"Raffi got pulled off the recall"
"because he started getting into trash cans"
"Kodiak started slowing down a lot"
"we decided, yeah, it was time to put in my application"
"and start to work toward retirement"
"At 23 years old I finally am getting this dog"
It's Jenna Bullis from the breeding department at Guide Dogs
We sort of had our eye on Amara
"We are doing our first blindfold check-in"
Yeah, good girl
"I'm at a loss with Pacino right now"
Pacino, forward He needed repeat commands
"Not all dogs are suited to be a guide dog"
"We're doing a preliminary guide work test with Pacino"
"to get some clarity on how he's progressing"
This a dog that... We've looked at his history
and he's always been a slow walker
So, we thought, "Well, let's keep him in his comfort zone"
"and hopefully, that'll allow him to process better"
"Depending on how he does we're gonna make a determination"
what's gonna be in his best interest
- Right - Pacino, hup up
This is gonna be a long route, Stacey
His pace is just slow, physically I wanna walk faster than that
So, it's getting in the mindset of like, he's the one who's guiding me
so I need to slow myself down
"And just kind of finding a happy place in your brain"
That's it He made it
Good job, buddy
"Pacino demonstrated that he knows the work"
"albeit at a very slow pace"
which is a little unusual for this level of training
"but we have clients who might have physical limitations"
"that they need a dog that is steadfast like that"
"So absolutely, he could be a very welcome addition to our dog pool"
- Right on - Oh, my goodness!
- Right on - Good boy
"I'm so proud of Pacino"
I feel like he did better than I was anticipating
"What do you think about Paco, do you think he's gonna make it on?"
Do you think he's gonna make it to the next phase?
What?
You think so?
- Wow, that's really good - And on that note
Hey, Nelix Should we check the report?
I wanna see, if we have any news
Nothing yet
Let see where he's at
Phase four?
What? She's in phase four?
- Phase four! - What?
- Wait! Phase four?
- Oh, my God! - Okay, read
- "Tartan is in phase four" - What?
- Pacino is in phase four - Oh, my God!
- That was fast - That was fast
- Oh, my God! How... - Okay, so she jumped
- from phase two to phase four - I'm really proud of him
- Wow, I am so surprised! - This is our dog?
- That's great, Nelix - I knew she could...
Do you see that? Sister is in phase four
Are you gonna go in phase four? No?
You're just gonna chew your bones?
"Good boy"
"When a dog has moved on to phase four"
"we introduce indoor work and escalators"
- Good job - So, these are two bootees
"We use these on their back feet to protect their feet"
"from the teeth at the edge of the escalator"
Go, Tulane, nice
"The end goal is that we want them to target the handrail"
"and so, then the handler can dictate when they get on the escalator"
Escalator
"As you can imagine, pulling really fast towards the escalator"
being really excited to go down it probably is scary for the person
- kind of feeling that surge of target - Good job, buddy
Good boy, ready? Let's go! Oh, my God!
I'm so proud of you, kid
He did wonderful Even got some tail wags out of him
Hey, you did it
"I think by slowing him down"
"he's able to better process his environment"
and he's outwardly showing that he's enjoying the work more now, yeah
It makes me so happy
Yeah!
Paco, halt
Good boy Paco, right
Good boy
Very nice Good boy
"So, chair targeting is..."
just that, we're teaching the dog to seek out a chair
Okay, yeah
"He was a little over enthusiastic by putting his feet up onto the chair"
"He thought that that was the behaviour I was asking him to do"
Which is... it's so Paco to do that
"And that'll just take some repetitions"
"so that he knows he just has to go up to the chair"
"and not actually get in the chair"
Paco, hup up
Good boy!
It's amazing how much they learn so quickly
Okay, let's go
"Just how the dogs mature and change"
"and learn through the process is... is pretty special"
Nice, moving into phases five, six, seven
"that's definitely when the responsibility is more on the dogs"
"and we're gonna wanna see that they are able..."
