List of Possible Dogs

What follows is a list of dogs who, as of the 10th of this month are in training phase 7 or 8, thus making them dogs that will likely be issued in the next several upcoming, including mine, training classes at GDB. What I do not know is who is where. In other words, I don't know which dogs are on San Rafael's campus and which dogs are in Borring, Or's kennels.

A note on phases...

You don't just train a guide dog in one massive chunk of training. These dogs are smart but even they require things to be taken a bit at a time and slow. It is my understanding that a dog isn't advanced to the next phase until he or she has completely mastered the tasks in the phase of training they're already in. So you could have a litter of pups come back in for formal training and one dog will zip right through, and another will make steady progress and one pup will seem to stall out and stay in one phase for a really long time. Or you can have a dog who starts out like blazes and then they'll seem to be stuck in phase six or seven. There are in total 9 phases 0 - 8. 0 is when they first arrive on one of the campuses and is mostly stuff like medical screenings... Phase 8 is the phase everyone is waiting for, this means the dog is ready to go into class with his or her new partner. When a puppy raiser's dog reaches phase 8 it is a very very happy thing.

There are puppy raisers on my Email list for GDB grads and they are so happy when their dogs go into class with someone or are picked to be a breeder dog. When a pup is C.C.ed Career changed, this means they just didn't have quite the right thing, whatever that may be to meet the high standards that GDB has for their guides.

The C.C.ed dogs aren't stupid or anything. Many of them go on to do service elsewhere like a dog for a diabetic, or an assistence dog for someone in a wheelchair or for someone who is deaf. Some dogs go on to sniff out drugs or explosives for the police and some just become happy happy pets.

GDB has a program, I don't much understnad it completely it is called the K9 buddy program. I think how it works is this. Parents with a blind or vision impaired child apply and then if they are accepted they get a CC dog that their blind child can care for as a pet. This introduces the family to guide dogs as an option for future mobility and lets the child see what it takes to care for a dog.

There is another program where CC dogs go with their handlers and they give talks about GDB and the program I guess much like what I do as a handler with my dog only my dog is a official guide and the other dog is not?

Here is a quick overview of what each phase is. Then on with the list... I got this off of a website for a puppy raising club for GDB.

Phase 0
Training Phases - Quick Reference Guide
Health screenings (X-rays/eyes); agility; kennel enrichment; campus walks, community run intros
Phase 1
Clicker intro; tethering / collar response; food reward and refusal intros; obstacle course; first up-curb exercise; “over here” verbal cue; agility; back-up chute; harness exposure; treadmill; off leash recall; formal obedience begins; pattern training begins
Phase 2
Pattern training continues; second up-curb exercise; distraction route in town; responsible lead exercise; food protocol continues
Phase 3
Third up-curb exercise; dog boot intros; preliminary obedience and guidework testing
Phase 4
Interior building work begins; intelligent disobedience and overhead obstacle intros; traffic conditioning; natural traffic checks begin
Phase 5
Natural traffic checks continue; formal traffic training; total barricades; city routes; escalator intros; city bus route
Phase 6
City routes continue; sidewalkless training; platform training; light rail route; leash relieving begins
Phase 7
Advanced overhead obstacle training; more complex routes
Phase 8 - Finishing / Maintenance routes; Class preparation
Final tests: obedience, guidework, building, and final traffic; pre-class phone meetings with clients; hand and chair targeting intros; pole targeting; dormitory building exposure; pre class physicals; pre-class meeting with the instructor team, supervisor, dorm manager and nurses.


How exciting is this? To know my dog is in one of these last two phases right now? I checked the graduation schedule and the class right prior to mine started Monday. They graduate on the 5 March.

I don't know what dogs are in this class so likely some of the dogs on this list are already in class. Anyway, on with the list.

Adonis 42W0 LAB M 7
Amalfi 4R86 LAB M 10
Aster 4W28 LAB F 8
Autumn 413V LAB F 8
Aza 42W5 LAB F 8
Bailey 48W1 LAB F 8
Brannan 48W0 LAB M 8
Cancun 45W2 LAB M 7
Cassandra 4W36 LAB F 7
Chip 4W35 LAB M 7
Delaware 4W40 LAB M 7
Denver 43W6 LAB M 8
Diablo 4W41 LAB M 7
Don 4W42 LAB M 8
Donner 4W43 LAB M 7
Dora 431W LAB F 8
Dynasty 44W3 LAB F 8
Elma 419W LAB F 8
Faberge 4R44 LAB F 8
Fallon 45W9 LAB M 8
Fandango 46W0 LAB M 8
Flo 457V LAB F 7
Heather 4W21 LAB F 8
James 473T LAB M 8
Jandy 43W1 LAB F 8
Jedi 4W48 LAB M 7
Junebug 4W53 LAB F 8
Landry 468W LAB M 8
Lawson 411T LAB M 10
Leader 41W5 LAB M 8
McGee 4W66 LAB M 8
Mercury 454W LAB M 8
Mongo 4W68 LAB M 7
Mulan 45W1 LAB F 8
Newman 4W56 LAB M 8
Pavarotti 47W3 LAB M 8
Penn 48V9 LAB M 8
Penne 47W4 LAB F 8
Pepita 492V LAB F 8
Pinot 479W LAB M 8
Rockette 479V LAB F 7
Rolex 49V4 LAB M 8
Rosetta 401V LAB F 8
Shelby 4W99 LAB F 8
Tabby 403V LAB F 8
Teka 405V LAB F 7
Tibbs 402V LAB M 8
Toronto 482V LAB M 8
Torren 40W5 LAB M 8
Turner 40W7 LAB M 7