We got to learn about guide dog training from a Guiding Eyes instructor.
Ever wondered what goes into guide dog training? We did, too. So we enjoyed getting to chat with Nikki Wentz, who has been a Guide Dog Mobility Instructor at Guiding Eyes for the Blind for close to nine years.
Guiding Eyes has been helping blind and visually impaired people since the 1950s at their campus about an hour north of New York City, and Hall of Fame quarterback Eli Manning is part of their Board of Directors.
This phone interview about guide dog training took place earlier this month.
Dog O’Day – How did you get started with dog training, and then especially with guide dogs?
Nikki Wentz – I always had an interest in animals, and so I actually majored in animal behavior in college, so that was when I really started getting interested in the training side of animals, and I had been a volunteer puppy raiser growing up, so I always knew about guide dogs and had been around them. So when I really started by career search at the end of college, it was something that I was interested in, and luckily had some experience training dogs and other animals during college.
During the puppy raising process, what exactly goes into that? The basic commands?
We have a HUGE community of our volunteer puppy raisers that usually get the dogs anywhere between eight and 12 weeks old, and their main responsibility is teaching the dogs basic obedience, as well as house training them and getting socialized, taking them on walks and getting them exposed to different sounds, experiences, all that kind of thing. As they grow up, trying to make sure they’re a well-rounded dog.
And then once they leave the puppy raiser then it becomes a more intense training process?
Right. Usually when the dog is around a year and a half old, we bring them back to Yorktown Heights in New York State to our training facility for their formal guidework training. So that’s where the really particular guide work skills happen; before that we’re focusing on the basics of having a nice well-socialized dog. Once they have a chance to mature a little bit, about a year and a half old, we’ll start doing our formal training with them.
Our introduction to the basics of guide dog training continues with Guiding Eyes for the Blind’s Nikki Wentz.
What are some of the elements of the process that goes into formal guide dog training?
All of our dogs receive a test, we call it the In For Training (IFT) test, when they come to us, and it’s really just a behavioral and temperament assessment, just to make sure that they’re really suitable for guide work – they’re all great dogs, but some might have higher sensitivities, some might startle at noises or might be a little more uncomfortable with an unfamiliar person, so we really try to eliminate those dogs early on, so we are working with guide dogs who be more suited [to the task] that go into our training program.
We mostly focus on a lot of positive reinforcement, we do a ton of clicker training, and some of the things the dogs learn at first are just to indicate or show their handler a particular object, like things that are really important for a guide dog to show are door handles, stair railings, and especially changes of elevation – things that a visually impaired person may need a warning about when they’re walking about.
The changes of elevation are definitely something that warnings help with, for sure.
Definitely, yeah! You don’t want to accidentally find a set of stairs while you’re out walking.
Nope, that’s no fun. How are the dogs matched with their handlers?
It’s a whole process. All of our applicants go through a home interview process, where they just get a basic questionnaire and then a staff member goes out to their home and makes sure their home is safe and suitable for a dog, and that they actually have destinations and routes they can travel with the dog so that they’ll actually be using the dog once we match them with a dog, and during that interview we also take down their average comfortable walking pace. Tthat’s one of the most important things we look at because our dogs do tend to work at a specific pace or within a specific range, so we really want to match them so you’ll be comfortable with your dog.
Another big consideration that we look at is where they live, since some dogs are more comfortable in a big city environment like New York City or Chicago, while others may do better in quiet residential areas. So we look at that as a consideration, too, because our students have the same kind of wide range as our dogs, so we look at that too.
And another thing is just personality – some people might go out a lot with their dog, so they want a dog who’s just always kind of ready to go with more stamina and that kind of thing, other people are more couch potatoes, and we definitely have dogs like that, too! So we definitely do consider the personality as well in the matching process.
When the students come to the training center in Yorktown, what goes on during the orientation process when you match the dog with the handler?
Our main guide dog training program is our residential program, where we bring in students to live for three weeks at our campus in Yorktown Heights. They usually work with a team of three staff members; Guide Dog Mobility Instructors and then a Team Lead who just kind of oversees the whole process.
We already have an idea of which dog they are going to receive when they come to New York, but the first day or two we just let them get acclimated, cause they’re in a new environment, they have their own room, but since you’re coming into a place with a ton of strangers, we give them a chance to acclimate for the first day. We do an initial walk with the student to make sure they are what we thought they were based on the initial interview (since that usually happens months prior), and the third day that they’re with us they actually receive their guide dog.
