"After 18 months of us having the puppies"
"you really get to know the dog. And it becomes a best friend to you."
"It's always hard to bring a dog back even when you know it's coming."
"She has been our baby."
"But at the same time, we're very excited."
"She's gonna train for what she's meant to do."
"Tami said she was rethinking the evaluation."
"So, the plan is Tami will find a different raiser home."
Hi, Stacey, it's Jenna Bullis
from the Breeding Department at Guide Dogs.
"We sort of had our eye on Amara."
"They go through a complete assessment of their health."
- Everything's normal there. - Yup, they're good.
All right, all done.
Tulane!
"I'm Chelsea, and I am going to be training Tulane and Tartan."
My job is to train the dogs when they're about a year and a half old.
"They've had a few days away from their puppy raisers"
"and they're ready to have someone else to work for."
"The dogs are a blank slate right now, so, I mean"
"that's an exciting part of our job, is that we get a fresh start."
And every dog is different.
"I'm Jessie, and I'm meeting Pacino and Paco today."
Paco.
This is like the bare bones, Day One, so it's not all gonna be super pretty.
But we just take it one day at a time.
"It's like teaching someone to tie their shoe"
"but you don't speak the same language"
"and you're not even the same species."
"I feel like they don't know what's going on... for the most part."
"I mean, it's a big change in their life, and they're pretty unsure."
Tulane, sit.
What the clicker means is food's on its way.
And they learn it pretty quickly.
All right, Ms. Tartan.
She's got a little bit of nervous energy.
I think all of them are a little bit like...
"Who are you? What are you making me do?"
Okay.
I'm going to, you know... lure her into our back-up chute.
And then, I'm gonna close it in on her
and it helps teach her how to use her legs to back up.
"It's not natural for the dogs to think about their back legs"
"as often as they think about their front legs."
"And they don't typically back up in a straight line."
So, if like, you know, incoming car comes in
and then we want them to have a nice straight back-up.
Good girl.
You got it. You got it.
When a client goes to a restaurant
they wanna be able to ask their dog to sit and lay down
and that dog to stay in that nice, close positioning right next to them.
Down.
Down now.
If you look at a dog in week one, and you think you know
what's gonna happen, I'm just gonna say that you're wrong.
"Everything about them looks perfect for the job"
"but then you actually ask them to do it and it's too much pressure."
There you go. Good boy.
Very nice, good job.
Pacino seems like a very reserved type.
More serious.
Yeah.
He's like a little bit unsure of me and who I am, and what we're doing.
"Tartan, you know, she's spunky and got some fun personality."
Is that gonna be too exciting for you?
"Paco seems like he's gonna be really fun to work with."
Big goofball.
"Tulane has a lot of energy."
Oh, my goodness.
Come on. Enough.
We will need to work on that.
"I've worked here at Guide Dogs for the Blind"
"for just over four years now."
"And initially, I wanted to be a dolphin trainer."
And I studied marine biology and minored in psychology
at University of California, Santa Cruz.
"And there, I was fortunate enough to work in a research project"
"that involved dolphins, sea otters, sea lions, even a Hawaiian monk seal."
"After getting that work experience, I traveled to Maui"
"where I was able to work on whale watching boats."
"And I wanted a job that was a little bit more hands-on with animals."
"I was able to find Guide Dogs for the Blind"
"and I felt like it was a perfect blend of working with animals and people"
"two of my passions. I was able to bring them together."
Hey there, do you like... do you like Nylabone?
Do you like bone?
This is our new puppy, Nelix.
So you're gonna take him to school, huh?
- Yeah. - "He is complete opposite of Tulane."
"Tulane was so energetic"
was curious about everything she walked past
but Nelix he sleeps, eats, goes to the bathroom, sleeps again.
That's his routine.
Good girl.
"Since we dropped off Tulane there had been days"
"when I was super confident that, Oh, she's gonna be fine."
"And then, you feel, Oh, my God. What's going on?"
"Why can't I get any update from them?"
"Can I hear how she's doing? Is she happy?"
It's just lot of emotions, to be honest. And it's a roller coaster.
You got it. Good girl.
"This is the phase that I'm most worried about."
"Because this is the phase where she will be"
"evaluated for distractions and obedience."
All right, let's move on.
"If anything, that was her weakest spot"
so I really hope she just powers through that.
I hope that... she can handle it
I'm a bit nervous.
"There's no one perfect type of guide dog."
"There's all kinds of different dogs. There's short dogs,"
"there's slower-walking dogs... there's fast-walking dogs."
And those are all really important because our clients are so varied.
"So it's important that we have a variety of those types"
"in the breeding colony."
