Guide Dog Fails And Dropouts

Via CatersClips

 

When I meet Eddie, a yellow Labrador, at a friend’s family barbecue in Detroit, it’s clear he isn’t like other dogs. He knows how to sit, stay and walk (on- or off-leash), but his best trick is being able to read a room. Whether his role is to greet a guest, play with children or rest his head on my lap as we drink beers by the bonfire, Eddie always does the right thing. All the while, he’s never a nerd about his intrinsic obedience. “Dude, what’s your dog’s deal?” I eventually ask Delia Bryan, Eddie’s owner and a family friend.

“He’s a guide-dog-school reject,” she tells me. 

“Less than 5 percent of dogs are cut out for service-dog work, and many ‘wash out’ during training,” says Nicole Ellis, a certified dog trainer and pet expert with Rover.com. Ellis estimates that guide-dog students who are trained by their owners instead of schools have about a 20 to 30 percent success rate, whereas dogs who are trained through institutions have a success rate of around 50 percent. The attrition rate is higher than most colleges and companies because people’s lives depend on these dogs making the right decisions. So they aren’t exactly set up for failure, but many of them will due to the nature of the work. 

“We don’t say the F-word. We prefer ‘reassigned,’ ‘career-changed’ or perhaps ‘withdrawn,’” says Rob Clarke, the owner of Maddie, a black Lab, who was withdrawn from training after being used to breed other guide dogs. By the time she was done having puppies and training to be a guide dog, Maddie was almost 3 years old and set in her ways. “She was too used to me and not confident in her trainer,” Clarke explains.

For a more in-depth look at the world of dogs who were not cut out for guide service, read Lauren Vinopal's full article, excerpted above, at MEL Magazine.