Impressive, Kirk usually gets distracted trying to say hello to people in the queue though most of the shops round here are fairly cramped. He is trained to recognise shops by name though, of course it's always possible he simply goes to the nearest place he remembers going in but luckily nowhere I go is next door to anywhere else I go so far.

I did have to teach him what the word bed means however. How it worked was I'd hold out a rawhide cigar chew and say bed while standing next to it and tapping it with my toes, he didn't get the chew until he got on the bed. He'd then promptly get off again but he'd have gone completely librarian poo if I'd tried taking it away to get him back on there. The original thinking was actually to try to discourage him from laying in the middle of the floor with it where I'd trip over him, because I gave him the chews most days both because he enjoys them and they're good for his teeth he got the idea fairly easily. It took him maybe a month or so to get him to stop trying different variations like laying next to the bed, sitting up on the bed and so on. After a little longer I found I was able to send him to his bed when he misbehaved or was otherwise getting out of hand, he knew what the word meant and didn't expect a reward for it. It took longer to persuade him when he's been sent there he doesn't come straight back out again, and to this day I still often have to stand next to the bed pointing and clicking my fingers but that's because he's stubborn. He still keeps trying to get away with laying next to the bed.

In fact he's very, very much like me when I was a small child. This gives me a great deal of sympathy for my poor mum of course lol.

@haramir,  the answer to what your guide dog does while you do something else is pretty much sleep! dogs sleep around 18 hours a day (well they're supposed to), so will just click off. ass long as you make sure that the dog doesn't need the loo, and that you do something stimulating for the dog during the day as well. When I am at my yearly music school and Reever is pretty much expected to sit still while I'm in several hours of singing classes I'll always take her for a run each morning, ---- though she equally gets a lot of running around through different classes at music school too.

One of the reasons in fact I got reever is that she's so relaxed she doesn't mind what I'm doing. If I'm nipping down to London on a train for a vocal studdies course or heading to a conference for a day she's fine with that, if I'm in all day working, or just playing games and relaxing she's fine with that too, though i make sure to give her at least a 40 minute working walk a day (my local sandwich shop has become very fond of me), and usually either a free run out the back or 20 minutes wandering around some little lanes on a long lead, (which is also cane practise.

I'm afraid I don't know about Brzil. You could try guide dogs here in Britain, sinse I do know some of the trainers have gone to other countries to set schools up. Also while in Britain the dogs are essentially free I don't know how the costs would work in another country sinse in Britain at least the training, breeding etc for a dog basically means guide dogs cost about £15000 each, that's roughly 22000 dollars. Of course this is total value of the Dog, not what any person actually has to pay.

Btw, amusing story. Apparently in the early 2000's, several robbers broke into the guide dog breeding center in Lemington to attempt to steel valuable puppies. The problem was they didn't do their homework and ended up breaking into the police dog training section of the center instead (sinse though the two are different they share the same building and kennel facilities). Apparently the police arrived to find the robbers huddled in one corner of the kennel with about 20 very inthusiastic Alsatians telling them in no uncertain terms to stay there :d.

@Cx2, names of shops is good goping. My Gran always had her dogs learn the names of local shops, though for me I go to dtoo several parts of the country to make it a good idea, usually I just tell Reever to find the door of somewhere when we're close, and if we're not going in that particular place that day I'll just tell her not today. Generally I've tried to teach her specific objects rather than places such as seats, counters and bus stops. She actually enjoys crowds and working her way around them, indeed it's sort of ironic that where I used too always go shopping at 8.30 in the morning, now I tend to go when it's busy just because Reever enjoys it so much. She's also very good at following someone, which is handy in shops when walking around with the assistant or following friends, all I need to do is point to the person and say "follow"

Reever likes those hide chews as well, though she only tends to get them on a day when I'm not going anywhere else as compensation :d.

Regarding lying in the  middle of the floor, well what I did with reever is what i did with various other dogs I've had, which is if I am walking along and know she's in front of me gently nudge her out of the way with my toe. A few occasions of this and she learns to move out the way or to lie in very specific places, ---- indeed she likes corners. Right now she's on my harth rug (which she's very fond of), which is not on any of the routes I'd go around the room at all.

