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Did you know Leader Dog has a dedicated group of canine representatives? We’re often asked to bring dogs to events (here on campus and elsewhere), and one of the things we like to do with people who are getting to know us is offer the chance to take a blindfolded walk with a dog in harness. It’s a totally unique experience that helps people understand why it’s so important that guide dogs are well trained and highly skilled: you can’t see what’s coming and you’re trusting that dog to take care of you.

Since our Leader Dogs in training are generally busy, we put together a team of canine ambassadors whose job is to accompany our team members and interact with the public. All the dogs have undergone guide dog training before they were career changed for various reasons. Now they live off campus in private homes. When we need a dog team member to help represent Leader Dog, one of these friendly faces will be out in their green ambassador vest to say hi.

Arctic

A golden retriever wearing a green canine ambassador vestArctic is a golden retriever born on June 19, 2017. He is hosted by a member of our marketing team. Arctic’s puppy raiser lives in Traverse City, so he’s used to Michigan snow. Fun fact: he is the only dog in recorded Leader Dog history named Arctic! Arctic often comes to work at Leader Dog and loves playing with the other ambassador dogs and pet dogs. He is especially fond of fellow Ambassador Dogs Piper and Lily. At home, Arctic loves spreading all his toys (and there are many) throughout the house so he always has something to play with or chew. His favorite toy is a stuffed hedgehog, closely followed by a mini pig, a small lamb and an almost life-sized dog. He is extremely well behaved at home and has only been known to bark twice since becoming an ambassador. Arctic is a sucker for a belly rub and will take that over a treat any day.

Piper

A golden retriever in green Leader Dog ambassador vestPiper is a golden retriever born on December 9, 2016. She was raised in a Michigan correctional facility. Piper is hosted by a member of Leader Dog’s information and technology team and often comes to work with her host mom when she isn’t busy with ambassador duties. When she’s working, Piper is good at her job. At home, one of her favorite things to do is play ball. When the rest of her host family runs out of energy for playing ball, she will “dribble” the ball by herself (she bounces it on the floor with her nose and then catches it)! She enjoys going for walks and loves to snuggle with her young human sister. Piper will also play “volleyball” with her by booping the ball over the ottoman with her nose. Piper is a veteran sock retriever – she doesn’t eat them, she just stacks them up on the floor, clean or dirty. Doesn’t matter to her!

Cleo

A black lab wearing a green canine ambassador vestCleo is a black Labrador and was raised in a correctional facility in Iowa. After Cleo returned to Leader Dog for training, she graduated as a Leader Dog. Unfortunately, Cleo developed tendonitis, which meant that sustained guide dog work wasn’t for her, and she returned to Leader Dog after only a few months. Cleo was adopted by one of our guide dog mobility instructors. She now lives with her family and indulges her human girl children with games and snuggles. She enjoys playing, swimming, napping and eating whenever she can. She was one of the original ambassador dogs in the program and is eager to show people what a Leader Dog can do (and accept all of the petting and praise). Cleo excels at posing for pictures and providing blindfold experiences to anyone who wants to know more about walking with a guide dog.

Lily

A black lab in green Leader Dog ambassador vestLily was born on August 6, 2017. She is a petite black Labrador retriever and was raised in an Iowa prison. After she returned to Leader Dog for training, she was well on her way to becoming a great Leader Dog when the vet team discovered that she often got sores on her paws. Since Leader Dogs can’t have sore feet, she was career changed to be a canine ambassador. Now, Lily lives with a member of the Leader Dog philanthropy team. At home, it’s just Lily and her host mom (and Lily’s many toys). Lily’s favorite toy is a stuffed green alligator that she loves to toss in the air. Lily comes to work at Leader Dog all the time and enjoys playtime with Ambassador Dogs Coco and Arctic and office dog Laker. Even though she’s small, she is packed with energy and charisma and loves going out and meeting new people.

Coco

A yellow lab wearing a green canine ambassador vestCoco is a yellow Labrador/golden retriever cross. She’s hosted by a Leader Dog team member in our philanthropy department. Her birthday is July 21, 2016. Like Cleo, she was raised in an Iowa correctional facility. Her name may be Coco, but a lot of people around Leader Dog call her “Coco Chanel.” She’s a social girl and loves playing with other dogs, which is how she spends most of her free time. Her office “pack” is Ambassador Dog Lily and office dog Laker. Coco enjoys working and she’s primarily involved with our workplace leadership training program, Harness the Power of Leadership. She’s given hundreds of blindfold walks and met a lot of people who haven’t been around dogs before. Believe it or not, Coco is the first dog a lot of people have ever petted! Her favorite part of her job is getting scratched behind the ears by new friends, and she’s an expert at posing for pictures.