"to have all of these concepts that we've introduced"
"and kind of put the whole picture together"
"Today we are gonna put all four bootees on"
"and kind of just let the dogs get used to them"
play off leash in an enclosed play yard
"and just have some fun wearing their shoes"
It can be pretty silly, you know then kind of being a little bit stiff
"But it's important that the dogs are comfortable wearing their shoes"
"because we have such a wide range of where our clients go home"
"and work their dogs, you know they can be in really hot temperatures"
"or even where they need them in the snow"
and colder temperatures Yeah
"After we've been working with the dogs for a little while"
"and we have a general idea of what type of dog they're gonna be"
"what type of environment they can be placed in"
"we'll take a peek at our wait-list"
"and see if there are any potential matches"
The matchmaking process at guide dogs is really complicated
Good girl The environment's important
We also look at people's size their pace, and then on top of that
everybody has their own personal preferences
- Good boy - "Paco, in terms of potential matches"
"there's a gentleman on the East Coast"
He's open, in terms of breed and gender
but he just wants like a moderate pace, average manageability
I just feel like Paco could be a really nice match there
Forward
"One of the requirements for getting a guide dog"
"is you have to have the basic orientation and mobility skills"
Left, left
"You already have to know how to orient yourself"
within your environment because a guide dog is not a GPS system
"Looking at the wait list"
there is a few people that have preference for a smaller female
"So I think that Tartan would be a good potential match"
"She seems like she would be a good first luck for these clients"
"Yeah, she certainly is that confident, go-getter type"
"We've got a couple of clients on this waiting list"
"that have really expressed an interest in a dog"
"that has a nice working pace"
"and can thrive in a city environment"
"so, yeah, I think we're... we're on the right track"
"Let's just continue to see how she develops"
"over the next few weeks"
And we'll look into this client's availability
and see if there's any timing needs that they have
"The cane is what's got me around for so many years, but..."
"as you could tell it gets stuck a lot of times on the grass mostly"
"I'm looking forward to having the dog"
"because I won't worry about that anymore"
I'm listening for traffic coming from all different directions right now
Buses, too
"I've been waiting for my guide dog for a year-and-a-half now"
"In 1984, I was driving, and..."
"I accidentally hit a post that I didn't see"
"They had come to a conclusion that it was retinitis pigmentosa"
It's a degenerative disease that leads to blindness
"What happens is the pigment starts to destroy the cells
"that help you see at night"
"and then starts to destroy the ones that help you see during the day"
"until it's all gone"
I wanted to just move on...
no matter what came my way
"I like to stay active"
"If there is something to do, I... I wanna get on it"
And one, two, three
and quick, quick slow
"I am learning to do tango I really never danced before"
"but I thought it was a beautiful dance"
Slow, slow
Quick, quick, slow
"And when I'm holding onto somebody's hand"
- "and they're guiding me it's like Wow" - "And... Slow"
"I'm already here I can't even believe it"
"So, I think that's what's gonna happen with my dog"
"I'm looking forward to having a companion here at home"
I'm ready to retire this cane
"Today, we are doing traffic conditioning"
"So this is an exercise to really teach our dogs"
"appropriate responses to dangerous traffic situations"
The dogs may need to back up they may...
kinda need to come an abrupt stop
They may even need to speed up
"in the presence of dangerous or incoming vehicles"
"whether it's in a driveway or a street crossing"
Good, yes, yes, yes Good girl, Tartan
"There is a potential for a car to make contact with the dog"
but we try to set this up to be the most controlled as possible
So, we have experienced drivers that are driving
"It's really a choreographed exercise"
Paco, forward
Good, good boy
Good job, buddy
"This is a point at which guide work becomes very serious"
and the dogs have to think through things a little bit more critically
And make a judgment as to whether or not it's safe at this point
Nice job, Tartan
"We want to teach the dogs to leave an appropriate buffer"
"for moving vehicles and also use that tricky"
"behavior of intelligent disobedience"
Tulane, forward Good
Good girl Tulane, forward
Good girl Yeah
Intelligent disobedience is when the dog is choosing to not obey
or disobey a command from their handler
based on the safety of the situation
"All right This is Paco"
- Good, good boy - "Good, nice back up"
You really don't want the car being the thing that pushes the dog back
You wanna have them have the response
because they see the car coming but you don't want the dog
to be on top of the vehicle
"So, it was nice to see that Paco saw the car"
"and then, started backing up on his own, without us getting too close"
Good, good boy Good job, buddy
Good boy
"Looking ahead, I'm feeling really good for Paco"
Good boy Good job
"In this scenario, we're gonna come into the crossing"
"We're gonna back the team up a little bit"
"Ideally, what I'd like to see..."
is a little bit more of an urgency from Pacino
He kind of let the car come to him, and it...
we physically pushed him back What I'd like to see is for him
to recognize this scenario a little bit earlier and, take action
"Pacino did sit down during one of the..."
"intelligent disobedience exercises"
He wasn't super quick to back up in any of the backup exercises
Pacino, hup up
"At this point, we're not looking at career changing him"
"He hasn't done anything overt enough to let us know"
"that he's not wanting to do this job"
"So, we just need a little bit more time to further evaluate"
So, with Amara, unfortunately she was a little bit more distracted
on her walk than I would like to see
"We're really looking for dogs that have good confidence"
"and low distraction"
"These dogs, they're the ones that are producing..."
