International Guide Dog Day: Airdrie couple discusses raising dogs with difficult jobs

Celebrating Calgary's guide dogs It takes two years to train a guide dog for the visually impaired. Bill Macfarlane reports.

They'll tell you right away that 14-month-old Lulu has more work to do, but then again, she's being asked to make near-perfect decisions in a complicated world.

 

For dogs like Lulu, struggling or even failing is a little like a human failing at being an astronaut or a surgeon. 

 

"You literally are putting your life in the dog's hands," said Sandra Cramer, puppy training supervisor for B.C. and Alberta Guide Dogs.

 

Our visually impaired clients are relying on those dogs to make the right decisions for them in order to keep them safe,"

 

Lulu has been with her current full-time trainers Hugh and Joan Norris since she was about eight weeks old. The retired couple from Airdrie are raising their fifth guide dog candidate, laying down the foundation for more advanced training to come.

 

"It's an emotional job and it's a taxing job - it's a lot of work," Joan says.

 

April 27 is International Guide Dog Day, recognizing these specialized dogs that really are man's best friend. The canines help the visually impaired navigate traffic and train stations, making tough judgement calls to prevent accidents.

 

Lulu has some challenges that might keep her from that role; she gets excited and vocalizes, which is an automatic fail.

 

"We have a 100 per cent success rate in raising a nice dog. We have about a 60 per cent success rate in raising a service dog," said Cramer.

 

An even smaller per cent go on to act as guide dogs for the visually impaired.

 

In the 25 years since the organization started in the west, 139 guide dogs have graduated in addition to 65 Autism Service Dogs and 88 OSI-PTSD service dogs.

 

As hard as the work is to train these dogs, there is also the emotional effort of giving them up as they graduate. Hugh Norris remembers the first dog they trained, Bruce, and the day he was finally called up to advanced training in Vancouver.

 

"You take him to the airport and give him to a stewardess and off they fly to Vancouver for advanced training, so we were watching him and about to turn our backs to him and he turned around and looked us and we were like 'oh rats!'"

 

"You've got to remember what the dog is being trained for and what it requires," he said.