Making Smart Decisions

Guide dogs do amazing work. They help blind people go through life safely, whether it's crossing the street on the way to work, getting around a pothole, or walking through a crowd without bumping into anyone. To move ahead, guide dogs listen closely to a person's commands.

But guide dogs are not just robots following orders. They often tell the person what to do. Because the person cannot see, the dog must often be the one to say, "There's danger up ahead!" At those times, the dog refuses to move, no matter how many times the person gives a "go forward!" command. This is called "intelligent disobedience."

How can a dog tell a person what to do? Wouldn't this cause total chaos?

It's All in the Training

In guide schools, dogs work closely with trainers, starting as little puppies. Ian Ashworth works for Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, in New York. He says training starts simple. "We begin with an area the dog is comfortable with. We teach the dog to avoid lampposts, mail boxes, or things along a sidewalk." The dog spends a while just walking along, with the human right behind him.

Maria Nuzzi is a trainer at Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind. She places young puppies with volunteers called "puppy walkers." These are people who take the puppies everywhere with them. "The puppy walkers take the dogs to their office, out shopping, into public, on a plane or a train, any place they go," Nuzzi says. "The dogs are learning from a very young age to be a constant companion."

Lori Brown is a training supervisor at Guide Dogs for the Blind, in California. They have a training area set up. It's really more like an obstacle course. There are objects hanging down from above, things on the ground you could trip over, and tight spaces that are difficult to walk through. "We teach the dog to move along, but to stop every time he comes across something that's dangerous or too small for the team to fit through. The dog stops and waits until the person reaches out with his hand or foot." The person uses a sweeping motion that indicates he knows about the obstacle. Then they continue walking.

Now it gets more challenging. "The trainer pretends he doesn't see the obstacle and tells the dog to keep going," Brown explains. "He'll say, 'Come on, let's go!'" The dog is puzzled at first. Why is this silly person trying to walk right into that log in our path? But when the dog refuses to go forward, he hears that he' a good boy and gets a big hug. Brown explains, "This builds the dog's confidence to disobey when there's a problem." The dog has now had his first taste of intelligent disobedience. Over time, the dog learns to be more confident. He never goes forward in dangerous situations, no matter what the human says.

Just when the dog is getting better at making wise decisions, the trainer takes it to a new level. "We bring the dog to busier areas," like a city, Ashworth says. "There are more obstacles, more crowds." There are cars racing by and swarms of people coming from every direction. With so many obstacles, the dog learns to think more quickly and independently. Ashworth says that in the real world, no one can tell the dog whether it's safe to go forward. The dog has to make that decision. "Guide dogs have a huge responsibility to keep the owner safe," he explains. "We teach the dog to trust his own initiative."

The dog knows when to listen to commands, and when to disobey. As Nuzzi explains, "The dogs have a thinking process. They are making decisions on their own."

Thinking of Someone Else

Dogs are born with the ability to preserve their own safety. Without being taught, all dogs avoid holes in the ground or cliff edges. So what makes a guide dog special? Ashworth says there is a difference. "We teach a guide to think of himself as a larger being," he explains. Let's say a tree branch has fallen above a trail. It's hovering about five feet overhead. Most dogs would walk right under it, since they are only about three feet tall. But a guide dog is aware that the human behind her is six feet tall and will bump her head on the branch. Even if the person says "go forward," the dog disobeys.

The same kind of thinking goes into jumping over holes or stepping over a broken sidewalk. It also applies to fear reactions. If she hears a loud noise, Brown says, "She knows she can't just start running!" The dog reacts calmly, and moves together with the person. "She has to think of saving another person, not just her own life and limb," Brown explains.

Training the Human

It seems obvious that the guide dog needs training to help a person. But the person must also learn how to listen to the dog. People need to know when the dog is telling them not to go forward, or when the dog is telling them to move in a different direction. If they say, "go forward," and the dog stands still, the person must figure out why. Nuzzi says, "The biggest thing we tell people is that they have to trust their dog. The dog is trying to pull you the other way because there's something in your path."

Some people learn the hard way. Brown says one person with a guide dog was over his friend's house one day. As they were walking out in the yard, the dog suddenly would not go forward. "He ignored his dog and went ahead anyway. That's when he fell into the pool!"

Brown tells another story of a man who was arguing with his guide dog one day. The man kept telling the dog to walk, but the dog refused to budge. "Finally, someone ran up and said they were standing at the edge of a loading dock and there was a six-foot drop right in front of them. The man realized that the dog was protecting him."