"the next generation of guides and so, you really want to have..."
"the best qualities"
"I have a sister of Amara her name is Allegra"
- Look how behaved you are - "She's done really well"
- "Passed all of the health stuff" - Good girl
Everything's looking fine with this dog
"We're really looking for the perfect one for the breeding colony"
"We need to get a little more information about Allegra"
- "before we make a final decision" - She's all done
"What I'd like to do is to be able to compare all the pieces"
"that we've looked at on Amara with the sister, Allegra"
"So, because it's gonna be a little bit of a wait"
"we don't want Amara to hang around in the kennel"
"So, our plan is to put her back in her puppy raiser's home"
Here we go Good girl
Guess what you're gonna get to do
Hey, I know
- Hi, Amara - Hi, honey
- Hi, little one - Hi, Mom
"I hope Amara becomes a breeder"
"If she becomes a breeder she would get to stay with us"
"Because they've had her under breeder-watch for a while now"
"I think that that has given me more time to think about keeping her"
"And so, I... I hope that I can now"
Pacino is going to start working with...
a member of the core support team, Jeff Gray
Jeff has many many years of experience
and is kind of a miracle worker
So, if Pacino's gonna be successful with anyone, it'll be with Jeff
- Here he is - There he is
New friend All right, hey, buddy
Hey
With me, Pacino has been super-reserved, pretty slow pace
- and tight body language - How far back can you go, buddy?
- Hi, Pacino, it's okay, good boy - Hey, bud
Hey, we just met, buddy, yeah That's good
I feel like I'm ill-equipped to work with him
that I've gotten him as far as I can
and I feel like he would benefit from being transferred
to someone with your experience level
- Cool - I can't wait to, you know
see what... what you can do there buddy, yeah?
- Bring it out in you, okay? - Yeah
"Based on how consistent his work is..."
will help me to kind of decide whether this is...
an ideal career path for him or if perhaps...
there's another path that might be better for him
Pacino, heel, let's go
I definitely feel a little bit defeated with Pacino...
not having the skill set to be able to get him to where he needs to be
but...
I feel like, ultimately, it is a good learning experience for me
And I don't know why I'm crying right now
I'm happy that Jeff is picking him up
and can give him what he needs right now
Yeah
All right, Pacino, come here Heel
"Raffi has come a long way as far as house behavior"
since I first got him a couple months ago
"He just doesn't have a mean bone in his body"
"He likes to work but he is a little, go, go, go"
"but fingers crossed he does go into recall"
"I think he's ready"
Hey, Marikay, it's Tami Shankle from Guide Dogs
- Hi, Tami, how are you? - "I'm doing fine"
"I'm actually calling with some good news"
that I wanted to share with you about Raffi
"I just spoke to his puppy raiser, Jess"
and actually, he's doing really, really well
so we're gonna put him on the April recall
Go, Raffi Oh, I'm so excited
Jessica has done a wonderful job I'm so happy, Tami
Yeah, he's... he's awesome
and so, he's been making really good progress
"I'm excited for him to do this next step"
"So, I just wanna make sure you knew first hand"
- Thank you so much, Tami - All righty, bye-bye
I really, really hope that the next phone call is...
"Marikay and Jessica, you are invited to Raffi's Graduation"
So, I'll just leave it at that because I don't wanna jinx it
Go, Raffi
Paco, forward
"This morning, we are in the Embarcadero in San Francisco"
Right
Right, find the stairs
"We'll be going to our underground train systems"
- "L in three minutes" - Good boy
"Platform training is a huge part of the dog's education"
"We have a lot of clients who live in dense urban environments"
"and are riding the train on a daily basis"
"The platform edge can be an area of danger"
"The trains are coming in and out"
"It can also be an area that a handler can get easily disoriented"
"there's a lot of sound there's a lot of movement"
What do you think?
We're really working to build on that intelligent disobedience...
so teaching the dogs that even if a handler incorrectly directs them
to that platform edge that they will not approach that edge
Tulane, left
Left, halt
Tulane, left
Good
Tartan, right
Right
Right, nice job So smart
Paco, heel
Attaboy! Paco, right
Good, good boy
"Paco, his energy and enthusiasm are infectious"
Paco, left Good, good boy
"Even if you're asking him to throw himself off of platform edge"
he's like, "I'm not gonna do it, but I'm still happy"
You got it Yay, Paco!
All right, ready? Let's go
"The best way that I would describe myself is..."
