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Formal Guidework Training Phases

A guide dog instructor walks through a series of traffic cone obstacles with a guide dog in training.

Overview

There are currently eight phases of formal guidework training, and descriptions of activities included in each phase are included in the links below.

A dog is placed in a phase once all of the exercises in that phase have been completed (i.e. when a dog is in Phase 3, it has completed all of the exercises listed in Phase 3). In an effort to keep raisers and leaders informed about the progress of dogs in formal training, Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB) provides a weekly report showing the training phase of each dog. Puppy raisers can track the dog they raised by the phase number and then refer to the matching phase narrative to better understand GDB’s training process and the individual dog’s role in it.

Guide dog training is a systematic and often seamless process; each dog is treated as an individual and progresses at their own pace from one phase to the other as skills are learned.

Formal Guidework Training Phases: Brief Descriptions

Phase Zero
Health screenings (x-rays/eyes); agility; kennel enrichment; campus walks, community run intros

Phase 1
Load clicker, tethering/collar response; food reward and refusal intros; obstacle course; 1st up-curb exercise; “over here”; agility; back-up chute; harness exposure; treadmill; off leash recall; begin formal obedience and pattern training

Phase 2
Pattern training continues; 2nd up-curb exercise; distraction route in town; responsible lead exercise; food protocol continues

Phase 3
3rd up-curb exercise; sidewalkless technique intro; preliminary obedience & guide work testing (instructor under blindfold)

Phase 4
Work inside buildings begins; intelligent disobedience and overhead introduction; traffic introduction; natural traffic checks begin

Phase 5
Natural traffic checks continue; formal traffic training; total barricades; city routes; escalator intros; city bus route

Phase 6
City routes continue; sidewalkless; platform training; light rail route; begin leash relieving

Phase 7
Advanced overhead training; more complex routes

Phase 8
Finishing/maintenance routes; class preparation final tests: a blindfolded GDB instructor tests the dog in the following:

  • Obedience
  • Guidework
  • Work inside buildings
  • Final traffic

Dogs that pass these tests are deemed “class ready.”

Other work: finishing routes; pre class phone meetings with clients; hand & chair targeting intros; pole targeting on route; student residence building exposure; pre-class physicals; pre-class meeting with instructor team, training supervisor, dorm manager, and nurses.

Formal Guidework Training Phases: Comprehensive Descriptions

Screen Time

Check out this video playlist by GBD's Training Department covering the phases of formal guidework training.

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