Had a great talk with the Leader Dogs for the Blind people..

[Mary Plummer]

...at our pet supply store today! The people there were the "puppy people" who raise pups until they're old enough to start the more formal training. I got to meet a Golden Retriever puppy, a German Shepherd, and a Viszla. This program is one begun by the Lions Club of Michigan in 1939. 70% of puppies finish, whereas only 35% adult dogs do. I guess the puppy fosters need to expose the puppies to as much as possible - new people, dogs, being around traffic, etc. I asked about whether or not they train a person's current adult dog, and they said sometimes, but it's very rare. Most adult dogs are too "set in their ways." I guess the dogs go through regular obedience courses, and then are taught to "disobey" at times. For example, if their person says "Go" at an intersection, the leader dog is taught to NOT obey if there's traffic coming. I was pretty impressed at this; those dogs when fully trained are really incredible! They asked what kind of dog I had, and I said a hound mix. One of the people laughed a bit and said hound dogs are NOT good candidates for this, that in some ways they're "too smart," and too independent (Mr. Blue agrees with this). The other lady said that part of the hound dog is the ability to think for itself, and act on it, so they don't make good candidates. I was agreeing with this assessment of hound dogs, and of course I'm not biased In their experience, the program has only had one beagle-mix puppy, who didn't make it past the first obedience round! It was really a fascinating discussion, and the pups were adorable!