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I’ve been asked numerous questions because I began raising guide canine puppies including “What happens To A Retired guide Dog?” and “What about guide canine Rejects?” What’s the difference between “retired” and “rejected”? A retired guide canine would be one who has served as a guide canine while a rejected (career change) guide canine is one who never made it as a guide dog.
Now you might be wondering: Why are we answering these questions today? For openers, today is Derby’s first birthday! So everyone needs to wish him a pleased birthday. However, on a sadder note we were just informed that Derby didn’t pass his last assessment and as some of you have put it he is now a “Guide canine Reject” I hate the sound of that and we like to consider him a “Career change Dog” moving on to a different phase of his life.
Retired guide Dog
I don’t have any experience retiring a guide dog, but I do know what I’ve seen, heard, and read through guide Dogs of America. A guide canine begins working at roughly 2 1/2 years and will on average work for six to eight years. The guide canine user will decide when it is time to retire their guide canine and has the choice to either keep the canine as a pet, give it to a family member, or return it to guide Dogs of America. It can be challenging on the retired guide canine to be kept as a pet because the canine will in some cases become jealous or depressed over the new guide canine partner. You have to remember that the guide canine team has been practically inseparable for 6 to 8 years. how would you feel if you saw someone else assume your normal role in the guide canine team?
Retired guide Dogs that are returned to guide Dogs of America are put into the adoption program The original puppy raisers are called first and asked if they wish to adopt the dog. I have not been in the puppy raising program long enough to experience this, but I have seen some of our puppy raisers receive their retired guide dogs back after ~10 years. If the puppy raiser does not take the guide canine back then the canine is given to a pre-screened individual from the GDA adoption waiting list. The GDA site says there is currently a 4-6 year wait to adopt a profession change or retired guide dog. I’ve also heard that guide Dogs of America are not accepting new applicants in the adoption program (this may have changed).
Guide canine Reject
I hate that phrase, but for some reason “Guide canine Reject” seems to be the one that many people are accustomed to.
Guide canine decline = profession change Dog
There are numerous reasons a puppy can get profession changed the guide canine program is very stringent. Stetson was profession changed because he was too soft. Derby was profession changed because he had too much nervous energy. check out this list of other reasons why a guide canine puppy can be rejected from the program.
Here’s a little excerpt from the guide Dogs of America site on their adoption program:
ADOPTION PROGRAM: To be a successful guide dog, numerous elements including health and willingness to work come into play. If a canine in our program does not meet all the proper criteria required to be a guide dog, they should be removed from the program.
All dogs that are removed from the program for any reason we call profession change dogs. If a canine in our program becomes a profession change dog, the volunteer puppy raiser is given the option to keep the animal or to give them up for adoption. Also, when a guide canine is retired, the guide canine user has the option to keep the canine or give it back to guide Dogs of America for adoption. If the retired guide canine is returned to guide Dogs of America, we give the dog’s original volunteer puppy raiser the first option to adopt the retired guide dog. If the puppy raiser prefers not to adopt that retired guide dog, once again the canine is put up for adoption.
Currently we have such a long list of people waiting to adopt a canine (over a 6 year wait at this time) that we are no longer taking new applications to adopt a dog. You can always inquire about it in a years time.
Career change Dogs
Now that we’ve talked about profession change dogs…what sort of careers are suitable for these profession change and retired guide dogs? As far as I know the majority become pets. here are a list of several profession change options I’ve heard of for our puppies:
Loving family Pet
Therapy Dog
Search and Rescue Dog
Assistance Dog
Derby was evaluated for search and Rescue, but sadly they said he lacks the focus neenull