Buying A Service Dog - What Types Of Service Dogs Can You Adopt?

If you're lucky enough to be purchasing a dog that was trained to provide a service for people, or a least adopting a dog that was accepted for such training but did not make it for some reason, you are in for a special treat. Most people aren't even aware that such dogs exist.

What type of pets are we talking about? Any dog that was trained for or actually worked a "career" by leading the blind and helping other disabled people is a prime example.

You HaveŃ Choices Of Service Dogs To Choose From

When looking to adopt a professionally trained career dog, your choices come in three different forms: dogs that are retired from being guides, "career changing" dogs, and finally, there are the canines that for some reason did not make it through the training program, or simply put - flunkies.

Guide Dogs No More: Just like people, service dogs cannot work their jobs forever. As these animals get older, they become slower and are no longer effective in helping their owners. The average amount of time that a service dog can work is approximately 8 years. At this point they become prime candidates for adoption by people like you and me.

Dogs That Had Multiple Careers: Many dogs can be taken out of one service job and then trained for another. The reasons for this can vary. It may be because of temperament issues, medical concerns, or perhaps a dog was just not a suitable match for its owner. For example, a dog may be retired from guide service and then prepared and transferred to work at a rehabilitation hospital or a nursery home. Sometimes these types of animals are even assigned to children's homeless centers in order to play with the kids.

Just Didn't Make The Cut: Finally, we have our flunkies. Now before you consider a flunky to be a negative thing, reconsider that notion because quite the opposite is true. Thousands of dogs are trained every year by organizations which lead them into service jobs.

Not all of these dogs make the cut and move on to work with people. They are considered flunkies for whatever reason, whether it is from temperament problems, health problems, or perhaps were a little too excitable for service work. However, the important aspect to remember here is that these dogs are still a cut above any other pet you may find elsewhere.

Just to get accepted into these types of programs for training preparation means they already had natural first-class qualities and characteristics which made them ideal candidates. These dogs are typically between the ages of one and two years old. Most are very gentle and loving and have had some type of extensive obedience training during the beginning of the program.

Buying A Service Dog -The Absolute BEST Adult Dog You Could Ever Find

When deciding to add a new adult dog to the family, have you considered purchasing one that is actually retired? What is a "retired" dog? Simply put, most people never consider finding a companion that used to be of service to other people, such as a guide dog.

If you look up the reports provided by the International Association of Assistance Dog Partners, you'll find that there are approximately 8,000 to 9,000 dogs in the United States alone that are "employed." These animals are out there providing service to our fellow human beings by guiding blind people, helping the deaf, and offering assistance to other disabled men and women.

However, not all dogs who are bred and raised in order to provide some sort of service is actually out there working. And other dogs have indeed been of use to people during their life but obviously cannot continue working forever. To help these animals find homes, there are guide dog organizations who provide adoption programs as part of their services.

These animals are definitely in high demand. Most of them are completely trained and offer stable companionship from the day they are brought home. The reason for this is because most of these working type dogs spent months and even years going through intensive obedient classes and learning training protocols. This type of training is so extensive that most everyday citizens could not afford to have their pets undergo such training from professionals.

Consider this, it takes a very special and intelligent dog just to get excepted into a program which will train them for a career as a service dog. They must be well adjusted, in good health, and show all the signs necessary to make them good students of whatever particular job the trainers will be preparing them for.

Just these attributes alone, before being trained to work, would make a wonderful pet. Now imagine six months up to two years of additional heavy-duty obedience training and career protocol programs. The result is a dog that anybody would be extremely grateful to have as a house pet.

So before you decide to go to a shelter or any of the usual places to buy or adopt a dog, consider checking out local facilities that specialize in providing dogs that are ex-service oriented, or those canines that for some reason or another did not completely make it through the training. Either way, you are guaranteed to enjoy a high class, first rate quality pet.

My mom *may* be considering adopting Audrey to save her life! I remember one time I saw a website where they put the dogs with truckers heading in the right direction and meet up with you. Can I please have the site? THANK YOU!
By the way it's not official, she's not entirely sure and we have to talk to my dad which will be tough. I have to go so I'll be back later.

Adopting A Labrador Retriever From The Animal Shelter (3): How To Keep Your Shelter Lab Happy

The old saying that a tired dog is a good dog never applied to any breed more than the adolescent Labrador Retriever. Labs need so much exercise! This is especially true when they are young adults.

They are not a couch potato breed, but they will calm down after a good 40 minutes or so of vigorous aerobic exercise. This is why dog parks were invented!

All young Labrador Retrievers have energy to spare, but Labs confined to shelters for long periods may be in dire need of some serious cardiovascular activity to burn off excessive energy. Most Labs at these shelters aren't getting enough exercise at all.

Labs are bred to go through the woods and marshes and get that duck again and again and again - all day long. This is an extremely active, high-energy dog and if you bring it into a sedentary lifestyle, it's not a good fit.

Putting a Labrador Retriever in a fenced yard or taking the dog for a walk around the block isn't enough. This dog's exercise has to be heavy cardiovascular and it has to wear them out to the point of fatigue.

Finding sufficient outlets for your shelter Lab's energy can make a huge difference in behavior around the house. Dog-daycare programs and professional pet sitters can offer exercise opportunities during the work day, but even without paying a penny to a professional, you can exercise your Lab by organizing play dates.

Nothing tires out an adolescent dog like another adolescent dog. Meet up with other dog people - friends, neighbors or people you meet in obedience class - and get your dogs together to channel that energy.

