Who’s a good boy? U.S. aid for Canada’s critical guide dog shortage

The border could also be closed, however, when Canada wanted assist, a wet-nosed, tail-wagging American named Henson answered the decision.

Henson, a Labrador retriever, is one in all six younger U.S.-bred canines that arrived this previous week to start coaching with CNIB Information Canine in Carleton Place. The COVID-19 pandemic has created a essential scarcity of information canines in Canada, firm president Diane Bergeron says. A lot of the breeding inventory for Canadian information canines come from the U.S., whereas many Canadians who’re blind or visually impaired usually go to the U.S. to get their canines.

The COVID-19 border shutdown has made that unimaginable.

“We’re having a information canine disaster,” mentioned Bergeron, whose firm has seen a 300-per-cent enhance in requests for purposes because the pandemic started.

It could take as much as two years for a canine to be totally skilled as a information, starting with pet elevating from round eight weeks till the canine is able to start coaching, often at 12 to fifteen months. The coaching often lasts one other 4 to 6 months.

“As we checked out our canine provide chain, we acknowledged we now have an elevated want right here,” Bergeron mentioned. “Breeding a canine at this time isn’t going to assist us tomorrow or in six months. We’d like older canines to work with.”

Bergeron began making calls to her American contacts for assist. Chief Canine for the Blind in Rochester Hills, Mich., a Detroit suburb, stepped up.

“For the reason that border is closed, we’re simply actually thrilled to assist the Canadians,” mentioned Lorene Suidan, chief operation officer for Chief Canine, which has been coaching information canines since 1939.

“We now have such excessive regards for the CNIB Information Canine crew that we had been completely happy to accomplice with them. We took a great look right here and on the canines that had been coming our method and we realized that we might ship some canines to Canada and nonetheless keep our capability to serve our purchasers.”

Final Tuesday, Chief Canine dispatched the six canines by van to a relaxation cease in Port Huron, Mich., the place they had been handed over to CNIB Information Canine for the 600-kilometre drive to Carleton Place. Three of the canines had been bred privately and three got here from Chief Canine’s “Jail Puppies” program during which they’re bred and cared for by inmates in one in all 12 collaborating U.S. penitentiaries.

Henson will board with Carleton Place’s Sandra Luty and her household till he and the others are prepared to start out coaching, which ought to start quickly on the new CNIB Information Canine facility that formally opened in June. (The corporate is conducting a fundraising marketing campaign at cnib.ca/urgent)

“We’ve acquired six extra potential information canine that we are able to get in our program in Canada,” Bergeron mentioned. “We now have six. We’d like 50. However it is a implausible begin and the collaboration with Chief Canine has been phenomenal.”

In return, CNIB Information Canine has been offering service to a few of Chief Canine’ Canadian purchasers, similar to doing wellness checks or offering refresher coaching that the Michigan firm can’t do due to the border closure.

“That is the factor in regards to the information canine world: I referred to as, they helped. They referred to as, we helped,” Bergeron mentioned.

“It’s an incredible mixture of everybody pulling collectively. It’s not, ‘That is your canine, that is my canine. That is your coach, that is my coach.’ As an alternative it’s, ‘This individual wants their independence and their freedom. What can we do to provide it to them?’”

The scarcity has meant that some information canines have been working previous regular retirement age of eight to 10 years. One other individual wants a brand new information canine after theirs was struck by a automobile and may not work.

There is no such thing as a such factor as a ready listing for information canines, Bergeron mentioned. She mentioned the was course of extra like a job interview, the place a specific canine with its personal expertise and strengths is matched with the suitable applicant. That may take a couple of months or a yr or extra, she mentioned.

“The canine and handler is a really, very shut bond,” she mentioned. “Let’s be actual. These canines don’t get a paycheque. They do that as a result of they like to work. They love you. They need to hold you secure.”

bcrawford@postmedia.com

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