I'm not a member of the vet_tech community, but regarding your recent post about geriatric dogs:
I had a 13 year old Laborador Retriever - my first Guiding Eyes for the Blind (GEB) puppy I had raised. She failed to make it into harness but had passed the screening process for drug detection. Funding from the police department ran out, so she came up for adoption to her puppy raisers first & thus back home with me.
Over the years, I've had quite a few wonderful dogs from being a puppy raiser for GEB. They often adopt out dogs that haven't made it into harness, first offering them to their raiser and then to the public if law enforcement/special needs adopters don't need them at that time b/c of funding or whatever have you.
One of the other dogs who failed to make it into harness was a petite lab named Odette. She gave a new lease on life to my geriatric lab, Astin, listed above. We kept Odette because she was very low key and placid, never challenging Astin but keeping her young at heart.
Astin eventually passed due to rhabdomyosarcoma. However, without Odette, I feel she probably wouldn't have been as cheerful at the end, especially since I was in high school during the day(, worked for a few hours thereafter, ate dinner, spent time with them, and then fell asleep to repeat that day after day).
Can an adopted dog act as a seeing eye dog? Yes. I think you will need to evaluate both together in a home setting. Good luck and thank you for giving them a new lease on life: too many people forget about rescue & animal enrichment.
Thanks for your comment! Like you were in high school, I work full time and sometimes overtime on top of that. I work less than 5 minutes from home though, so Molly never goes too long without a potty break. She comes with me everywhere else I go if I am going to be gone all day or for a few days.
I recognize that dogs are social animals and though Molly DOES get her share of canine company from our traveling to friends' and family's houses... in her older years it might be nicer for her to have another dog at home to enjoy.
Thanks for your input! I'm definitely seriously considering a little dog to keep my Mollydog company. :)
I had a 13 year old Laborador Retriever - my first Guiding Eyes for the Blind (GEB) puppy I had raised. She failed to make it into harness but had passed the screening process for drug detection. Funding from the police department ran out, so she came up for adoption to her puppy raisers first & thus back home with me.
Over the years, I've had quite a few wonderful dogs from being a puppy raiser for GEB. They often adopt out dogs that haven't made it into harness, first offering them to their raiser and then to the public if law enforcement/special needs adopters don't need them at that time b/c of funding or whatever have you.
One of the other dogs who failed to make it into harness was a petite lab named Odette. She gave a new lease on life to my geriatric lab, Astin, listed above. We kept Odette because she was very low key and placid, never challenging Astin but keeping her young at heart.
Astin eventually passed due to rhabdomyosarcoma. However, without Odette, I feel she probably wouldn't have been as cheerful at the end, especially since I was in high school during the day(, worked for a few hours thereafter, ate dinner, spent time with them, and then fell asleep to repeat that day after day).
Can an adopted dog act as a seeing eye dog? Yes. I think you will need to evaluate both together in a home setting. Good luck and thank you for giving them a new lease on life: too many people forget about rescue & animal enrichment.
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I recognize that dogs are social animals and though Molly DOES get her share of canine company from our traveling to friends' and family's houses... in her older years it might be nicer for her to have another dog at home to enjoy.
Thanks for your input! I'm definitely seriously considering a little dog to keep my Mollydog company. :)
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