Flaim

A black lab in green Leader Dog ambassador vestFlaim is a black Labrador born on August 20, 2016. He was raised by a volunteer puppy raiser who named him Flaim after a good friend of hers. Flaim did very well in his puppy training but unfortunately had several ear infections while in guide dog training, which led to his career change. Flaim’s host is a physician in the local area who often had patients bring their Future Leader Dog puppies to appointments. She was delighted to host Flaim as a Leader Dog ambassador. Flaim lives with his “brother” Hershey, a chocolate lab. The two bonded immediately and love playing tug of war and king of the hill in the back yard. Flaim is very sweet and affectionate, but he can also be mischievous. He once wanted a child’s toy but was told “no,” so he waited until he could stealthily make a fair trade – he put one of his toys in place of the child’s toy and added the new toy to his box!

Drago

A yellow lab wearing a green canine ambassador vestDrago is a Labrador/golden retriever cross born on February 26, 2017. He was raised in a correctional facility in Michigan. In guide dog training, Drago was sometimes more interested in things besides doing guide dog work, so his instructors decided that he’d be better as a Leader Dog ambassador. In addition to assisting with blindfold walks, Drago has also gone to school to help educate children about service animals. He enjoys his job because he LOVES meeting people! His host mom works on the Leader Dog philanthropy team, and he comes to work with her a lot. At home, Drago likes to play fetch with his host dad, play “keep away” with his toys with his terrier brother, and keep a respectful distance from his cat sister (he loves her, but she’s moody). Drago is a mellow boy, though he tends to get very excited when people come to say hello and he always grabs the closest toy to offer them.

Ferris

A yellow lab in green Leader Dog ambassador vestFerris is a yellow Labrador and was born on June 13, 2017. He was also raised in a Michigan correctional facility. He’s named after the crazy but lovable Ferris Bueller of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. At home, he loves to sneak naps on the ottoman. He has another crazy companion at home named Ranger, a golden retriever who loves to play with Ferris. The two of them race all over their yard and the house, and they frequently compete to be the cutest. Ferris loves balls but he’s also happy to try to play with whatever toy Ranger currently has. Ferris is a super friendly dog and everyone in his host family loves him. He fits right in with the family too since most of his human siblings also have Labradors. Even though Ferris loves his playtime, he has great obedience skills and sticks close to his host mom’s side whenever he can.

Ellie

A black lab/golden cross in green Leader Dog ambassador vestEllie was born on June 2, 2016. Her dad was a golden retriever and her mom was a Labrador. When she’s not helping out at Leader Dog giving blindfold walks, she’s at home with her host family. Her family has two active kids who love to help Ellie get her energy out by throwing balls for her and chasing her around. Her favorite thing to do is play (either tug or fetch). Her host family also has two pet Labradors that Ellie romps around with when she isn’t busy with the kids. Ellie is a water dog and she loves to swim. Lucky for her, her family has a pool where she can doggie paddle to her heart’s content. Like Arctic, Ellie is a quiet girl who tends to express her excitement without much barking.

When Future Leader Dogs are 12 to 15 months old, their volunteer puppy raisers return them to the Leader Dog campus to begin formal guide dog training. Puppy raisers have already worked with their Future Leader Dog on the fundamentals of good behavior and obedience. Now, it’s our guide dog mobility instructors’ turn to build on that foundation with the special skills needed for guide work.

Guide dog training has four phases, each of which introduces more challenging work and lasts about a month. Our guide dog mobility instructors work in teams. When the team begins with a new class of dogs, each instructor is assigned a “string” of about eight dogs. Each string will have a variety of sizes, breeds and temperaments. We need a variety of dogs for every class to ensure we’ll have the right match for each client.

Stages of Training

Foundations

During the foundations phase, the instructors begin to build and strengthen relationships with their dogs. The instructors work with the dogs on things that puppy raisers taught, including loose leash walking (walking in a heel position at the instructor’s side without pulling on the leash), settling calmly, and obedience (sit, down, stay, stand, etc.). This helps the dogs recognize that the skills they learned need to transfer to a new handler. It also gives the instructors a chance to evaluate the dogs’ skills and learn their personalities. Instructors use praise and treats (we like low-calorie Charlee Bear treats to help keep the dogs in good shape) to reinforce the skills they’re working on. The dogs get their first introduction to the guide harness and curb work (training them to stop at curbs before crossing a street).

The first two weeks of foundations are spent on the Leader Dog campus. The dogs then progress to working on quiet streets as they learn basic cues.

