Expectations

Raising a guide dog puppy comes with no shortage of high expectations. You are preparing this puppy for training which will teach him to guide a visually impaired individual. That is no small responsibility for a dog to take on, so it can be easy to get into the trap of wanting the puppy to be perfect.

The problem is, puppies aren’t perfect. They are going to exhibit behaviors that will baffle you, or frustrate you. No two puppies are alike, and as soon as you feel like you have this raising thing down, a mischievous new pup will come along to respond in a completely unexpected way that humbles you.

In puppy raising, you are giving the dog tools and behaviors in order to help him grow well-adjusted and well behaved. Dog training is a journey, not a destination. There are no quick fixes; there is no perfection. Mammalian behavior is never 100% reliable. Success will be mostly incremental, with occasional great leaps forward as well as regressions backwards.

Keeping that in mind, here are some categories where expectation adjustment can help you and the puppy achieve success.

1. House manners

Most dog breeds are not mature adults at a year and a half old. Retrievers are definitely not. Some individuals will display more maturity early on than others, but there is most definitely still a puppy inside of them. So generally, not a single dog will come in-for-training completely trustworthy when it comes to house manners. It is expected that when a dog comes in-for-training, he will still be well versed with tie-down and crate usage. In fact, when we send the dog home as a guide dog, he goes home with strict rules about tie downs, crates, and leash tethers at all times in order to continue to enforce good behavior.

House manners are a difficult, nebulous concept for dogs. Dogs are inherently scavengers and opportunistic eaters. Why wouldn’t they knock over the trashcan to get to the food they smell inside, or reach onto the counter to grab a snack? From a survival standpoint, that behavior makes sense. No one let the dogs know that meals will come with regularity, and there is no need to gorge. That leftover instinct is also why shredding items (such as paper) or chewing on toys feels so satisfying to them. Part of the hunting/eating prey sequence is still coded inside.

The best way to ensure good house manners is through prevention. Behaviors such as counter surfing or trashcan hunting are self-rewarding behaviors; if the dog attempts the behavior and finds food there, he has just become far more likely to attempt that behavior again.

If you know you are going to have food on the counter and your attention is going to be diverted from the puppy, he needs to be on tie-down. Even if you think he wouldn’t dare attempt to put paws on the counter, it’s a much better practice to be safe than sorry. I’ve seen too many handlers get lulled into a false sense of security, believing the pup to be more trustworthy than he actually is. Often, the puppy just hasn’t tried that behavior yet, and one day, he is bored and feeling extra curious... and the first counter surfing attempt appears.

It is MUCH easier than to prevent problems than it is to fix them.

Blue Cape entry:
House Manners

2. Leash manners

Every so often, a dog comes along that naturally falls into a comfortable walking pace and doesn’t ever challenge the leash. Mostly, guide dog puppies will not be that kind of dog.

Loose leash walking, of all the behaviors we ask of our dogs, is probably the one that makes the least sense to them. Why would they walk at an agonizingly slow pace, ignoring every interesting thing they pass? There are scents to be investigated and dogs to visit and leaves to pick up... as far as the dogs are concerned, we are the most boring walkers on the planet. Combine that with guide dogs needing to have an innate desire to drive forward and take the lead, and you get a dog with a tendency to pull or lunge on leash.

So if you find this the toughest command to teach the puppy you are raising, congratulations. You have a normal dog.

Think of loose leash walking as a complicated trick. When you approach teaching it as an unnatural behavior that must be broken down into steps, it tends to be a little less stressful (if not any less time consuming). It is a comprehensive undertaking that involves a lot of persistence and consistency on the part of the handler.

As a reminder, here is a great video resource on teaching leash manners:

Loose Leash Walking 

3. Jumping on people

If you have a dog that jumps on people, ask yourself whether or not the dog jumps in the following scenarios?

-       On leash with strangers?

-       On leash with familiar people?

-       Off leash (in a fenced yard or in the house) with strangers? Familiar people?

-       When being greeted by someone calm and quiet?

-       When being greeted by someone loud and excited?

-       When the dog first gets out of the crate?

-       At the front door?

-       At the back door?

-       When putting on the leash?

-       When visitors first arrive in the home?

-       After visitors have been there for 30 minutes? An hour?

-       While the family watches television?

-       When the dog has a toy in his mouth?

-       While the dog is eating treats?

-       When someone approaches the dog making direct eye contact?

-       When someone approaches the dog but the dog is facing the handler and getting treats?

-       Walking past crowds of people who are not paying attention to him?

Out of those possible scenarios, there are likely several during which the dog is less likely to jump. Some of those scenarios would be very difficult for just about any dog, while others are likely to be successful. Expect that the dog will jump; if you are struggling with it, do not allow people to greet the puppy if you are in a scenario where you think the puppy will be unsuccessful. If you run into excited people in a mall who are making eye contact with him and want to say hello, you may have to tell them that the pup is in training and working when he has his coat on. If you really do want to allow the pup to say hello, at least take his coat off first so that he doesn’t have a chance to practice the jumping behavior in coat.

If however, you are at a Publix where everyone knows your pup, and you have some helpful employees willing to help you, try having them greet your pup quietly while the pup is facing you and eating cookies. If the pup jumps, take a step away with him and try again. Utilize helpful people when you can and create a scenario where the pup can succeed. If he is too excited, try again another day.

Blue Cape Entries:

Greeting Behaviors
Jumping

4. General training and behavior

Dogs are like people in that they can have good days as well as bad days. The puppy might perform beautifully in a variety of situations, then one day is just off his game and doesn’t seem to want to listen. There could be a lot of reasons for this, including hormones, stress build up, or just not feeling up to it. They can also pick up on the handler’s mood, so if you get frustrated or anxious, the puppy’s behavior may be affected as a result.

Dogs also do not generalize very well. Even small changes in environment and routine can affect command responsiveness. The dog may be so focused on novel stimuli that he doesn’t fully hear you, or he is having trouble processing the command and it’s meaning. It is good practice to warm a dog up with familiar, simple, well-rewarded obedience before embarking on a novel exposure, or entering an exciting environment (such as a mall or a pet store). This will help the puppy get into “thinking mode”, and will also give him time to process the environment. Don’t rush the puppy into an exposure if he tells you (through his lack of listening or normal responses) that he’s not ready.

Blue Cape entry: 

What to do when the puppy says no