I DON'T MEAN TO BE UNKIND--- BUT... ONE THING WE CONSIDER IN DONATING A DOG TO SOMEONE IS--- ARE THEY GOING TO BE ABLE TO CARE FOR THE DOG?? WE GET A RAFT OF ANSWERS TO THAT ONE.
WHAT JUST SET ME OFF WAS A PERSON WHO WANTS A SERVICE DOG TO PUSH THE ELEVATOR BUTTON.-- SHE HAS SEEN PICTURES OF THAT HAPPENING AND WANTS ONE.
WE DO NOT TRAIN ELEVATOR BUTTON PUSHING--- WE COULD... IT CAN BE DONE-- HOWEVER FROM A DOG INDUSTRY A STANDPOINT........IF A PERSON CAN NOT PUSH AN ELEVATOR BUTTON, HOW IS THAT PERSON GOING TO BE ABLE TO CARE FOR THE DOG-- WHICH IS SO ESENTIAL IN PARTNERING WITH A DOG....
THOSE ELEVAtor buttons are very small not 2" round now the amt of time it would take me to train a dane to be able to get his 4"nose on that little button and push to get to the correct floor would be astronomical.. during which time the person did not hav a dog to help them walk-- and a second person would not have a dog started for them and instead of costing $20,000 to raise a certified dog, it is how the cost gets to be $60,000- which i think is the ball park for a seeing eye dog. a seeing eye dog is a marvelous accumulatiojn of skills--- i would love to watch their trainers for a week -- i did ask-- but was told, they don't allow it.. there are things they must do that "seeing" people don't think of. like tey must not duck undeer a low hanging awning...-- and teh more delicate... move thier bowels on command so their partner can feel their position and pick it up.. that one confounds me.. because if i touch bentley in the process he moves a becomes a walkin pooper which to a blind - person could be an awful problem-- and then there is picking up a dropped credit card... which - i think all guide dogs can do..-- i hate to think how long it would tak me to get a dane to do that...
minus teh specific tasks. i would like to try and train a dane to get a partially sighted person from A to B.. we have had several/many applicants who are "legally blind" along with walking/balance issues..we turn those down-- when if i had a little more understanding of the process, we might be albe to train a dog for them too,.
i have a long history of elevators..
i remember-- one of the first jobs we did as animal episodes was for watts generators-- with geese... the photographer - who's studio was on the third floor--- wanted a bunch of geese-- i found some on a farm and borrowed the geese-- had them in my 6 horse trailer- and pulled up to that freight elevator we shuffled teh geese and janine into the freight elevator- shut the door and before she could push the third floor button-- where we had fencing orgainized to contain the geese-- someone pushed teh second floor button -- door opened and geese were all over that business office... with janine -
i actually never saw it because i was dealing with parking teh big trailer-- but i guess it was a good one.
we had several mishaps with elevators-- seems there was another similar one with pat paulson and a100 white rabbits...
and then me--- going into the lobby of a hospital and telling the receptionist i wanted to train the service dog in th e elevator-- she spun in her chair and called security " there is an idiot in th e lobby wants to train her dog in the elevator"
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finally bently and i getting electracuted by teh kone elevator with teh short which knocked us both over and out. that one has a video and a very long stiory
