MATCH DAY!

This is such an exciting day in the whole process at Southeastern Guide Dogs.
This is the day that 10 dogs get picked to go and start the next and most important part of a guide dog’s life. For me as a trainer this is my favorite part of training. It starts before we even know what students will be in our class. We start scrutinizing our string of dogs and getting to know the dogs that were what we refer to as “pass backs."These are dogs that are ready for that next step in their lives but did not find the perfect student to be placed with in the previous class. These will be the dogs we try to place first. We start looking at records and discussing the dogs with all the trainers. We make sure we know exactly what pace the dog walks in harness, what kind of pull the dog has. Essential is what level of confidence the dog has. We check to see what distractions they may have, what problems they may have worked through, and what their personalities are. We check to see if they are strong on leash, if they need more praise or if they tend to be aloof. We look to see what kind of house manners they have. We always want to know how they are around kids or if they have any issues with small animals. We assess their strong suits, are they comfortable in heavy traffic or better suited for traveling in the country with no sidewalks. If they are what we call a soft dog, a dog that does not need much of a correction or if they get excited easily. How dog distracted are they? What will they be like in a class setting? Do they settle nicely on tie down, or do they have separation anxiety and cry and whine? Most importantly what person might be the right fit for this particular guide dog?
These are all things to consider when matching a guide dog with a student. Some students have lots of animals, or they have children or they may teach and are around children. They might travel often, or walk in heavy traffic. They may have a spouse they always travel with, or they travel independently. They could have no vision, or see shadows, they may be able to see a little during the day, but at night they have no vision. They could work in an office, or frequent conventions where they will be around other dogs. They might have had five previous guide dogs or are getting their very first guide dog. We have to think about how much strength a student has along with how much stamina a dog has.
I am going to give you a scenario to give you an idea of the things we find out about the student before they come to class, and things we start looking for in a dog in the beginning stages of our match process. Say we have a young girl who is 5'2" and 110 lbs. we will call her Suzy. Suzy has very little vision but has a fairly fast pace. She is a first time guide dog user. She lives in the middle of nowhere, but goes to school on a collage campus. She has family that is very supportive. When Suzy is in school she has to travel on her own. The family has one small dog. She is very active going to Science Fiction conventions where people are dressed in costumes. She also does a lot of traveling with the family, mostly by car. On occasion she will fly.
First thing we might consider is looking for a smaller dog. If not small at least a dog that is easy to handle. Suzy’s size alone would make it hard for her to handle a large dog. We do not want to see Suzy on her face during the first few days of class. Then we would make sure the dog is going to walk at the same pace Suzy prefers to walk. This is a very crucial part of the matching process. No one wants to walk at a pace they can not keep up with or have a dog they feel is dragging his feet compared to their pace. With this, we factor in how hard the dog pulls in harness. This is a personal preference, whether they like to feel a strong hard pull or a softer, lighter pull.
We also make sure the dog out of harness is a good match for Suzy. She will have to take the dog out to relieve it. She has to have the strength to control the dog on leash. Sometimes this can be a challenge, especially in the getting acquainted stages. For Suzy we definitely do not want a dog that will be too strong for her. We don’t want to give her a dog if it has a tendency to want to chase a squirrel lets say. This kind of dog needs to go to someone that will let that dog know it is not acceptable the first time. We will want to give her a dog that is going to behave on a collage campus where there are lots of young people with lots of distractions. We also want a dog that gets along well with little dogs because she will be spending time at her families house. Then because she goes to Science Fiction conventions this dog definitely needs to be tested around people with costumes. That is something we would go out of our way to do before making a final choice. Normally a very sound dog will not have any issues with this. Better safe than sorry. At this point we have plenty of information to start thinking about a potential placement for Suzy.
When Suzy comes in the first thing the trainers will do is to get to know her a little more personally, figuring out her personality. We can factor that in while choosing the perfect dog. We also do a test walk with her so we can check out her pace and pull one more time. We call this a Juno walk. We have a harness that the student holds on to and we walk with the student. One trainer takes the part of the dog “Juno” While the other trainers walk behind picking up on anything that might help narrow down what dog would be best for Suzy. She might have a slight drift or an uneven gate. We also get an idea what kind of voice she will be using with the dog because we ask her to give Juno commands. “Forward Juno” "Good boy!" We also do a test walk with dogs from another string to get a good idea what kind of handling skills they have and what kind of control they will have over different types of dogs. At this point there is always a favorite dog that the students want for one reason or another which we have to reiterate that these were test dogs and no one is getting that dog.
Finally when everyone has had a turn it is time for the trainers to disappear and go over the records one last time. At this time a list of possible candidates for each student is made. Then each trainer makes a case to why a certain dog should go to a certain student. This goes on until everyone is in agreement or 1:00 p.m. which ever comes first. lol! Anyway, the decisions have been finalized. This is an exciting day. A day everyone has been waiting for. All the trainers, all the kennel assistants, all the medical staff, all the Puppy Raisers! We can’t wait to see which dogs have made it to the big day. Match Day! Now it is time to tell the students. We gather everyone in the Day Room. There is always staff that has sneaked away from their normal routine to get the news first hand. We tell the students the name, sex, and breed of the dog they are going to receive to be their eyes and constant companion. It is so much fun to see the reactions and excitement of the students. They all go back to their rooms where, one by one, we knock on their door and tell them to call THEIR dog. The dogs are so excited they take a little time to settle down and the dog is handed over to the person that is now going to take care of them and love them and be part of their world. This is the day they have been groomed their entire life in the hope that this day would be realized. We then leave them in their room to let the bonding start and reality sink in. Now the work begins!