They’ll work with that dog for the remaining two and a half weeks, one-on-one with an instructor, and we really just focus on bonding with the dog and then transferring over the guidework skills that we’ve been teaching the dogs in the months prior.
So at that point it’s more training the human, rather than training the dog?
Right, exactly! We always tell people that training your guide dog is never done, it’s never finished. They are dogs, and there’s always more than your can teach them. With class we’re really focusing on teaching the handler how to be able to work the guide dog, and then we give them the tools – like the clicker training – so they can teach their dogs when they go home the things that are specific to their home environment or extra skills they might want to teach their dog as well.
Our chat about guide dog training with Nikki Wentz of Guiding Eyes for the Blind wraps up.
What are some of the differences that come up between training a guide dog or another service animal and basic training for a pet dog?
That’s a good question. I’d say that in the beginning all of our guide dog training is pretty similar to any training you would do with a dog, especially if you’re doing clicker training. You’re just teaching them these skills that they’re learning and they’re getting practice with the skills, then guide work kind of shifts off into its own element.
We do ask the dogs to do what we call “intelligent disobedience,” which is certain times that we want the dog to refuse or ignore the commands that their handler has given them. So this especially pertains to if you’re out traveling and you thought it was safe to cross the street but then a car turned right on red. In theory you did everything right and you should have been able to cross, and you told your dog it was safe to cross, but the dog will actually stop or even back up without the handler prompting them to do those things.
Another example would be like a train platform, if the handler were to get too close to the edge of an elevated platform, the dog would actually stop or maybe even turn away in that situation.
So we do ask our dogs to develop that independent thinking as well. If you’re just doing clicker training with your dog, or agility training or something like that, you keep rehearsing the skills you taught them, and you’re wanting them to do exactly what you’ve been practicing with them. We do ask our guide dogs to kind of think outside of that at times.
Wow, that’s really amazing.
Yeah, they’re really incredible dogs.
With National Dog Day coming up, why would you say dogs are so great, in general? There’s so many different breeds and things that they can do.
I think, especially with our dogs, they’re just so adaptable, I really like that about them. Even if you just stop and think about other animals, like a cat or something like that, your average dog is just kind of along for the ride, they don’t get bothered by too much, especially the Labradors that we train. They’re really just joyful and willing to work with you, and that’s one of the reasons why I enjoy working with Guiding Eyes so much, they’re connected and willing to work with you throughout the whole training process.
Do you have any pet dogs of your own? What are their personalities like? It’s probably different than the dogs you work with all day long, obviously.
I do, yep. It is a little bit different. I do have one retired Guiding Eyes dog, he’s a black Labrador, he’s just very chill and relaxed. He’s really just a couch potato, honestly. I also have a Keeshond, and he is very unlike the dogs I work with at Guiding Eyes. He’s hyper, he’s always barking, he’s just a totally different dog, and it’s funny because I definitely probably train him less – just, having dogs and working with and training dogs all the time, it’s funny to see how he’ll catch onto things. Sometimes I might bring a dog home from work so we’ll be working on something in a home setting, and my Keeshond will be right there, he wants to do it! He wants to be part of the process., too. He’s definitely a little higher strung than the average Labrador that I work with, or even our German Shepherds.
It probably depends on the dog, of course, but what is the average working lifespan for a guide dog?
Usually by the time they’ve completed our formal guide dog training and done the training with their student, they’ll be about two years old. Our goal is to have the dog working around eight years, but it really does depend on the situation, the environment they’re working in, how demanding it is, that sort of thing. Some will retire sooner, some will retire later, but we aim for around eight years of working life, which is around 10 years old, and then they’ll get to enjoy their retirement.
Do retired dogs ever teach new current dogs how to do things?
I think so! I’ve worked with a few handlers, they’re allowed to keep their retired dog as a pet if they choose to once they reach that point where they need a new guide dog, and a lot of people will tell you that when they arrived back home with their new guide dog, their retired guide dog wants to still go with them, will try to get the harness on themselves, they’re not ready to give it up just yet. It is, I think, in a lot of people’s households, a good energy to have around, the experienced mellow guide dog to kind of teach the young one.
For more information on Guiding Eyes and their approach to guide dog training, be sure to check out their website (GuidingEyes.org) and follow their social media pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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