Last week, some of our Seeing Eye Dogs team members were extremely lucky to be invited to visit the headquarters of the Australian Border Force.
The meeting wasn’t a matter of national security, mind you. It was however a fantastic opportunity for both organisations to discuss best practice when it comes to raising and training service dogs.
Several of the talking points for the day were focused on the differences between a Seeing Eye Dog and a Border Dog. Although both can be classed as working dogs, certain traits are different in a Border Dog than a Seeing Eye Dog, and vice versa – making each more suitable for the very different roles.
Image description: Team members from both Seeing Eye Dogs and the Australian Border Force stand together in front of a wall with the Australian Border Force logo.
There was time to discuss how these attributes can be brought out of pups through different methods and styles of training, and the open discussion about how each company’s training process yield positive results.
Last year Seeing Eye Dogs were lucky to receive four pups from the Border Force litter and they have been very successful in the Seeing Eye Dogs program. One has become a breeding dog, one is in training right now, one is days away from being matched with a client, and the fourth has graduated and been matched with a client.
Jane Bradley, Manager of Puppy Development with Seeing Eye Dogs, found the exchange to be very useful.
“We’re all on the same journey, trying to get the best out of these dogs for the people that rely on them to help them either with their daily work or daily life. With opportunities like this, I feel we can all come together to continue providing the best dogs to do the best work.”