Regarding punishments, well with Reever a raised voice usually stops her fairly quickly sinse she's so gentle, though on the few occasions I've had to let her know she's done something really bad I use a trick i learnt with Jess the bull terrier pup I had from when I was 13 to 26 (and the principle reason I didn't get a guide dog earlier). Don't speak to, look at or otherwise acknolidge the dog, just take by the colar, walk into an empty room, let go and turn around and walk off. If the dog comes out do again, then after a few minutes just call the dog back.

The key thing is not to speak, It's to do with being abandoned and not part of the pack and really is not nice for a dog, which is why I've only done it to reever a couple of times and only when she's done something particularly bad, like try and go to talk to other dogs repeatedly during a walk (including when crossing roads), or attempting to steal food out of someone's hand, though both are things she's not done now for over a year, and I didn't need to repeat afterdoing the anbadonment thing once.

Actually in general she's extremely good, as well as very person orientated, indeed part of the reason I make dam sure to take her for walks each day is that it would be far too easy as she's such an  undemanding dog to take her for granted.

Hello folks! So Dark, can you please talk to a trainer and give me an idea of how much would it costs? Or at least point me a site where I can keep in touch with the training center? I'd be glad to be in a place like this where the dogs are so well cared for. I wouldn't tolerate if I apply for a guide dog and discover later on that the animals were mistreated.
Best regards, Haramir.

Kirk is a little sod about not toileting out back, he purposely saves it up for his runs. I've tried to break him of this habit but even when I've got him to go consistently beforehand he still does something on the run. I guess that's just him.

Hello again folks! Wow, thanks Dark!
Best regards, Haramir.

Ah, fair enough. With reever it needed fixingsinse the back garden isn't precisely just mine but a large space of rass I share with people in the three other lfats in my block and the block next door. This is actually good sinse the lady enxt door has a small jack russel who likes playing with Reever out the back, but obviously I don't want reever going out there where I can't find it if it can be avoided.

I don't have a mike anymore haramin, so haven't used Skype for years, indeed I deleted the program from my computer in around 2010 and I suspect my account has expired by now, plus I'm not usually a chat software sort of person anyway.

I'm still not sure whether you could apply to the Uk for a dog or how much it would cost, I have a nasty feeling it is uk only but sinse the office was closed when I phoned this afternoon (it must've been their half day), I will have to try tomorrow.

Hi!

Sorry for resurrecting this thread once again, but the way i see it is, this is a good resource for anyone that is thinking of getting a guide dog anyway.

The reason for the resurrection is to let everyone know that I am finally getting my dog tomorrow or Monday.

She is a golden lab, her name is Fiona.
I'm really excited but nervous at the same time.  I just read the whole thread again; It makes me feel like I'm preparing when it probably won't do much for me in the long run. lol

I agree with Cx2. As I said earlier in this thread, bare in mind it takes time for things to settle down and probably the first couple of weeks won't be easy but it is worth perciveering.

I never had a dog of any description before Kirk so in my case it was at least a couple months, so be patient. If you at all like animals of any description the bond will happen, just don't feel guilty like I did because it hasn't happened yet and everyone always talks about how you must have fallen in love with the dog already.

In my case I had to learn to read Kirk's behaviour without sight, since I grew up with cats I was used to having an audio cue for when they're happy in their purring as well as having to learn a dog's body language or what I can tell of it. It takes time to tune in to what they're thinking and how they're feeling but you will get there.

Kirk loved me almost right away, I just had trouble feeling the connection in return and that's what made me feel guilty.

As for telling what they're thinking, I'm perfectly good at it now like you say I simply didn't have the experience with dogs. I hadn't spent any time at all with dogs and not having an audio cue for when he was happy was a big hurdle for me to get past. Like you and Reever we're inseparable now, it just took some getting used to from my end of things and luckily Kirk was persistent enough that he never gave up on me.

I never disliked him, I simply had to get through the shock of having this hyperactive fuss pot hanging around me all the time and learn what his behaviour means.