"The creation of a guide dog actually starts at the DNA level."
"It's who's the mom and who's the dad?"
"Because we're really looking for a specific set of traits."
"We have volunteers called cuddlers."
"They sit with the babies, and cuddle them."
"They actually start training at three days of age."
There you go.
"That training continues on an escalated basis."
"At eight to ten weeks of age they go out to their puppy raisers."
"Puppy raisers literally dedicate a year of their lives"
"to getting these dogs ready to come back into training."
"When they come back into training"
"our instructors can then focus on the appropriate guide skills."
Good job.
"We're constantly assessing our pups."
Are they developing and are they learning the skills
that we need them to learn at the appropriate time.
"After 12 weeks, they are matched with their person."
- Hi, there. - Sit.
"They go through two weeks of training with their person."
"They graduate, and they go on to an amazing life"
"somewhere in North America."
"It's really hard to become a guide dog."
"You have to do everything correctly a hundred percent of the time."
"Our dogs have to decide whether it's safe for their person,"
"and make an independent decision"
"about whether they're going to take the command or disobey it."
"Because if the dog walks you into traffic and you get hit..."
some cases can be life and death. Literally, life and death.
"Our goal is to make every single pup successful."
"If a dog does not make it, then we call that a career change."
"It takes a very special, confident dog to be able to do this job."
Charlie, no, no.
- You have to, like... No. - Oops.
- Too much. Sit. - And then Yeah, there.
- Good girl. - Yeah, that's fine.
I call her Tartadina.
I call her Chica because it's a little one in Spanish.
It's my first language.
Chica!
She's a big sporty-type, athletic dog.
"This is our first guide dog. We just completely fell in love with her."
It's a very big commitment. There's a lot of challenges,
"but knowing that I can actually help someone"
"made me really happy."
- Oh, Tartan. - Tartan.
- Tartan, sit. - Sit.
"Mom has a childcare, and takes care of her during the day"
"when she's with all the kids."
You love kisses. Kisses, kiss.
When I come home, that's when I'm in charge.
So, I take her to go to the bathroom, to do her business.
And then, depending on the day, I do different, like, training exercises.
"Tartan, sit."
"Tartan, down."
"I used to be a very shy person."
"And I think having her has made me very confident."
And I'm actually very happy about that
because I think without her I wouldn't be where I am.
"You put so much devotion and time into them"
"and you grow, like, an attachment."
But on the other hand, I feel like if she does well
she can really change someone's life, and that's the goal for them.
"She was just a tiny little puppy with all squishy face."
And when I looked at her
"she had that sad look on her face because of the droopy eyes."
I thought that, "Okay. She is gonna be so easy to raise."
She completely fooled me... to be honest.
Tulane, come.
"I have my own pet dog."
"However, raising a guide dog puppy is quite different."
"There are certain things that our pet dogs can get away with"
whereas, uh, for the guide dog
it is important for us to be consistent, uh, in handling.
Okay. Let's go.
Nice.
"This is my first puppy, so I was nervous."
"I didn't know if I'm doing things right or wrong."
"You are taking the dog everywhere"
"and it feels like an overwhelming process."
"She gets excited, she's jumpy."
"We call her Jumping Jack"
- Okay. Okay. - Oh! Oh!
Sit.
The moment my son would come out the door from the school
and she's all over him,
we don't want that, we want these puppies to be nice and calm.
Tulane, hi, baby.
"They can play, but not jump on someone"
"that's not acceptable."
Sit. Tulane, sit.
"I am very nervous about my final evaluation"
because last evaluation, she was not good at all.
Tulane, down.
Nice.
"I feel that she has a potential, and she can become a great guide dog."
Tulane, stand.
I'll be disappointed if she doesn't make it
but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
You got the bone. You got the bone.
Oh, no, I've got the bone.
Oh. Yes, the bone.
His personality is like really fun, really playful.
I don't know what's up with him, like, he just constantly smells like dog.
- Like, he'll get a bath... - He is a very smelly dog.