These stories can be funny. But sometimes they can be very serious. It usually takes just one or two times for people to start putting more trust in their guide dogs.

Becoming a Team

Brown says, "The longer they are together, the more the person picks up subtle cues and understands what the dog is thinking." People start being able to sense the guide dog's slightest shift left or right, or when the dog is hesitating. The person gains complete faith in the dog.

The dog also learns. Brown says, "Dogs are much better at reading us than we are at reading them!" The dog figures out all the quirks—how quickly the person walks, whether the person likes to slow down at certain points, how high of a step the person can safely take.

Over time, the person and the dog become close friends who trust and rely on each other.

Breeding Better Guide Dogs

Most of us have seen guide dogs, watching them lead someone through a busy crowd or across an intersection. Perhaps you have marveled at how the guide remains focused, unperturbed by people reaching out for a pet, kids running by, or other dogs trying to play.

Those German Shepherds or Labrador Retrievers you see in guide harnesses are the products of intense breeding selection, followed by a constant focus on their most minute characteristics and behavioral tendencies. About half of all puppies bred to be guides do not make it beyond the first few weeks of training, and are re-directed into another "career."

Behind the scenes, guide schools employ geneticists who look for sources of health and temperament traits. Statisticians analyze data with powerful computers to determine trends in guide dog populations. Inspired by passion, and a belief in guide work, thousands of volunteers invite guide-dog puppies into their lives, immersing the puppies in all kinds of situations – sitting in quiet offices, maneuvering through bustling city centers, navigating stairs and escalators, or flying in an airplane.

Even more, guide dogs are carefully chosen as a perfect match for the person holding the leash.

Breeding and Genetics

To succeed, guide schools need control over what happens with their dogs from one generation to the next. They accomplish this by maintaining breeding colonies.

Dolores Holle has been the attending veterinarian and director of canine health management at The Seeing Eye, in Morristown, NJ, for 17 years. She describes breeding colonies as "Disney for Dogs. We select dogs for breeding. There's socialization, where they do canine excellence tests and earn Canine Good Citizen certifications. They do agility and clicker tricks. At four weeks, they go into a puppy playroom where we simulate real-world sensations like riding in a car or running up and down stairs. Like children, they have play sets."

It sounds like fun, but serious work is going on to assess which dogs are fittest for guide work, physically and temperamentally. From an early age, experts test each puppy's elbows and hips, and track which parents produce the healthiest offspring. Marina Hall directs the breeding program and labor and delivery kennel at Guide Dogs for the Blind, in San Rafael, CA. "We're always doing colony reviews, to see which females should breed next season, and which ones we'll no longer breed."

Guide schools often breed hundreds of puppies each year. Even after the puppies leave the breeding program and head out into the homes of trainers, socializers, and eventually clients, guide schools continue to track them. As Ms. Hall explains, "We see what kind of temperament and behavior they have throughout their lives. That way, we constantly determine which mothers and studs produce traits we want and whether to continue giving them a role in our program."

Cathy Chenoweth has been a puppy raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind for 30 years, since she was 11 years old. She gets the puppies after they leave the breeding colony, and prepares them for the real world. She has seen many improvements since she began doing this work. "These dogs have become more healthy. A larger percentage of the dogs have just what we're looking for in guides. They are just getting to be better dogs."

Gwen Gillispie is the breeding manager at Southeastern Guide Dogs in Palmetto, FL, where she has worked for 20 years. "Sometimes, we want to change a particular quality. A lot of guide dogs are what some call 'soft' – they are not bullheaded – so if we want a stronger personality we can breed that up. It might take a couple of years, but we can do it." Ms. Gillispie says that with careful monitoring, generation after generation, guide schools know how to mix and match parents to get the traits they need.

Breeding up particular personalities takes place slowly, subtly, over time. The changes are clearer in the incidence of health issues. Dr. Eldin Leighton has been a geneticist at The Seeing Eye since 1977. "Genetically, we have focused our attention on two major traits. One is hip quality. Dogs with bad hips will not be good guide dogs. The second is behavior, or what we call trainability. In 1980, about 30% of the German Shepherds failed out because of hip displasia. That has now dropped to about 3%."

Jane Russenberger, senior director of breeding at Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Patterson, NY, has seen similar success in the Labrador Retrievers her agency breeds. "In the general Lab population, incidence of hip displasia is about 20%. In our population, it's down to about 2%."

