Olaf, the German Shepherd puppy that my family and I spent the last year raising for the Seeing Eye, has gone off to college. He’s being assigned a trainer, and with any luck we’ll be getting status updates about him soon.
During his time with us, we taught Olaf basic obedience and socialization. Now that he’s back at the Seeing Eye, his advance training begins where he learns how to be a guide dog. That process should take about four months; if he passes his training, he’ll be assigned to a blind or visually impaired partner. Then they’ll have another 3-4 weeks of training to learn how to work together; after that Olaf will be out in the world as a working guide dog.
Olaf is a fantastic dog, and we’re proud to have spent the last year training him and introducing him to the world (and the world to him!).