The Reality of “Shelter to Helper”

Pulling dogs from shelters and training them for service work is a very noble thing to do. I wish it were something I could recommend to every prospective handler. Truly, I think there is nothing better than being able to save both the life of a dog and the life of a handler at the same time. However, it isn’t for everyone… and here’s why.

Yesterday, an apprentice trainer and I drove almost 100 miles to visit 3 shelters. We saw over 40 dogs. We took into account things like age, history, if they were dog/cat/kid friendly, and how they reacted to us coming to visit. That’s when we narrowed it down to just 15 dogs. All 15 were given a very thorough and honest evaluation. They were scored on baseline temperament, touch sensitivity, noise sensitivity, willingness to retrieve, trainability, prey drive, distractibility, excitability, attachment/attention seeking, scent drive, and overall work drive.

Want to know how many passed?  One dog. 
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And even then, it’s a dog who will take a LOT of work. I’m only about 75% confident he’ll make it through training. If he does, he will never be able to be placed with an inexperienced handler. It left me wondering… is it worth the risk? Is it worth all the time, funds, and resources to try and train him for the next two years knowing he has a lower chance of finishing?

I will continue to drive around the state evaluating dogs because that is what I do. If I can help a shelter dog, believe me, I will. However, only about 1-2% of shelter dogs actually have what it takes to make it through service training. 
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So… if you are owner training a service dog… think very hard. Do you have the patience to evaluate 50-100 dogs before finding the one? Furthermore, is it honestly worth that giant risk of “the one” washing out? If it is, all power to you. You’re doing an amazing thing. However, if you don’t have the patience and/or it’s not worth the risk, know that IT’S OKAY. Nobody is going to judge you for going through a responsible breeder where approximately 40-50% of puppies make it through training.

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