Good dogs.

August 31, 2018 7:55 AM

From IFC Films, Pick of the Litter is like Survivor With Puppies: out of 800 dogs every year, who will be good enough to become a guide dog for the blind? NYT review. Description from the Guide Dogs for the Blind web site.
posted by Melismata (16 comments total)

I raised a Guide Dog puppy from a donated litter of black labs. Went through the whole process and gave the dog back to the kennel. The whole litter of 8 or 9 puppies flunked because they were "noise shy" which is, according to one of the trainers, hereditary. I did a paper on the selection process and the conclusion was similar. Very few pups make it through the entire process and become working Guide Dogs. At the time (1976 or so) they said each successful dog was worth around $6,000.
posted by agatha_magatha at 8:12 AM on August 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

Someone's job is to decide which dog isn't a good boy.
posted by Damienmce at 8:37 AM on August 31, 2018 [6 favorites]

Hey, your last link goes to the NYT review instead of the Guide Dogs site.

(One of my cousins has been on a wait list for a year -- I'm very interested in this subject, thanks for the post!)
posted by Iris Gambol at 8:37 AM on August 31, 2018

Woops! Here's the Guide Dogs link.
posted by Melismata at 8:38 AM on August 31, 2018 [2 favorites]

The first dog I grew up with was a rejected guide dog because my parents were friends with a couple who bred golden retrievers and trained them as seeing eye dogs. Our dog, Reggie, was, to put it frankly, nearly untrainably dumb. He never really learned any verbal commands, would run after any ball for hours at a time but never quite figured out that he had to bring it back to get it thrown again, and if you put a blanket over his head he'd just give up and assume that was his life now. Also he was best friends with our tiny vicious cat, happily shared dog kibble with me as a toddler, cured my brother of his fear of dogs, and kept all our toes warm whenever we sat at the table. Reggie was a very good dog, but the fact that he came from a long line of genius guide dogs was pretty unbelievable.

Anyway, point is, I hope all of these rejected puppies have good lives as family doggos just like our wonderful dumb Reggie, RIP (rest in pepperonis).
posted by Mizu at 8:51 AM on August 31, 2018 [27 favorites]

Someone's job is to decide which dog isn't a good boy.

They're all good dogs, Damianmce. Some are good for helping blind people, and some are good for just being h*ckin good buds for non-blind folks.
posted by tclark at 9:11 AM on August 31, 2018 [10 favorites]

Sometimes they just Love Squirrels Too Much.
posted by asperity at 9:24 AM on August 31, 2018

A local guide dog program does training events at the mall down the road from me. Every once in awhile I'll go in and there will be like, 20 adorable dogs in jackets sitting absolutely still next to their trainers. I have to clamp my mouth shut and put my hands in my pockets, because I want so bad to get down on the floor and kiss and pet all the beautiful puppers but I can't 'cause they're on the job.

(My childhood dog King was trained as a hunter, and if you tried to walk him on your right side he would automatically cross over to the left and trip you up in his leash. Most of the people buying gun dogs were men, though, and King was a total ladies' man.)
posted by The Underpants Monster at 9:33 AM on August 31, 2018 [2 favorites]

I raised a guide dog puppy when I was in high school. She was amazing. She was the first pet I ever had that was mine -- I mean, she interacted with the rest of the family, but I was completely responsible for her, and her primary bond was with me. I was very diligent about her socialization and training -- I followed all the rules. When it came time to give her to the Guide Dogs for the Blind people for evaluation, I wasn't too worried -- none of the other puppies raised by the families in the group I volunteered with were ever accepted. I figured I would see her again in a couple weeks. Not only was she accepted, but she did well in training and was placed with a woman in a state very far away from where I lived. When she retired, she stayed with that family. I never saw her again. I have always, always missed her. Wow, it's dusty in here.
posted by OrangeDisk at 9:49 AM on August 31, 2018 [20 favorites]

There's a bunch of good dogs in training on the Illini Service Dogs Instagram
posted by mcmile at 10:37 AM on August 31, 2018

I was at a meeting with Guide Dogs for the Blind, and met a dog that hasn't passed the training. Too easily distracted, which he demonstrated by completing several laps of the meeting room and then trying to scounge a sandwich. Meanwhile the qualified Guide Dog who was also present, stretched, yawned and went back to sleep. I called him a failed guide dog, and I got very firmly told "we don't call them failed".
posted by Helga-woo at 11:25 AM on August 31, 2018 [3 favorites]

I called him a failed guide dog, and I got very firmly told "we don't call them failed".

They're good dogs. They don't fail; they have a "career change".
posted by hydra77 at 12:08 PM on August 31, 2018 [8 favorites]

That is true. Because the bar to be a guide dog is so high, dogs that don't make it are often still very well trained dogs and they'll get passed onto other disability services, or the police or army. It's rare for one to be retired as a family pet (easily distracted dog was going to a home, he was very easily distracted).

I believe the really high bar to pass is training to be both a guide dog and a hearing dog.

They're all good dogs though.
posted by Helga-woo at 5:04 PM on August 31, 2018 [2 favorites]

Having boarded about 35 guide dogs over the years, can confirm they are all good boys/girls.
posted by BozoBurgerBonanza at 6:24 PM on August 31, 2018 [6 favorites]

Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to get to show this movie at a local film festival and I have to say, the theater was some dusty that night. From the back of the top balcony I could hear sniffles from the stage all the way up to the projection booth.

I also got to see tonnes of guide dogs in attendance, too.
posted by flyingfox at 5:19 PM on September 1, 2018

I called him a failed guide dog, and I got very firmly told "we don't call them failed".

They're good dogs. They don't fail; they have a "career change".

asd-yuurikatsuki:

wolferen:

my mom has a friend who has a failed program-service dog and he’s literally my favorite creature

He’s a really smart lab, he learned all the commands, but he just has an affinity for doing them whenever he wants

So this lady’s dog literally turns on-off lights, opens doors, opens the fridge, etc… at his own wishes.

Her house looks like its baby-proofed, with kid safe locks on everything and stuff, but really she just has a dog that’s learned all the mobility service dog commands but has a mind of his own.

Chaotic Good Boy

source
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:05 AM on September 2, 2018 [6 favorites]