Other guide schools report similar successes with eye and ear diseases, and skin problems.

Success comes in part from sheer numbers. As Ms. Russenberger explains, working with so many dogs allows guide schools to take an already successful idea to higher levels. "If you think about most breeders, they spend a lifetime practicing their art, whether they are making herding dogs or show dogs. But they just don't have the opportunity to keep the best dogs out of a very large number of great dogs. We can watch all our dogs, and just choose the best two or three for breeding."

It is not just that guide dogs are healthier. They have begun to look different. The guide schools that breed German Shepherds describe a different body type that emerged from the specialized breeding, one more suited to the demands of guide work. "When you see one of these dogs," Ms. Holle explains, "right away you can see a very straight top line, which has been bred away from in the show dogs. To a certain degree, we're creating a subset of a breed."

Intersection of Genetics and Environment

With all their measurable accomplishments of the past 30 years, guide school also rely on the art of interpreting the hazy mix of genetics and environment. As Ms. Holle says, "We're still always trying to sort out what's genetic and what's training. At any time, we have 800 volunteers out there training dogs in all kinds of environments. Puppy raising still makes or breaks a guide dog."

As Ms. Russenberger says, "Hip displasia is black or white. Does the dog have it or not? But when we talk about temperament, we're looking at a whole set of traits coming together."

Moving out of the realm of pure science, Ms. Chenoweth describes her mission as a guide-dog puppy raiser this way: "The basic characteristics we need are confidence, adaptability, trainability, and love."

Thinking back on 30 years of close acquaintance with numerous successful guides, Ms. Chenoweth says, "When I started, I'd see dogs that were unruly and difficult to train. We just don't see that any more. The success rates are going up, because the dogs are more confident." That success has to do with the sophistication of breeding colonies, where the guide schools have been able to observe the body and mind of the guide dog.

The dogs have also started to show a wider variety of personalities. "In the past, the dogs were in three categories: shy, very middle-of-the-road, or hyper-crazy. We still have those types, but there's more variation within them," Ms. Chenoweth explains.

This variety means guide schools can match guide dogs with specific people, based on personality and lifestyle. Maybe the person is a high-energy sales rep and needs a dog that can be constantly on the move, or maybe that person works in an office and needs a guide to be sedentary for long periods.

Matching the dog to the person can get even more precise. In fact, many trainers are adept at reading subtle cues in people's personalities. "Some people need a softer dog, who obeys commands easily," Ms. Gillispie says. "Others need a more stubborn dog."

Why would someone need a stubborn dog? By nature, some people get themselves into trouble. Perhaps they are accident prone, or live in a confusing environment. "They need the dog to decipher the situation and determine independently if a command is going to get them into trouble and whether to disobey or not," Ms. Gillispie explains.

To make these matches, trainers are mindful of traits on the human and dog side. That might be why Ms. Hall earned a degree in animal science, with a minor in psychology. "We look at which dogs, and which people, have higher stress thresholds, energy levels, attention-seeking levels, and problem-solving skills."

This kind of super-specialization is intensifying as guide schools learn more about physical and temperamental traits, and how to control it in breeding and training. This puts increased pressure on the dogs. "We have an internal competition," Ms. Hall says. "Only the top dogs in the class, with the best aptitude, are selected to produce the next generation. Winners produce winners. We try not to tell the dogs about it! But they are always weighed against each other."

Multiplying Their Knowledge

Adding even more to the power of their high breeding numbers, guide schools have begun sharing their knowledge with each other, creating a multiplier effect.

In the 1990s, many guide schools began realizing that, although their dogs were succeeding, they were beginning to experience a statistical problem. It stems from the way guide schools measure each generation's suitability for guide work. As Dr. Leighton explains, "We use a 'trainability score.' It's a nine-point scale, kind of like grading kids in a classroom. Each generation, we compare the dogs to previous ones who came through the system. The best dogs are in the 90th percentile, the next best in the 80th, and so on. We know that dogs that score under 6 have almost no chance of making it as guides."

This is effective. However, as the number of tested traits grew, it became difficult to compare across generations of dogs. Guide schools realized they were doing long-term tracking with a moving target. "That's where better statistics can help," Dr. Leighton explains.