"One of the dogs that we're considering for our breeding colony is Amara."
"Today, we're doing the breed eval walks"
"where I bring the new dogs to town"
where it's very busy and loud and lots of traffic, and sounds
and different textures on the pavement...
"to see how they react."
"The goal is to get an idea of the dog's temperament."
"What we're looking for is a good, well-rounded dog"
"that is not affected by putting a harness on"
"and, you know, having body sensitivity."
"And not fearful of traffic."
"That's a great, confident, well-rounded dog"
and we wanna make more of those.
"Amara went bounding down the stairs in the office building."
"I mean, she's having a really good time."
"We did some pulling, definitely some distractibility."
"That's my observation that I'll put in my report"
"and let the breeding manager decide."
"The breeding manager will look at who her parents and their parents are."
"And if there's a pattern of distractibility, we might fail."
"We don't wanna keep breeding that."
"Of all the dogs that come into training"
about 70 percent make it through as guides.
- Yeah! - "There are all these checks"
"along the way as our dogs are learning their skills"
"to ensure that they are learning these things."
"And they're tested constantly."
This is Tulane.
"Treadmill is a way for us to get an idea of what the dog's pace is gonna be"
Very important that we match the pace that our clients walk
to the pace that the dogs walk.
"And that will play a big part in our matching process."
Come on.
"The treadmill can be pretty funny."
"Tulane was very excited."
"Her booty was moving back and forth"
"with that, you know, very strong tail wag."
Good boy. Let's go. Good boy!
- Good boy. - Good boy.
- Let's go forward. - He's doing great.
- Come on, there you go. - Good boy.
All right.
- Pacino. - Good boy.
Yeah.
All right, Paco, let's go.
Good boy.
"I'm not supposed to pick a favorite"
"but I'm drawn to Paco's energy."
"Party time Paco makes me smile all the time."
Good boy.
Okay, we will not reward that.
Good job. Good boy, Paco.
- Hey. - All right.
Everybody will... So, the highest person win.
- And then, it all goes... - Counterclockwise.
Two.
- On roll in ten? - "We're hoping that Paco"
"is ready to do what he needs to do and he's progressing."
"Our first dog, Cilla, was career changed"
"and it kind of broke our hearts."
"So, with Paco, I don't wanna think too emotionally about it"
"because I don't wanna invest and then I don't wanna get super sad again."
It's definitely super, like, nerve-racking
'cause Paco's like my baby
Raffi came to me as a transfer because...
he, in his last couple weeks leading up to recall
"he started getting into trashcans"
"getting a hold of slippers."
"So, he got pulled off the recall"
to give him a little bit more time to get those out of his system.
"He was very infatuated with the pet dog."
She's like, "I'm not interested."
"He was not used to having a playmate."
Raffi, that's enough.
Okay, you guys are getting too crazy.
"So we just had to teach him that there's a time and a place to play"
"and it's not all the time."
"He is still having issues"
being in the house free when I'm home
and then being in the house free when I'm gone.
"So we're trying to focus on not getting into things."
I think it'll be, you know, up to him in the next month
if he wants to be a guide dog.
- Hi, An... - Hi.
- Yeah, come on in. - Let me see my new niece or nephew
- It's a boy. This is Ontario. - Hi.
- A male yellow lab. - Ontario.
- He'll be eight weeks on... - Is he from Canada?
- How old is he? - He'll be eight weeks. Do you have him?
I don't ever remember Raffi being this small.
Raffi was tiny, but...
Actually, Raffi was a little bit bigger than this one.
- Yeah. - Yeah, he was.
Oh! That's good.
"Jessica, who received Raffi"
"sent me a picture, and she said, I promise I'll love him to pieces."
Raffi hopefully will be recalled, and three, four months later
we'll all be on the graduation stage together.
We are heading out for the dogs' first route.
And we are headed to a nice, quiet neighborhood
with really wide sidewalks. It's a great area
"for the dogs to learn their basics."
All right, are you guys ready? Tartan, great.
"We're showing the dogs how to work at a purposeful pace"
"where they're looking ahead and leading."
Tartan, forward.
"And then, a hop up command, which is kind of pick up your pace."
Hop up.
You're running out of steam, buddy.
Paco needs to build up his stamina.
He went into like power save mode at the end of the route.
Are you ready, Paci? Are you ready?
I'll take that as yes. Forward.
"To be guide dog, the dog has to be able to pull into the harness"
"and that's what's the handler is actually feeling and following."
"So, it's like the main thing of being a guide dog is"
"can the dog pull with enough tension that someone can follow?"
"Pacino wasn't really wanting to pull into the harness"
"as much as I was anticipating."
Pacino, oh, good boy.
