Re: guide dogs!
@haramir, the answer to what your guide dog does while you do something else is pretty much sleep! dogs sleep around 18 hours a day (well they're supposed to), so will just click off. ass long as you make sure that the dog doesn't need the loo, and that you do something stimulating for the dog during the day as well. When I am at my yearly music school and Reever is pretty much expected to sit still while I'm in several hours of singing classes I'll always take her for a run each morning, ---- though she equally gets a lot of running around through different classes at music school too.
One of the reasons in fact I got reever is that she's so relaxed she doesn't mind what I'm doing. If I'm nipping down to London on a train for a vocal studdies course or heading to a conference for a day she's fine with that, if I'm in all day working, or just playing games and relaxing she's fine with that too, though i make sure to give her at least a 40 minute working walk a day (my local sandwich shop has become very fond of me), and usually either a free run out the back or 20 minutes wandering around some little lanes on a long lead, (which is also cane practise.
I'm afraid I don't know about Brzil. You could try guide dogs here in Britain, sinse I do know some of the trainers have gone to other countries to set schools up. Also while in Britain the dogs are essentially free I don't know how the costs would work in another country sinse in Britain at least the training, breeding etc for a dog basically means guide dogs cost about £15000 each, that's roughly 22000 dollars. Of course this is total value of the Dog, not what any person actually has to pay.
Btw, amusing story. Apparently in the early 2000's, several robbers broke into the guide dog breeding center in Lemington to attempt to steel valuable puppies. The problem was they didn't do their homework and ended up breaking into the police dog training section of the center instead (sinse though the two are different they share the same building and kennel facilities). Apparently the police arrived to find the robbers huddled in one corner of the kennel with about 20 very inthusiastic Alsatians telling them in no uncertain terms to stay there :d.
@Cx2, names of shops is good goping. My Gran always had her dogs learn the names of local shops, though for me I go to dtoo several parts of the country to make it a good idea, usually I just tell Reever to find the door of somewhere when we're close, and if we're not going in that particular place that day I'll just tell her not today. Generally I've tried to teach her specific objects rather than places such as seats, counters and bus stops. She actually enjoys crowds and working her way around them, indeed it's sort of ironic that where I used too always go shopping at 8.30 in the morning, now I tend to go when it's busy just because Reever enjoys it so much. She's also very good at following someone, which is handy in shops when walking around with the assistant or following friends, all I need to do is point to the person and say "follow"
Reever likes those hide chews as well, though she only tends to get them on a day when I'm not going anywhere else as compensation :d.
Regarding lying in the middle of the floor, well what I did with reever is what i did with various other dogs I've had, which is if I am walking along and know she's in front of me gently nudge her out of the way with my toe. A few occasions of this and she learns to move out the way or to lie in very specific places, ---- indeed she likes corners. Right now she's on my harth rug (which she's very fond of), which is not on any of the routes I'd go around the room at all.
Regarding punishments, well with Reever a raised voice usually stops her fairly quickly sinse she's so gentle, though on the few occasions I've had to let her know she's done something really bad I use a trick i learnt with Jess the bull terrier pup I had from when I was 13 to 26 (and the principle reason I didn't get a guide dog earlier). Don't speak to, look at or otherwise acknolidge the dog, just take by the colar, walk into an empty room, let go and turn around and walk off. If the dog comes out do again, then after a few minutes just call the dog back.
The key thing is not to speak, It's to do with being abandoned and not part of the pack and really is not nice for a dog, which is why I've only done it to reever a couple of times and only when she's done something particularly bad, like try and go to talk to other dogs repeatedly during a walk (including when crossing roads), or attempting to steal food out of someone's hand, though both are things she's not done now for over a year, and I didn't need to repeat afterdoing the anbadonment thing once.
Actually in general she's extremely good, as well as very person orientated, indeed part of the reason I make dam sure to take her for walks each day is that it would be far too easy as she's such an undemanding dog to take her for granted.
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