Travelling with a guide dog?

[olgaandcoda]

Originally Posted by geoffa

Going a little off topic. I worked for the Underground and the puppy walkers used our line, the Metropolitan, a lot beacuse the Met trains make the most noise. If they can get them to travel unconcerned on those then they'll travel on any other line without problems. Just brightened your day seeing the lovely dogs.

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I must say, if you want a dog and are not very experienced with dog training etc. then a guide dog that doesn't make the grade would be an ideal first pet. They fail for reasons that would not effect anyone with sight, of course. The training is very strict, and only perfect scores will get through to being a fully functioning guide dog. They also give veterinary care for the life of the dog too.

Prices to adopt are about £100, but obviously more is the norm to give.

[DJBenz]

Originally Posted by olgaandcoda

I must say, if you want a dog and are not very experienced with dog training etc. then a guide dog that doesn't make the grade would be an ideal first pet. They fail for reasons that would not effect anyone with sight, of course. The training is very strict, and only perfect scores will get through to being a fully functioning guide dog. They also give veterinary care for the life of the dog too.

Prices to adopt are about £100, but obviously more is the norm to give.

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It's currently £150 if you puppy-walked it and £300 if you didn't.

Guide dogs that don't make the grade are next offered to police, army, customs etc because of their training. I know there is an adoption system in place, but we were always told that actually getting a 'failed' guide dog would be highly unlikely. I think the adoption is for pups that clearly won't go on to pass advance training, rather than dogs that don't pass out as a full GD.

We've boarded GDs in (advanced) training for a couple of years and would have jumped at the chance to adopt any of them!

Now we've got a GD brood though, so not only do we have a beautiful dog and know we're supporting the charity even more, we also get puppies! (Well, for six weeks anyway).

Sorry, off-topic, carry on.

[Scotty]

Guide dogs are allowed on cruise ships, apparently they are trained to a use a box, sometimes earth or litter. I have read about them on cruisecritic.
Also saw a programme once about some search and rescue dogs that get flown to disaster zones, they too are trained to toilet on command and would quite often hold on all through a long flight.

[sam7]

Perhaps go indirect so the dog gets a break.

[Squeezelou]

We saw an assistance dog in the queue for seven dwarves mine train, we were quite curious what they did with the dog while the owner rode. At the point where you got on the train, the cast members popped out a dog crate and the dog waited there.
Sorry not very helpful about actually travelling!

[Guest]

I have been on Virgin flights with assistance dogs before. Give their Special Assistance team a call and they will talk you through it. I think the Airport Staff show you were the dog can go to the loo before the flight, and if you take a training mat in the cabin, you are prepared for any instances! It's quite common now, and as long as the dog is trained and has all the right paperwork you are good to go!

[Sandraoh40]

This thread interests me as I am going with my parents in a few weeks and my dad is a guide dog owner. He has had a dog for prob about 20 years now and has flown in excess of 80 flights with a guide dog, though the furthest being Europe.
He isn't taking klint ( the dog) to florida as it just isn't feasable for him to manage on such a long flight. I also think that it would just put the dog under too much stress dealing with such a different environment. Now, maybe if it had been his last dog kirk, he could have considered it as he was a much more ' bolshy' dog.
Anyway, my dad will actually be at a massive disadvantage without klint, but we will just have to take things at a slower pace than we would normally.
I just hope that my dad gets as much from the holiday as possible. I'm determined to get him on as many rides as I can to prove to him that he can have as much fun as someone who can see.

[DIBBadmin]

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