And a week later, he smells like the same...
- Yeah. - As he did before the bath.
Right, let's go, stink. Let's go.
"As soon as he has his vest and stuff on"
"he is totally in working mode."
If we're walking, and somebody goes to, like, pet him or something
he'll ignore them.
- He'll even kind of like move away. - Yeah.
- "He totally knows..." - "Oh, yeah."
"What he's supposed to do."
"I've had him for 17 months now."
"And so, you build quite a strong bond with him."
"I'm both transgendered and gay."
"We live in a small town so..."
Pacino, sit.
"There's not very many people like me here."
Good boy.
"It's kind of like an emotional support dog."
"I know he's there for me, so it's helpful to have him with me."
I really hope to see him at graduation.
He's come so far from the little, eight-week old bundle of...
"teeth and fluff he was."
"All right, everyone. If you guys wanna take your seat."
Our topic tonight is Go to Bed.
The idea of Go to Bed is not like at nighttime
when you're telling your puppy to go to sleep.
Go to bed is more like, "Go to your mat," or "Go to your place."
Come on, Janice.
"A puppy club meeting is for all of our members to come to."
It's an opportunity for them to work their dogs
and for us to check in on them and their puppies and see how they're doing.
"And my job is to train the people, and then, their job is to train the dog."
What I want to see is that, at some point
he's gonna understand that going onto this mat
earns me kibble.
The puppy raisers are primarily responsible for
socialization and teaching manners, house manners.
If you stand up, do you think she'll get up?
Mark her again.
Good job.
"During the puppy raising period, I do evaluations about four times."
"We're looking at the puppies, and seeing with how they're progressing"
"and trying to find out if they are viable for the program."
- Godfrey, stand. - "We need a really manageable dog."
"And we need a dog that's the ability to take direction but also take the lead"
Good boy.
"They have to be able to wear a harness. They have to be under control."
"If they don't fit the goals we need, then they are career changed"
which is a very nice polite way to say that they are dropped from the program.
There's a lot of components that go into making the right dog for the program.
- Paco, come here. - Paco, go to bed.
"Paco's very playful."
"He definitely has a sense of..."
"Well, I kind of wanna do my own thing, too."
Like, we'll give him a command to sit
and he can be distracted in the sense that
he might want to go check out something else.
"Paco is our second dog."
We felt a little bit more confident.
But I forgot how much work it took to take care of a little baby puppy.
- "You know..." - "For sure."
"That the lack of any kind of control about anything."
Paco, sit. Paco, sit.
As you can tell, Paco is a teenager, and doesn't listen to its parents.
"We have, right now, four teenagers in our home."
"And so, I think we're kind of used to it"
having all these, kind of, willful, but really beautiful spirits.
Okay, come! Come! Come, Paco.
How are you?
"I grew up with a blind grandmother in my home."
"Knowing that Paco could help someone who can't see like my grandmother..."
is pretty, pretty... pretty cool.
"We, as a family, we've benefited so much from raising a guide dog."
"It's helped us to be emotionally healthier."
- "Hey." - "Our boys, they're on the spectrum."
"They go through higher levels of stress interacting with people."
You know, it's stressful to talk to a person,
and just to say hello to them.
"But what a puppy does, or what a dog does"
"is they're not demanding of you."
"They just want a hand, they just want a rub."
"People will often say, "Thank you for all the volunteer work"
"that you're putting into raising a guide dog puppy."
And often times, I feel like an impostor
because deep down inside, we, as a family, we benefited so much more.
When I think about having to say goodbye, it breaks my heart
and makes me cherish every moment that we have with him.
But we knew bringing him in, that he was never ours to keep
and that he's got a bigger purpose, so, yeah.
Okay.
We're eager to have him do good things.
Yeah.
This is Freddy. He's three years old.
And this is Amara, and she is 15-months old.
Freddy was career changed at a year old
for not being able to handle distractions
And also, for not being terribly calm.
