People interested in raising a puppy may call The Seeing Eye or their county extension agent for details or see the Puppy Raising section on this website. Back To The Top Training When a dog is about 18 months old, it enters a four-month course of training at The Seeing Eye with a sighted Seeing Eye instructor. It takes another 20 to 27 days to teach a blind person to work with a Seeing Eye dog. They educate the dogs to respond to a system of rewards and corrections. The reward often is no more than a loving pat, the correction a verbal reprimand.
Instructors work in teams of four.
Training schedules are staggered so each team has dogs at a different stage of readiness. Each training cycle begins at The Seeing Eye campus, where the dogs are taught basic obedience commands and to pull in harness. They then progress to a residential route in Morristown, where they are taught to pull out and lead in harness and stop at curbs. As the dogs advance, the route gradually changes from quiet side streets to the busier downtown area, where there is heavy auto and pedestrian traffic. In short, they often have to use their own initiative and judgment to carry out a command.