Oh, there's a tail wag.
What's going on in that brain, huh?
I got to figure out how to get this guy more jazzed... in general.
"I've been at Guide Dogs since 2012."
I've always been a crazy animal lover. I've always had some kind of pet
"My aunt and uncle and cousins were puppy raisers in Colorado."
"They raised three puppies. They were all career changed"
"for different reasons."
"But we adopted one of the career changers."
"She was this adorable Golden named Helena."
"That's how I first found out about"
"Guide Dogs for the Blind as an organization"
I was like, "You work with dogs? That sounds awesome, sign me up."
"I've stayed around because of the people that we serve"
"and just seeing what a big difference these dogs make in people's lives."
Come here, come here. Yay!
Good boy.
"There are a lot of benefits that come with a guide dog."
They're your eyes. I have a friend who calls them her fuzzy eyeballs.
"I lost most of my vision when I was about nine years old."
"I had a brain tumor on the optic nerve."
"I lost pretty much everything overnight."
"My life pre-guide dog was using a white cane."
"I had really great orientation and mobility teachers."
"And I was very independent, so I used it for ten-plus years."
But I much, much more prefer to work with a dog.
"My first guide dog was named Corolla."
"She was a black Lab-Golden Retriever mix."
"And I had her through college."
"I got my second guide dog, Kodiak, who is a black Lab, a little bit bigger"
"He's about 65 pounds."
he was my boy, great dog. Love him very much.
He's almost ten years old now.
"So, I graduated from law school four years ago."
"And I always knew I wanted to advocate for people with disabilities."
"So, I currently work for the American Council of the Blind."
Again, I came up yesterday and...
"And we do everything related to making sure that people who are blind"
"have access to all the resources they have a right to."
"So, it could be things like getting access to transportation"
"making sure they are not discriminated in the workplace"
"making sure they can have their guide dogs in public places"
"'cause that's always a big problem."
Yeah, let me...
"So, I do things like talking to Congress members."
"A lot of lobbying on the Hill."
"Kodiak started slowing down a lot."
"I talked to a trainer, and we decided yeah"
"it was time to put in my application"
"and start to work toward retirement with Kodiak."
- Hey, how are you? Give me a hug. - Hello. Good to see you.
"This is Kodiak's retirement party."
Oh, Kodiak, who are all these people?
I think it's finally starting to sink in a little bit, and I'm getting pretty sad
"'cause we've been through a lot together and he's a great dog."
"But I think he deserves to retire"
"and just live the life of a... a pampered dog."
I'm excited to have friends take him because they live really close
so I can visit him all the time.
I'm gonna drive Joy crazy. I already told her I'm gonna be like
"How's he doing? What's he doing? How's it going?"
I was like, "Don't worry, we'll FaceTime."
- "We'll make sure we check in." - Yeah.
"The thing that I'm the most nervous about"
"is the transition to a new dog."
"So, just that nervousness of, like will I work well with this dog?"
"Will we make that bond connection?"
"It'd just be great to have a new dog"
"who can really help me through this crazy life."
"So, today, we are doing in-town dog distraction."
Tartan!
"It's an opportunity to teach the dogs that we want them to pass"
"dogs that they see in their environment."
Okay. Turn and forward.
"Final product is the dog looking straight ahead..."
"and not needing any assistance from me to pass the dog distraction."
Okay. Let's try that again.
"She's a feisty one, full of energy."
"Instantly, you see her pin her ears and be like, I'm serious"
"and I will pass the dog."
Hop up.
Oh, good boy. What? Way to pass that dog.
"Paco cruised right on by the first dog."
"The second dog he did engage with."
Oh, shoot.
"The timeout technique is the handler will stop"
- "and count to ten." - four, five, six...
"It's just enough time to kind of let the dog reset."
Nine, ten.
Good job.
Paco, forward.
Good.
"Paco got his timeout, and he learned from it."
Yeah, buddy! Good boy!
That's it, all right!
Let's go, Tulane.
Good girl.
"Tulane, she has that high energy."
"Almost like she seems like she's gonna get distracted."
"And then she's like, Oh, no, I know what the answer is."
"Those first couple weeks are when you freely feel them bond."
"Then they are starting to understand that we're their person"
"that they need to look towards."
"It's just a special experience to feel that relationship grow with a dog."
Yeah. Yeah. Oh, what a good girl.
Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness.
"Out of all the dogs, I feel that Tartan has the strongest bond to me."
I always think about Tartan all the time When I'm at school, when I come home
or before I go to sleep, I'm like, "Oh, is she sleeping when I'm sleeping?"
Or, "Oh, is she playing, is she training?"
"I'm always curious about what she's doing since we dropped her off."
