Irish guide dogs for the blind..

petangels

Roy Keane launched the 7th annual Irish Guide Dogs for the blind/Specsavers Shades campaign 2009, late week at Croke Park. The campaign focuses on raising funds for the training of guide and assistance dogs and centres. Training one puppy to be a guide dog costs in the region of €38,000.

I had no idea of the costs involved and can understand the organisation must face huge challenges. It got me thinking and I know it might sound a bit far fetched but I had an idea. What if the Irish Guide Dogs for the blind and the prison service worked together where a prisoner is selected, through rigours vetting and then shown how to train a puppy to be a guide dog. Obviously the selection process would need to efficient in selecting persons capable for the task in hand and dedicated to the project. I think it's well worth looking into further because it's extremely cost efficient and if proven successful then it will increase the number of dogs available to the blind. It will also provide the opportunity to develop skills in prison that will help prisoners seek and obtain work when they are released. It has been proven that prisoners who engage in training and activities do rehabilitate a lot quicker and more effectively. Education and training provides a focus and helps create an all round better system.

So why don't we look to prison's in Ireland as a possible working solution for the Irish Guide Dogs for the blind. What do you think, will this work? It would be great to hear people's opinions..

golden

No its not far fetched at all in fact it a very good idea.

I recently seen a programme in an austrailian prison that selected prisoners would train from puppy stage to the test and one of the guys was interviewed and he has completly changed his whole outlook in life. So that particular situation was win win.

seanybiker

seen that programme alright. The prisoners where excellent with the dogs and they kept out of trouble. As golden said, its a win win situation.
My cousin will need a guide dog soon. He is almost completely deaf already and whatever gene or something he has , he is going blind also. Nothing they can do for the poor chap. Me aunt is after travelling as much as she can with him so he can see so much code have memories before he is fully blind.

Roy keane has been involved with the guide dogs for the blind for years now. He is after raising some load. Fair play to him.

lisajane

I don't think that is a good idea. A puppy being trained to be a guide dog spend their first year being introduced to all types of sights, sounds and smells of the world to prepare them for life as a guide dog. It means bringing them on buses, trains, into shops, along busy streets. Its not something they will get in prison.

seanybiker

lisajane wrote: »

I don't think that is a good idea. A puppy being trained to be a guide dog spend their first year being introduced to all types of sights, sounds and smells of the world to prepare them for life as a guide dog. It means bringing them on buses, trains, into shops, along busy streets. Its not something they will get in prison.

Yeah but their never gonna learn how to make shanks out in the real world.

Corb

lisajane wrote: »

I don't think that is a good idea. A puppy being trained to be a guide dog spend their first year being introduced to all types of sights, sounds and smells of the world to prepare them for life as a guide dog. It means bringing them on buses, trains, into shops, along busy streets. Its not something they will get in prison.

There could still be things the prisoners could teach them at the early stages though. I think it's a good idea.

golden

lisajane wrote: »

I don't think that is a good idea. A puppy being trained to be a guide dog spend their first year being introduced to all types of sights, sounds and smells of the world to prepare them for life as a guide dog. It means bringing them on buses, trains, into shops, along busy streets. Its not something they will get in prison.

The programme that I saw did show the prisoners going out (they were more than liekly tagged I dont know that as it was not shown on the tv) but the prisoners where hand picked by the relavant authorities. The programme on this occassion brought them to a childrenss school it was actually nice to show the prisoners attitude they did say they would never go back to what they did in their previous life they put that down to helping out with the dogs. They appeared to be very genuine in wanting the dogs to pass the next stage so that another dog would go out to work as a guide dog. So therein lies the win win situation.

petangels

Looking into this further, finding lots of countries outside of Ireland are already doing this and have proven successful. For instance: training program in Colorado named 'k-9 companion program' which started in '02 with just 5 dogs in 1 facility and now has 130 handlers in 9 facilities. The program is also an Accredited Community College program and offers vocational certification in Canine Behaviour Modification. That’s just one example I've come across.

If it cuts back the time that a disabled person must wait for an assistant dog and it has been proven successful then surely it's worth considering?

Another interesting approach I've come across in the US is where inmates are taking unwanted dogs from animal shelters where they train and groom them. After this they are placed back into the community as ''paroled pets' and given a better chance of rehoming. This makes a lot of sense for both the animal is getting one on one attention and care while offering practical training to inmates. Helping socialise and train dogs giving them a better chance of rehoming. Animal shelters in Ireland have as a fact too many unwanted dogs and we need to think out side the box.