Invite them over for pizza or a backyard grill and turn the dogs loose. A lot of people become very good friends who get together for such dog-related activities. It's an economical and fun alternative to an organized dog-daycare program.

After about 12 to 14 months, when a Labrador Retriever has finished growing strong bones, it can also begin more organized athletic activities, such as agility (a competitive obstacle course), or other higher-impact activities, such as jogging for long distances.

But never wait too long for obedience classes. This is a common mistake all too many dog owners make, and this goes especially for your newly adopted shelter Lab. Start bonding with it right away under the guidance of a professional, who can help you with strategies for introducing family members, other pets and dog-proofing your home. You'll set a precedent for good behavior, and you'll immediately begin building a relationship with your Lab.

The animal rescue shelter placed 134 cats and dogs for adoption. The adoption fee is for a cat and for a dog.

If the shelter collected 50 in adoption fees, how may cats and how many dogs were placed?

70 cats and 64 dogs

64 cats and 70 dogs

72 cats and 62 dogs

68 cats and 66 dogs

74 cats and 60 dogs

Adopting A Labrador Retriever From The Animal Shelter (2): Why Bad Behavior Is Actually A Good Thing!

If you adopt an adult Lab from a shelter or rescue group, you certainly can't go back in time to puppyhood to avoid behavior problems. But don't despair! Your Lab can still learn how to behave.

Habits that have taken a year to develop won't disappear overnight. Consistency and patience are required to train a Lab of any age. You can't let your Lab get away with something once just because you are tired. You can't pat it on the head for jumping on you one day because it's cute, then yell at it for jumping on you the next day when you are in your work clothes.

The trick is to see the pearl in the oyster, so to speak. You can have a wonderful family dog hidden inside that rambunctious adolescent. All you need to do is channel that energy with patience and nurture those natural Lab tendencies into behaviors that are appropriate for life with the typical loving family.

Back To The Basics

They key to training a shelter Lab, a Lab from a rescue group, or any adolescent or adult Lab is simple. The golden rule in training is to forget that they are adolescents or adult dogs and treat them just how you would treat an 8-week old puppy - using positive training methods.

In many cases, people who adopt adult Labs from the shelter believe an older dog should "know better," and this can set both dog and human up for failure and disappointment. If your adopted Lab is acting up, it isn't because it is being spiteful. Just because a dog is older doesn't mean it should "know better."

A lot of people get really resentful about the behavior of their shelter Labs. They think their dog is abnormal because it isn't acting like that calm, sweet, mellow Lab down the street. But this is normal behavior for Lab puppies and also for adolescent Labs that haven't had any training or that don't understand what is expected of them.

This kind of behavior is frustrating, but you have to understand the Lab's natural tendencies and you have to be patient. Rambunctious behavior from a shelter dog is actually a good thing. A dog that has been moved around a lot tends to be insecure and overwhelmed, leaving it subdued for a few weeks when placed in a new home.

The dog isn't sure whether it is going to stay with you but when he starts jumping up and running around like a toddler, that's really good news! It means that your Lab is finally feeling comfortable and starts acting more normal. At this point, you can manage training problems and start back at square one, as if it were a puppy.

Adopting A Labrador Retriever From The Animal Shelter (1): Why Were These Wonderful Family Dogs Given Up?

An adolescent dog is a hard sell for adoption, even if they are the types of pets considered to be ideal for family living, such as the Labrador Retriever. And when people do make the commitment to bring home a large, enthusiastic canine that hasn't learned any manners yet, regret may set in quickly.

You see these types of dogs in shelters all of the time because, in the outside world, people see other family-oriented dogs that are calm and sweet and think they naturally come that way. They don't realize how much time it takes to get these dogs to that point, and they give up because the drive and the high energy level is more than they are willing or able to deal with.

Many otherwise well-behaved dogs act wildly in shelters, not because they are always that way, but because of their situation. When you adopt a dog from a shelter, what you see isn't always what you get. If the dog is wild and jumping up, it could be crying out saying, "Hey, look at me! I'm a friendly dog! Pick me, Pick me!"

On the reverse behavior, if you see a dog that is really quiet, it could just be overcome by the noise and all the changes it has just experienced.

Why Are These Popular Dogs There In The First Place?

Popular family dogs you can find in the shelter may have been dropped off because many families found that they could not tolerate the typical behaviors that came up, such as the incessant need to chew and an energy level that sometimes seems unquenchable.

Dogs bred for fieldwork (hunting) can have even more energy and drive than other breeds. Their exercise needs may seem impossible to meet, so many of these guys and gals end up in animal shelters or in rescue groups without ever having had any training.

Constantly shifting from one home to another and having to endure long periods of confinement in small spaces can make inappropriate behavior even worse, simple because the dog isn't getting the exercise or attention it craves.

When an adolescent or adult dog has never received any formal obedience training, he may seem incorrigible, and that's not what people expect from an adult family-type dog. Take the Labrador Retriever as the perfect example - one major reason why people adopt adult Labs is to avoid a lot of the work that comes with a puppy.

These people have heard that adult Labs are calm and they think this adult dog will be no problem at all. But if the Lab was never trained, you can have real problems, such as a Lab that has never learned to stop the habit of puppy mouthing or jumping on people. It's one thing for a puppy to do those things but when a large adult dog does them, somebody could get hurt.

I am going to the pet fair this weekend in Orange County Calif. because I am looking into adopting a dog. Does anyone know about costs and other details that I may need to know before adopting the dog?