And then Amara, she's just very mellow.
She likes to visit when people come in, too
but she will sit and be calm if I ask her to.
Amara, sit.
That's such a good girl.
You wanna go for a walk?
Amara, let's go.
"I've raised four puppies where I got them as a little puppy"
"and kept them until they were done."
"The first dog that I got was Aldo"
"and he was dropped after about a year at an evaluation."
"He had sensitivity of stepping on surfaces."
"You couldn't even get him to walk across a grate"
"and that's one of the requirements."
"And then, the second one was Casper."
"And when he went back for recall, he was dropped after his physical."
And it turned out that he had a mild hip dysplasia.
"So, I took him back and then, I actually gave him to my mother."
And then Freddy was my third guide dog.
Oh, it's a little wet.
"I think the most important thing is just following instructions."
"I know when my daughter and I found out we were gonna be able.."
"to be puppy raisers we read the manual several times"
"and made sure that everything in the house was secured."
"It's really important about being consistent with their relieving,"
"so that they don't have an accident."
Stay right there, Amara.
"If the dog just all of a sudden decides to go"
"without asking permission, the blind person wouldn't know"
"so they will career change a dog if they can't get them not do that."
Let's go in and dry off.
Good job, Amara. Come here, honey.
"I definitely want her to graduate as a guide dog"
"because I do feel like... the fourth one here."
"Yeah, I'd definitely like for her to make it."
"So, that would be great."
Good job! Nice!
Who wants treats?
Okay. Raffi, Raffi, give it to me.
Raffi, give it to me.
Raffi is an awesome puppy.
Let's go. Nice.
That is good ignoring.
Okay, let's go.
"Raffi is my 25th guide dog."
And for me, it's not a numbers game.
I just love puppy raising.
All of my friends these past 21 years are guide dog people.
Puppy raising is an addiction, we admit it
but it's way better than chocolate, coffee.
or any other, you know...
This is the best addiction.
He's not the partier, he's not the class clown, very studious.
But when the homework is done, it's playtime.
"And so, I always end our training sessions with tug-of-war."
"That is his favorite game."
The challenge is, at home
he still, occasionally, chews on my slippers.
"Yesterday morning, he actually chewed the slipper"
"and I was surprised he did that."
It's like, "Raffi, I thought you were over this!"
But I think in his little puppy mind, he just thought
"Well, I used to do it, so I'll just do it for the heck of it."
So, we're still working on house behavior.
"Chewing can be a deal breaker."
"Today, he's going to his final evaluation"
"to see if he'll be a good candidate for going back up."
Come on, bud.
"I'm always a little bit worried, but I know he's such a good dog."
I'm, like, positive he'll make it.
Let's go. Good boy.
"It's a bit sad, because you kind of know from the beginning"
"that you won't get to keep him the whole time."
"You have to kind of, like, have it in your mind"
"that they're gonna go back at some point."
Be careful with the houses. Oops, yeah.
Do we have a tiger around that you can help me, friends?
"I really think our most challenging thing"
"we're going through right now..."
she kind of gets a little bit overexcited, a little bit hyper.
She might even wanna jump up sometimes
and that's not really wanted for guide dogs.
Tartan.
"So, we're trying to, like, mellow her out, so she has more self-control."
I used to be scared of going to evaluations
'cause... in case she, like, messed up or something
so I'd always say..
"Martina, you got to be a confident person. You know, you're good, I know."
"Like, she is an amazing dog"
"and there's nothing that I should be worrying about."
"It's just gonna be a calm nice session."
Oh, oh, oh!
Tulane, this way.
Tulane, in.
Good girl.
We are going for Tulane's evaluation.
I am very anxious.
Last evaluation didn't go that great,
but I'm hoping that she's ready for her next challenge.
The weather right now is so ominous.
It's kind of reflecting how I'm feeling.
Raffi, I love you.
Okay, we'll show Tami what you got.
I do put... a fair amount of pressure on myself.
Raffi, let's go.