Olivia, come.
This is Olivia.
The cute little yellow Lab that we just got.
"She's learning pretty fast right now, and I'm really proud of her."
"We start all over again. It's a lot of work."
We forgot, honestly, a lot of details.
- Good girl, Tartan. - "I feel so proud of Tartan."
"We miss her. She was a long time with us."
You're too emotional.
Well...
I know that she's gonna make it, I know that.
- It's a very strong statement to have. - Yes. Yes.
But I... I don't know...
- I have the feeling. - All we can do is hope and wait.
- Yeah. - Have patience.
"For Pacino, he has been a little bit slower to develop."
"So I feel like this might be a little bit more"
"of a challenging exercise for him."
Good boy.
Good.
Hop up.
Good.
"This exercise is on their focus."
"Like, there's lots of distractions in the environment."
"Whatever's going on around them"
"they need to remain focused on moving ahead."
Hop up. Good boy.
"I was kind of anticipating that it wasn't gonna go so smoothly for him"
"just because he has been a little below average"
"on his development overall."
That's it, good boy.
"But he has totally impressed me today."
He's focused, attaboy.
- I know, right. - Keep going.
"He is so stoic. It's very challenging to figure out what he's thinking."
I feel like he's plotting something...
inside, but I don't know what it is.
"When we are not out with our dogs en route"
"we are constantly making sure that the dogs, you know..."
have outlets for play and things like that.
"These dogs have been working really hard"
"and it's nice to see them let loose and get some energy out"
"and just have some group playtime."
"Today we are doing our first blindfold check-in."
"I'll have my supervisor, Darren, spotting me."
Make sure that I stay safe.
And also helping me work to evaluate progress.
Approaching an up curb.
- A little short. - Curb. Curb.
"The first time I wore a blindfold, I definitely had more empathy"
for folks who are blind and visually impaired.
"Your whole environment changes around you."
Looking good.
"Working a dog under blindfold helps you strive"
"to get the best work out of the dog that you possibly can."
"You want the dog to succeed"
because you're putting someone's safety in their paws, if you will.
so you want them to be consistent, you want them to be reliable.
Keep your leash out. Clear. When you're ready.
"It is a little bit scary"
"and even though I feel the dogs have good basic understandings"
the world could offer things that they don't know
or could be more challenging, you know, and dogs can have bad days.
Good girl, Tulane.
"Ideally, we're teaching the dogs"
"to lead at a consistent pace, avoid obstacles..."
"not interact with the environment"
"and basically be a consistent leader throughout the route."
This focused body, looking good.
- Good girl, Tulane. - Look at that.
Nice pedestrian clearance.
- Fun dog to work. - Good girl.
"What we really liked about Tulane"
"was her crisp guide work commands, nice initiative."
Tulane, I think, would be moving forward in our training program.
Hi. Oh, gosh. Hi. Who's a good girl?
Tartan's pretty fast.
Yes. Trash can coming up, go with her.
- Good girl. - Good girl.
Steady down, just a touch.
"Tartan was motivated by moving around obstacles"
"and really had this zest for performing guide work."
Tartan will be continuing on to the advanced phases of training.
That was pretty good! Good girl.
Paco, he's,so calm
that we need to work on getting him to move.
"He's a little out of condition."
"So we're working on his physical stamina"
"just like a person would if they were getting into an exercise regimen."
"Party time Paco definitely becomes sleepy time Paco"
"especially in the afternoons."
"He's already had a workout in the morning"
"so he kind of goes into like his reserve battery."
"But other than that, I think he's ready to continue on."
- He's on track, absolutely. - Good boy, Paco.
"We wanna be absolutely sure before any of our dogs go to our clients"
"who are reliant on these dogs for their mobility"
"that we've done everything we can, and we know as much as we can"
"and we feel hundred percent about these dogs"
"going out as guide dogs."
- Good boy. - Good boy.
Good job.
Pacino, forward.
- He's going right. - No, Pacino, curb.
- Going to curb. - No.
Pacino, hop up.
"I definitely have different... trust levels"
"based on how the dogs have been performing."
"I'm a little bit at a loss with Pacino right now."
"He was inconsistent, he needed repeat commands."
Pacino, hop up.
Pacino, forward.
"He's definitely not ready to progress."
Pacino, left.
"We did talk a little bit about, is there more going on with him?"
"Is it not just being more reserved?"
A little short.
Pacino, hop up.
"We need more time with him."
Pacino, forward.
"So, give him another week to continue to develop."
Pacino, forward.
Good girl.
Paco, hop up.
- Just a metal grate cover. - Pacino, hop up.
"Not all dogs are suited to be a guide dog."
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