"I'm a future guide dog user"
"And I'm going to get my first dog and I could not be more exited"
You have to send me a picture of the dog
- I will, I cannot wait - Of course
I will, I'm going to send you guys a bunch of pictures
and the name of course
My friends have told me that with guide dogs
you walk a little bit faster and a whole lot straighter
"With this dog, I'm going to be able to go everywhere"
"I'm going to be able to see the world in a new light"
"with a four-legged partner always there with me"
"I retired my now former guide dog, Kodiak"
"Going back to the cane post-dog is the weirdest experience"
because it comes in contact with things
and you have to make the decisions
once you come in contact with something
"Do I go left? Do I go right?"
"There's this obstacle where a dog walks you around it"
"It's just a very weird feeling to go back to"
So, what's the training schedule like for you when you're there?
It's pretty, pretty busy pretty intensive
Every day you do different trainings
but it's, like, out of the box, like "Ooh", like, you know
So, it's kind of cool to start fresh... and that kind of thing
"I will be leaving to go to Guide Dogs for the Blind"
"to get my third guide dog"
"So, it's always fun to have Dog Day and meet your new dog"
"just the anticipation of flying all the way across the country"
"going back to California"
"So, just kind of a whole host of emotions going on"
Did you wanna talk about cardiology?
- Yes - "Results for Allegra"
"cause I know that you are really interested in her versus her sister"
"She had a perfectly clear normal heart"
"She also seemed like a super-nice type"
- Oh, good - She was very quiet
"stable on the table, she wasn't concerned about us picking her up"
"and putting her on her side"
She just seems a little bit smoother than her sister, so...
Great, okay, well, then we're gonna go with Allegra
And we'll let Amara go into training
and hopefully she'll become a guide dog
- Hello - "Hi, Stacey, it's Jenna"
"From Guide Dogs the Breeding Department"
"As you know, with Amara she had a little bit of distractibility"
"which was less than ideal"
"So, what's gonna happen is Allegra..."
"is gonna join the breeding colony"
"and so Amara will go into training and hopefully become a guide dog"
Okay
All right Well, that's okay
Thanks All right, bye-bye
Okay, well, she is gonna go into guide dog training, so...
take her back on Saturday A little bit sad, you know
"I've been kind of looking forward to the announcement"
"that she might be a breeder but I really hope she makes it"
I think that that would be excellent really for her
to become a guide dog So...
But it's always sad to let them go
That's part of what we sign up for though, so it's okay
It is week eight
and we are headed into Downtown San Rafael
to do our final blindfold check-in before final testing
I'm feeling a little bit nervous about Paco
just because yesterday we didn't have the best route
he was a little bit all over the place...
just kind of doing strange things
So, hopefully, our work yesterday he thought about it
and he performs better today
Okay
Let's go, kiddo
- Hi, Paco - Hi, buddy
He's looking good I was admiring him
- he looks like he's lost a few pounds - He has
- He's got a summer bod going on - Yeah, excellent, excellent
Well, this is a good chance for us to get a second pair of eyes on him
And see what he's doing and see what you need to focus on
- before final guide work next week - Sounds good
Paco, forward
I know, we're gonna turn right just get back into heel first
Oh, my gosh!
Paco, heel
- Re-group - I know, he's... very anticipatory
He says, "That is my down curve, I know it"
"We're not training these dogs to pass a test"
"we're training these dogs to be effective, safe travelers"
"and to have a portion of responsibility"
"for someone else's safety"
"I'm gonna just show you what she looks like, harnessing"
- Yes, miss - It's not... bad, but...
Getting the dogs ready for the final test is important to measure
standard that we wanna give to potentially, a totally blind client
- Good girl! You got it - Attagirl
"We are setting these dogs to a very high standard"
"The test is an important, you know wearing a blindfold"
"and testing the dog Maybe, like, small things"
"I'm working with some dogs or maybe like a larger picture"
"in terms of working dogs in specific environments"
Forward Good girl
"But I do really try to cater to the individual dogs' needs"
"and kind of what... what they need for their success"
Paco, right
- He's going back to the curb - No
"Ideally, we want the dogs to have a center line of travel"
"so be relatively centered within the sidewalk"
And right now, he's not doing that
And...
"Looking ahead to final testing"
I feel like we've got a lot of work cut out for us"
And there's a sandwich board coming up, so if we...
Okay, and stop
- Address it and rework it - Paco, heel
"He was just randomly targeting things on the right"
"And I think the main part of it is cause he knows he's gonna get food"
"when he targets something"
So, he is offering this behavior in an effort to get more food
"You really want these dogs to be an effective safe guide for someone"
"but at this point I don't know that he's prepared to take on final testing"
Subtitled by: Image Production House