I realize that as a puppy raiser, my responsibility is tremendous.
And so, I hold that very near and dear to my heart.
Make Mommy proud.
- I love you. - "This is the final evaluation."
So, I spend some time interviewing the puppy raiser
"and getting some behind-the-scenes picture of what's going on with them"
"and then, this is my final look at the dog."
- Let's go. - So, at any point along the way
they could be career-changed.
- "Hello. How you doing?" - "Hi. Good. How are you?"
- I'm doing good. Hey, Tulane. - Tulane, kennel.
Good to see you guys.
- Good girl. - Okay.
Well, you've had evals before.
This is her last one before recall.
- Oh! - I'm just kind of looking
at my cheat sheet from the monthly report.
So, how is she doing in the house?
- She is not perfect. - Okay.
So, in last three months,
twice she grabbed something from somewhere.
- I don't even know where she got it. - So, you don't know
- if she's counter-surfing... - No, no.
- Or if it's off the ground? Okay. - It's probably off the ground.
Okay, so what's your biggest challenge with her right now?
- The biggest challenge is the jumping - Okay.
Usually first two paws are up higher.
Okay, but not contact and not jumping all the way up?
- No, no. - Okay.
Good boy.
- Hey, Marikay. - Hi, Tami.
- Good to see you. - Good to see you.
Here we are again, Mr. Raffi. So, go ahead and sit down.
How's his greeting with people coming to your home?
He's excited to see them, but he does settle down.
Her energy is on the high-end, right?
- Yeah. - Is it... Do you think it's calmed down
in the last couple months with maturity, or...
I think it has gone down, in just a...
- A little bit? Okay. - Yeah, a little bit.
So where are you with leaving her home alone?
She can stay home alone as long as I leave her.
How about surfaces? So, grates, color changes in the sidewalk?
He hasn't had any barking about any of that stuff.
- Great. - Right?
Any drooling or wet mouth?
Only when he's anticipating his dinner.
- Okay. Okay. - Yeah.
- So, he likes food? - Are you talking about me or...
He occasionally goes for my slippers
- that's virtually eliminated. - I saw that. Okay.
Yesterday morning, however he did get my house slipper
and he chewed the inside of it.
- Okay. - But I thought..
- "Oh, Raffi." - But the day...
- "You're beyond this." - the week before...
- Ready for a walk? - Sure.
- All right. - Amara, let's go.
That's a good dog.
Good with idling traffic and...
Nice.
That's perfect. Here you go.
Good girl.
- So, I'm gonna follow behind you, okay? - All right.
Pacino, let's go.
- He's doing good. - Let's go.
'Nice.
If you wanna step over these grates.
All right. Hey.
- Good job. - Let's go. Good boy.
Raffi, let's go.
All right, good boy.
Show Tami what you got. You can do it.
You've been here before, Raffi.
Nice.
"I would be lying if I told you I wasn't serious"
about wanting my dog to succeed as a guide dog.
"As puppy raisers, we try our hardest to increase the chances..."
"for our dog to succeed."
Good.
Yeah, I would go ahead and stop when you reward.
You can mark and then, stop.
- Stop. - Yeah.
Okay.
Let's go.
- Come on, you can do it. - Nice. There you go.
Good boy.
Hi, there, sweetheart. Yeah.
Hi, there. We do know each other, don't we?
We do. Okay, that's it.
"The only thing that I feel like would really stop her"
"is her over-excitement."
"Some people don't really like over-excitable with dogs."
"They want more on the mellow side."
But really, other than that, I feel like her chances are amazing.
That a girl.
"She loves to work, and I think she would go along"
"with any visually impaired person."
- She's such a wiggly little butt. - I know, right?
"She's doing everything that she can as a dog to, like.."
"be the best that she can."
"So, I think I would feel sad about myself"
"maybe like, "Oh, did I not raise her right?"
"Did I do something wrong? Like.. I couldn't do enough,"
I would be disappointed in myself rather than her.
Nice.