Basic

In basic training, the instructors build on guide skills like stopping at curbs, traveling in a straight line, avoiding obstacles, making turns, and stopping for traffic. They also start working on new skills, such as having the dog find an empty chair. Instructors and dogs load up in our training trucks and head to our auxiliary training building in downtown Rochester. This building serves as home base when they’re out training on local streets. Instructors take the dogs into quiet neighborhoods and the busier Main Street area.

The instructors and dogs start working in group obedience classes to make sure the dogs are responding to the instructors on an individual basis. To increase the complexity of the training, instructors add distractions to the group classes. During this phase, our veterinary team performs another health exam on the dogs. The instructors check the dogs’ training progress with a blindfold exam. For the exam, the instructor is blindfolded and the dog must take them on a route in Rochester while demonstrating the skills they’ve learned (a spotter follows each exam to make sure everyone stays safe).

Intermediate

This phase includes the addition of country travel and working in larger urban areas. The dogs have established basic skills and met standards up to this point. In country travel training, the dogs learn to walk along the left side of the road in areas where there are no sidewalks. Instructors work on complex guide skills, such as recognizing overhead obstacles, traffic responsibility, and intelligent disobedience.

Leader Dogs must recognize when they’re passing under an obstacle that their handler will run into, like a low-hanging tree branch. This way they can safely guide their handler out of the way. Traffic responsibility is teaching the dogs to slow down and stop when a vehicle pulls into their line of travel. The instructors work with the dogs to teach them intelligent disobedience: if the instructor commands the dog to move forward but there’s a hazard such as a vehicle in the way, the dog must deliberately disobey the command. Clients often talk about moments where their guide dog’s intelligent disobedience saved them from situations like stepping into a construction zone or being hit by a car.

Dogs being trained for clients in our Deaf-Blind program may learn additional skills like alerting to a sound (such as a doorbell or knock on the door).

Instructors and our client services team start “pre-matching” dogs to client applicants. Training may proceed differently for a dog that might go to a large city versus a dog that will be working in a country setting.

Advanced

This is the most difficult phase of training. The dogs must master complex situations, multiple moving cars, busy streets and difficult obstacles to be ready to be matched with a client. Instructors and dogs train in Detroit, which provides plenty of distractions, complex obstacles and unique environments.

During the last week of advanced training, things wind down for the dogs. They come back to quiet residential areas in preparation for where they will begin working with their new “forever person.” Part of the application that our clients submit includes a video of them traveling in their home environment. This helps instructors gather information like what the daily travel environment might include and the client’s walking pace. Instructors review videos of incoming clients to make the best client/dog matches possible. At this point, about 25–30 dogs are ready for clients. There are always more dogs than clients to ensure that we have options when making a match.

All the dogs receive another health exam and complete a second blindfold exam with their instructors. This exam uses a less familiar route with more complex obstacles. If the dogs score well on this assessment, they are now “class ready.”

Class

This is when the real work begins! Class begins in the Polk Residence Center on Leader Dog’s campus, where clients stay during their time here. Instructors meet their clients and spend the first two days working with them on what we call JUNO training. During JUNO training, the instructor plays the part of the “dog” by holding the harness and leading the client. This helps the client learn the commands and mechanics they’ll use with their Leader Dog. This also gives the instructors a chance to evaluate whether they’ve selected the best dog for each client.

After JUNO training is complete, the moment everyone has been waiting for arrives: dog issue day! All the dogs are groomed and ready to make a good first impression. Instructors bring the dogs in one at a time to introduce them to their new handlers. The introductions take place privately in each client’s room. Then, the clients and dogs have the rest of the morning to just meet and bond.

In the afternoon, the new handler and dog teams will take their first walk around the practice course on our campus. Instructors work closely with the teams in the beginning and slowly reduce the level of support until the handler and dog can walk comfortably without the instructor right beside them. Over the next few weeks, the instructors, clients and dogs will practice working in quiet residential areas and progress to busier, more distracting environments to solidify each team’s skills. They also work on skills like finding an object or location. Instructors talk to each client about individual goals to include during training. For example, if a client is about to go to college, the instructor and handler/dog team can head to a nearby campus to practice in that environment.

After three weeks of training together, the clients and Leader Dogs head home. Clients introduce their Leader Dogs to their new environment and begin practicing daily routines. The year and a half of growing, learning and practicing that each Leader Dog has just completed is now the foundation for a person’s independent travel.

You can be part of a dog’s journey to becoming a guide dog – become a puppy raiser today. Interested in getting a Leader Dog of your own? Explore our Guide Dog Training program.