Guide Dog Puppy Training With Dublin

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We brought Dublin home when he was seven weeks old and that same day we started his guide dog puppy training.  He’s already taken a puppy kindergarten class and a basic dog obedience training class.  We will continue to enroll Dublin in dog obedience training classes until it’s time to turn him in fo formal guide dog training.

Did you see Dublin’s nine month guide dog puppy evaluation report?  Recently Dublin had his second evaluation and unfortunately he received less than stellar marks.  However, there are positives to an average at best report…we now have a much better idea of what to work on in Dublin’s puppy training.

Dublin’s Guide Dog Puppy Training

Dublin Waiting For His Next Bowl Of Food

As I mentioned in our last post one of the guide dog trainers came down from Guide Dogs of America and gave us three things to work on with Dublin.  Here are the three puppy training tips we’ve been working on for the past few weeks.

1. Mouthy Behavior – Dublin is very sensitive.  We were advised to work with people used to dog/puppy training.  When Dublin puts his mouth on the greeters arm or forearm we are advising them to force him back a little bit by shoving our forearm into his mouth.  Dublin has a sensitive mouth so he does not really bite down, but instead he just likes to lay it on people’s hands and lick them.
2. Self Control – We put Dublin in a sit stay and stand out in front of him facing and keeping him in a stay.  We then have several people behind us yell, scream, and get excited.  We just work on keeping Dublin in his sit-stay.
3. Traffic Sensitivity – Walk Dublin around heavier traffic areas.  First, walk towards traffic.  Over time we are to start walking with the traffic coming from behind us.

Here’s how we are doing now with Dublin’s Guide Dog Training:

• Dublin’s mouthy behavior has gotten much better.  Although he does still like to be mouthy it’s less often.  We need to work more with people he does not really know very well.
• Dublin is doing very well with his self control.  We’ve been working on the exercise mentioned above and he is much better at remaining in his sit stays.  We .will continue to work on improving this behavior
• We’ve introduced Dublin to some new busier streets and traffic areas.  He’s had traffic come from in front and behind him and it hasn’t really bothered him much.  We’ll continue to work on walking him in different high traffic areas.

We are glad we could take away some positives from Dublin’s Puppy Evaluation Report.  We’ve been working hard on his Guide Dog Puppy Training and he seems to be improving every day.

How about you guys? Are you a guide dog puppy raiser?  What things are you working on?  Leave us a comment in the comments section below.

Top Picks For Our Puppies

1. BEST DOG CHEW
   We Like: Beef Collagen Sticks - All of our pups love to bite, nip, and chew. We love using Collagen Sticks to help divert these unwanted behaviors.
2. BEST PUPPY TOY
   We Like: Calmeroos Puppy Toy w/ Heartbeat and Heat Packs - Perfect for new puppies. Helps ease anxiety in their new home.
3. BEST DOG TREATS
   We Like: Crazy Dog Train-Me Treats - We use these as our high-value treats for our guide dog puppies.
4. BEST FRESH DOG FOOD
   We Like: The Farmer's Dog - A couple months ago we started feeding Raven fresh dog food and she loves it! Get 50% off your first order of The Farmer's Dog.

Check out more of our favorites on our New Puppy Checklist.