It's been some time since our first attempts at training guide dogs. Compared to those days, now we usually start with training when our puppies are just two monts old. The dog breeds that are most commonly used to do this job all over the world are golden retriever, labrador retriever, german sheperd, white swiss sheperd, and recently aswell flat coated retriever and gracious king poodle. Ocasionally these breeds get intentionally crossbred. Our school trains some crossbreeds of king poodle and golden retriever – so called goldendoodles, we have brought those from abroad. In the country of their origin there's big demand of these dogs. They are still pioneers in the Czech Republic though.

Selected puppies which meet the requirements for healthy growth and suitable traits are brought up by caretaker families. They are both students and families with grown up kids. All of them know that, after 10 months, the puppy will become a grown up dog and will eventually leave someday to work for a blind person. This is what they have to keep in mind while bringing up the dog. We rely on them to teach the puppies to trust people, share a house or flat with them, use public transport and cope with the turmoil of the city. Do guide dogs have any taboos? Yes, they mustn't beg for food, sleep in people's beds. They have their own private place where they shouldn't be disturbed, where they can relax. We provide all the essentials for our puppies, cover all costs including suitable food and vet care.

We are always ready to give caretakers a hand with their puppies, give advice, teach them how to react if a puppy misbehaves, how to regulate its behaviour. Puppies learn through games so that they enjoy the training. A coordinator takes care of the puppy training. Every 2 weeks puppies get together and learn how to behave in company of other dogs, learn to leave a game when being called for and many other skills. You can pretty often meet these puppies wearing bright green jackets saying „I'm going to be a guide dog“ in Brno – Luzanky, in the centre of Brno near Vaňkovka and Tesco, but aswell near the dam, where they are taught to ignore the tempting water and swimming. The puppies gradually learn to differenciate between time for fun and time for work.

To become a caretaker, one only needs to have possitive attitude to dogs, to be kind but persistent while bringing up a dog, to be able to eventually give the dog up for the benefit of a disabled person. The people who have no insight into the world of blind people and their dogs would often think that the dogs are like slaves and work all the time. Of course not. There must be equal amount of work and fun, they got to run, play with the others. Compared to other dogs, that just wait at home before their owner gets back from work, guide dogs follow their caretakers everywhere, to work or school.

The puppies would stay with their caretakers from about 2 months of age to their first birthday. Then the caretaker may decide if they want to keep the dog even through the guide dog training period, which lasts 6-8months. After some health examinations, in case everything is fine, a dog becomes a regular student of the guide dog school. Every weekday the caretakers bring them to school in the morning, there they are trained during the day and eventually picked up in the evening to go home and rest. No mistake – dogs love the school, each one has a training programme adjusted just to their special needs. Wouldn't you appreciate to get a treat and be petted every time you do a good job?

And what is the reward for the caretakers for this demanding work? The caretakers have an option to meet again with the dog that used to be their puppy once. We organise special weekends where the caretakers can reunite with the dog and meet its owner too. These are usually very moving events, where both the former and the current owners remeber together all the roguery the dogs have ever commited, they share their stories by a bonfire and dogs just run about happy they have all their pack of people together.

Are you interested in giving your time and love to one of our puppies? Please contact us for further information.