Adjustment of guide dogs as helpers of visually impaired people starts after having completed their first year of life and after having been through all the necessary medical examination.

As already mentioned in the Bringing up the puppies section, most of the puppies live in cretaker families and attend school regularly. Their training takes from 6 to 8 months depending on different factors and circumstances. They of course have free weekends to relax and gather back their energy.

According to their schedule, every dog learns patiently and rigorously to manage their excercises, gains experience in different environment and situations under the leadership of an experienced person. The adjustment itself has different degrees of difficulty and takes place in public places, where people usually go. We visit shopping centres, post office, waiting rooms, pharmacies etc. We often take the public transport, our main target are railway stations, where we show the dogs how to get on and off the car, how to behave in a compartment. In general, dogs have no problem taking whatever means of transport. Surprisingly, when there is an option of walking up the stairs or using an escalator dogs would very often use the efortless option. The escalator trick must be taught carefully, otherwise dogs could get their nails injured. That’s why some training centers abroad dropped teaching how to deal with escalators.

The peak of a guide dog’s work then form situations in which they have to make an idependent decission on which way to go to avoid unexpected obstacles. Those can for example be vehicles parked on pavements or big advertising banners. Other difficulties may arrise when a dog doesn’t have a good overview of the situation and still has to react adequately.

And what do the trainers like most of all? That their duties include visits of restaurants and social events in order to introduce the dogs to the environment full of smelly goodies as well as crowds of people.

Not all dogs actually end up working with blind people. Their career might be terminated by lack of confidence, indecisiveness while working, intolerance or aggressiveness towards others. Guide dogs must be completely healthy both physically and psychically, as they have to help their master for as long as they are physically able. Sometimes a dog appears that isn’t really excited about working for a person, does its work without enthusiasm. Even those do not start their service. It is a must that dogs are happy, and glad they can work for their owner.

In case there are any doubts about suitability of a dog for the guide dog service, the first thing we do is offer them to their caretaker families – then they become pets. In many dogs that have some health problems these don’t show because the dogs are not exceedingly busy. We are often adressed by families with handicapped children who these dogs then live with. Many of these children visit some casnistherapy sessions, and having a dog at home is a big advantage for them. Eventually, if a dog is not suitable for children (e.g. prefers being outside), we offer them to people who show interest in them. These are often eldery people whose children have left home and they feel lonely. There are not many discarded dogs, we try to select puppies carefully, but such situations cannot be avoided. It is taken for granted that we have the right to check on the dog in its new family, we need to be sure that the dog is satisfied and receives good treatment.