"If she does well, she can really change someone's life"
- "and that's what I want." - Perfect.
"The biggest thing I saw out there was her excitability with the greeting."
- "Yeah." - Of course, she knows me
so that's part of it, but, easy to manage, and she was confident.
I didn't see anything bothering her, so I think she's ready to go.
You did a really good job. This is your first puppy.
- "Yes." - And you did an amazing job.
- So, are you feeling ready for it? - "Yes."
- I'm feeling ready. - "What a team you guys are."
- "Yup, you did awesome." - Thank you.
So, I hope you do another one because you have tons of skills.
So, we'll see you up there.
I didn't think I can ever, like, do this in my life,
and I'm just so happy I was able to do this and raise a dog.
And I'm just so excited for her to go to official training.
"I love raising her so much."
Yeah..
Hey, you.
Oh, my goodness.
If she doesn't want to be a guide, she can be an acrobat.
Let's go.
But you're doing a good job handling her. You're really intuitive.
"Lovely."
- Nice. - She's got it.
- Let's go. - "She seems really confident."
I think she'll continue to mature in training
but I think she's ready to go.
- You did a great job. - Thank you.
I am super proud of her.
- She's come along... - "Good. Well, I'm proud of you."
"You did a good job. Did you enjoy your experience?"
I did.
Pacino. Okay.
He's a pretty mellow guy.
Oh, yeah. He's really chill.
Pacino, that's enough. Let's go.
- Good. - Nice.
Pacino, sit.
Down.
All right, Pacino. Let's go.
He's a little sensitive, but he handled all the situation
with the busy downtown area fine.
He seems like he's ready to go.
I was a little bit nervous.
There's always like, "Oh, what if something happens?"
Like, what if he does something that he doesn't normally do
and gets cut for that?
But he did great, and I'm really happy.
Amara, let's go.
Down.
She's a rock star.
Attagirl. What a good girl.
Okay.
Good job, Amara.
Let's go.
This is where we're finishing up here
- so, she did great, Stacey. - All right.
I think she's ready to... Ready to go back for training, so...
I think so, too.
Okay, Missy, make us proud.
- Good girl. - Thank you.
All right. Well done.
That's a good boy.
Sit.
Good boy, Raffi.
Let's see.
That's a good boy. Okay.
Okay.
That's it.
Nice. Oh, what a good boy.
Yeah, a good boy.
Let's go over these grates.
- Attaboy. - Good boy. Nice.
- All righty. Right there. - Raffi, sit.
- He looks pretty good, Marikay. - Oh, thank you, Tami.
"So, I think he looks like he's ready for training."
- He's ready for the next step. - I think so, too.
- Are you ready for the next step? - No, I never am,
- but he's ready. - Yeah. Good.
Good boy, Raffi. You did it.
- "Good boy." - You did it.
Raffi has totally passed his evaluation.
He got, I would say, an A.
Maybe an A plus from Tami.
And...
Oh, he's just a wonderful puppy.
It means that on Saturday...
I return him to the Guide Dog Campus...
for him to start formal training
with the wonderful licensed instructors at Guide Dogs.
And it's always hard for me to say goodbye to my puppy.
I love you.
You are the best.
But he is ready for formal training. He is ready.
Yeah.
You could do it.
Paco's doing it.
- Oh-oh! - Oh, no.
- Oh, my God. - Wow.
Oh!
Paco.
That's completely unexpected.
"It's a pretty big mistake."
"He needs to be able to be reliable in public."
Honestly, he has not done that in over a year.
- Yeah. - So, I don't know what's going on.
I'm sure he feels the pressure of the evaluation.
I'm gonna talk to training tonight, and see what they wanna do
because they do need to be clean of accidents for two months
to go back for training.
"I will let you guys know, and I will give you a call."
- "Okay." - All right.
- Thank you, guys. - Thank you.
- "Thank you very much."
"That was just very disappointing"
and we hope it doesn't affect final outcomes.
Subtitled by: Image Production House