IGD’s “Home to Harness” program (TM pending), is groundbreaking in the guide dog industry. At approximately 1 ½ years old, pups are ready for their formal training. In nearly all guide dog organizations, the dogs are kenneled during this next and extremely important phase of their development. In the Home to Harness program, IGD dogs stay with their puppy raiser family while undergoing their formal training.

What are the benefits? When kenneled for extended periods of time, 6 months or more in the formal training phase, dogs can easily forget their house manners requiring retraining. In addition, they often experience kennel stress and can develop habits that could prevent an otherwise extremely capable dog from becoming a guide.

There are cost benefits as well. By keeping the dogs with their puppy raiser family during training, the overhead associated with operating a kennel is eliminated.

LIFE (Local Instruction Familiar Environment) Training (TM pending) is the process that IGD uses when placing a guide dog with a client. Most guide dog organizations require that the client travel to the organization’s campus where they will live in a dorm setting for several weeks while learning how to handle and work with their new guide dog.

With LIFE Training, the client’s new guide dog and trainer travel to the client’s home. The trainer teaches the new guide dog team in the client’s own environment. With this approach the client does not have to leave home and family or take time off from work to train with their new guide dog. Perhaps even more important, the team learns to work effectively together in the client’s everyday routine. When the trainer leaves the newly formed team after two to three weeks, client and guide dog are able to maneuver through daily activities with confidence.