Guide Dogs

Guide Dogs act as the eyes of a visually impaired person. They do a wonderful job assisting their owners in daily life and are great companions too. A guide dog will work for around seven years with one owner. When they retire they may stay on as a pet with their owner but often go to new homes as their owner takes on a new guide dog.

Guide Dogs are bred from specific stock. Their parents are selected for their good nature, obedience and steady nerves. This hopefully produces likewise offspring, though of course this is not always the case.

Guide Dogs are trained to walk in front of their owner and avoid obstacles, know the size of their owner and how to make sure they avoid obstacles, stop ant kerbs and corners, go left and right and know what to do in traffic. Amazing!

The training guide dogs go through before starting their career is rigorous. Dogs can be declared unsuitable at any time in training, and many are. If this is the case the dogs go to good homes. Even if they aren’t quite Guide Dog standard, these dogs are house trained and make excellent family dogs.

Owners and Guide Dogs are carefully selected before they are matched. The pair spend around four weeks at training school. In the UK the owner hands over a traditional token of fifty pence for their guide dog.

They sound like great pets. If you want to choose a dog breed that has some of the traits of a Guide Dog then choose a breed that is used as a Guide Dog. These include Labradors, Retrievers and German Shepherds.

Even though Guide Dogs are working dogs, they enjoy it. Spending all day with their owner and going to places off limits to most dogs is not a bad life for a dog! When a Guide Dog is working, this is when they are wearing their harness and is being held by their owner, they should not be petted or distracted in any way so they can concentrate on guiding.

Top Ten Dog Breeds

This is not an item on the best dog breeds, there are no best dogs breeds! All dog breeds are great in their own way.

Below are the top ten most popular dog breeds as registered with the Kennel Club in the UK and the American Kennel Club.

Top Ten Most Popular Dog Breeds in the UK 2006:

• Retriever (Labrador)
• Spaniel (Cocker)
• Spaniel (English Springer)
• German Shepherd Dog (Alsatian)
• Staffordshire Bull Terrier
• Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
• Retriever (Golden)
• West Highland White Terrier
• Boxer
• Border Terrier

Top Ten Most Popular Dog Breeds in the US 2007:

• Retrievers (Labrador)
• Yorkshire Terriers
• German Shepherd Dogs
• Retrievers (Golden)
• Beagles
• Boxers
• Dachshunds
• Poodles
• ShihTzu
• Bulldogs

So it seems the Retriever is the most popular dog breed on both sides of the Atlantic!

All the dogs featured can make wonderful pets and these lists may provide a starting point for choosing a dog breed.

Therapy Dogs

It often feels like our pet dogs have therapeutic or healing like properties. They make us smile when we come home after a hard day and cheer us up when we’re feeling blue.

These qualities have been harnessed in hospitals, hospices and care homes through the use of Therapy Dogs. Together with their owners, these dogs visit the sick and the elderly to offer some relief and comfort to people who would otherwise not be able to have contact with pets (even their own). These therapy dogs could spend five minutes or half an hour with a patient or resident.

Staff in such centres have reported that patients feel calmer and more relaxed after a visit from a therapy dog. Some have even said patients have required less medication immediately after a visit (though this is anecdotal and there has not been a lot of scientific research into this phenomenon).

Can you choose a dog breed to be a good therapy dog?

There are many dog breeds that make excellent therapy dogs. Some dog breeds are better suited than others; those with a naturally friendly character like retrievers, for example. Many small dog breeds are well suited to being therapy dogs as they are good for sitting on laps. Of course not all small dogs will be suitable.

The breed of dog is not as important as the temperament of the dog as to whether they will make a good therapy dog. The dog must enjoy the company of strangers and being petted, a lot! The dog must be happy going to new places where there are lots of people.

Many dog breeds make great therapy dogs. These dogs and their owners do their good work as volunteers. It must be very rewarding for the owners and the people they help.