Independence: This one's HQ's are in California, but they have a chapter near you. They aren't Guide Dogs, but I'm sure they're just as much fun to train! You can check out their main page at www.cci.org

Well, I have to leave now, but if you want to, I could PM you some more places.

Gail T

Great Video, Loved it!

Any more to share?

Puppies Rule!

I watched it 4 times and it still gets me! Wow i wonder how that dog can jump over that HUGE fence!

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