I came across 'Prison Dogs' Hope behind bars by a woman named Patricia Kelley which includes some pretty amazing success stories.. Which only confirms to me that this is something that could work over here.

http://www.prisondogsbook.com/2008/06/15/brian-and-boomer/

bobbytwo

They have plenty of volunteer families that socialise and train the pups at the early stages (first year) and then the dogs must be taken to the centre to train the dogs on street work. This would be impossible in a prison situation.

On the otherhand, I think it would be a great idea for dog shelters to put untrained dogs into prisons to receive a really good obedience training.

Sigma Force

No idea if this is being done in Ireland but it is being done in other countries incl. the UK if I'm not mistaken. It works really well, as far as I know it's the prisoners who for example are first time offenders for example that train the dogs. It works in other countries might work here if people were open to it.

BlackCat2008

A friend of mine is trainning a pup for the blind at the minute and it involves a lot of work, he has to be brought on buses and in taxis's, to schools and very busy streets as well as to socialise with other dogs he is beautiful, and she only got word lately that he is being sent to Holland as a breeding dog as he is so good natured.

These programs for trainning dogs have been going on in America for yrs now, the dogs are brought in from pounds and the prisoners are told if they can not train the dogs, so they can be rehomed, the dogs will be put to sleep that that is their last chance at a home. The prisoners work really hard knowing this and it seems to have a huge impact on the prisoners as well, they look so proud to see the dogs they train pass their test and go on to new homes.

The big problem we face here is that most of our prisons are over crowded and not suitable to take on such a program, I do know that they run a dog trainning course in wheatfield but no dogs are used as far as I am aware.

One thing people could keep in mind is that these dogs have to retire and many can not be kept on by the owner along with the new dog so they are always looking for homes for the retired ones.

csad58c

its our daughters birthday this week and we are having the obligatory party, but instead of the kids bringing presents as the last thing we need is another 20 toys in the house we are asking for a donation for the Irish Guide Dogs. For €250 you can 'adopt' a pup in training which i think will be great for my daughter and the kids from her class. I think its also a good educational exercise to let her now that there are people who are not as fortunate as ourselves and asssisting them is always appreciated

Little A

csad58c wrote: »

its our daughters birthday this week and we are having the obligatory party, but instead of the kids bringing presents as the last thing we need is another 20 toys in the house we are asking for a donation for the Irish Guide Dogs.

Thats a fantastic idea, fair play to you. I reckon I could get my kids to see the charity light on that one!!

I think the idea of inmates helping impounded dogs is brilliant, how the prison guards in Ireland would see it is a diffent story, but would be really interesting to see. I reckon both sides would have alot to gain.

Not too sure how it would work for guide dogs as they normally spend their first year within a typical home & out and about as much as possible - which isn;t really possible in a prision. I understand thier next stage is very intensive oiver a few months where a decision has to be made as to whether they will actually make the grade. then the remainder of the 2nd year is fine tuning. It's hard to see how any of this would fit into the Irish prision system as it stands.

....but helping to clean, train, walk etc the abandonded dogs - a great way to start!

ValerieR

While I am all for re-insertion and rehabilitation, I find it hard to imagine this working well for the same reasons as mentioned by Little A. In addition to this, a dog could be probably be trained to turn against the guards ...:eek:

@csad58c - fair play to you - that is a great idea.

ValerieR

csad58c

Just to let you know we collected €270 from 26 kids at the party so have enough to sponsor a dog. We have 4 puppies in training turn up on the day for the kids to look at. A great day was had by all and the money will go to a good cause

overmantle

Guide Dogs Centre is a great place to visit.

petangels

csad58c wrote: »

Just to let you know we collected €270 from 26 kids at the party so have enough to sponsor a dog. We have 4 puppies in training turn up on the day for the kids to look at. A great day was had by all and the money will go to a good cause

Hi there,

What a brillo idea, and I bet the kids got a great deal out of it too...

Well Done again..

Don't have an update just yet on this thread but hope to have made some progress soon enough. I still think it's an idea worth pushing even if it's only for prisoners to start the early training, such walking sitting toilet etc.

Anyway keep up the good work..