To provide those statistics, in 1993 The Seeing Eye turned to Dr. James Serpell, who manages the Center for the Interaction of Animals and Society at the University of Pennsylvania and has over 20 years of experience researching canine behavior. In addition to what he calls the problem of "the moving goal posts," Dr. Serpell adds that each school had a different kind of assessment. "There was no consistency," he explains, "and because the schools generally stop breeding half the dogs in their breeding program, they were constantly shifting what they were looking for and could not determine if they were moving in the right direction. We came up with standardized measures schools can use to compare each generation during training."

After working with The Seeing Eye for a short time, Dr. Serpell's program attracted the attention of four other guide schools. All five schools now have a consortium. They all use the standard assessments and share their breeding and training information. The schools are able to use the findings to go even further towards creating dogs with honed, specialized temperaments.

Guide Dogs and Society, Changing Together

Guide schools have traditionally served sight-impaired people. As the abilities of the dogs improves, and schools develop better assessments of canine traits, the future holds very interesting possibilities. Using "forecasting," the schools assess how society is changing and presenting new needs, and how guide dogs could help more people.

Looking forward, Ms. Chenoweth, who has been involved in forecasting, says, "More guide dogs will have to be good at dealing with busier city atmospheres with lots of activity and stress. The dogs will need better stamina. They will need to be more flexible and alert, even more so than what we normally have looked for."

Moving beyond the traditional guide-school clients, Ms. Hall says, "We're seeing more people with multiple disabilities besides visual impairments. We're also seeing older clients now. That's changing the demands, so we have to keep changing the kinds of dogs we breed."

Ms. Gillispie, who works mainly with clients in Florida, has seen a turnaround in the age of her clients, from an elderly to a younger audience. "The older clients needed a slower dog that did not pull much," she explains. "With younger clients, we're needing faster-moving dogs."

As guide-dog trainers work to keep up with a changing society, Dr. Serpell says the five-school cooperation will be more essential. "The end point is not static. Things are shifting all the time. The guide schools need to be able to look back and assess how they have done over time, so they can be sure they are getting better. Without the data, it's just guesswork."

No matter where guide work goes in the future, and no matter how much science becomes part of it, there will always be mysteries of behavior and temperament.

And the dogs will always be dogs. As Ms. Holle says, "What makes these dogs really special is their ability to bond so well with humans."

Career-Change Dogs

So you want to be a guide dog? The job has terrific benefits: a lifetime of great meals, excellent health care, the right to go into malls, movie theaters, and other places dogs are usually not allowed, and gratitude from an adoring human who really needs you. But it's not easy. Before you earn your guide-dog jacket, you'll have to face your worst fears, control your wildest natural temptations, listen with rapt attention to every spoken word, all while negotiating the configurations of busy crosswalks, office buildings, parking lots, elevators and staircases, and other unpredictable situations your human winds up in.

Keep in mind that about half of all guide-dog cadets don't make it through such rigorous training. The good news is, even if you aren't chosen to be a guide dog there are several other interesting career options.

Let the testing begin...

* * *

Peter Nowicki, director of training at Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, in Bloomfield, CT, says guide-dog cadets are assigned to a trainer when they are about eight weeks old. The cadets live in the trainer's home and work intimately with the trainer every day for up to 18 months. The first day of training, the cadet might head out for a walk. "The dog will observe children in playgrounds and observe people walking by, other dogs on a leash," Nowicki says. That might not sound too challenging. Except the cadet is not allowed to run up to those children, or romp with that fellow dog. If there is any future as a guide, the dog has to stay right at the trainer's side.

Next comes a test of patience. The cadet must be silent for hours at a time without getting antsy. "Someone who works in an office all day needs a dog that will just lie around, go out at lunch for a little while, then come back in and sit around again for a few hours," Nowicki explains.

It gets more rigorous from here. "Guide dogs have to handle things we take for granted," Nowicki says, "like a truck backfiring, a mailbox slamming shut, or a garbage can smashing onto the ground." The cadet can't run when he hears these sounds, can't even turn around to see what it was.

Perhaps mailboxes and trucks and garbage cans don't phase the cadet. But we're not done yet. Every dog has at least one unexplainable phobia, and the trainers will find it. Perhaps the cadet avoids walking on manhole covers, or flips out of control at the explosive sound of a Harley Davidson? How does the cadet react when a huge dog bears down on her without warning? For most dogs, these kinds of fears are not an issue: the dog and the human just laugh it off. But if a cadet is destined to be a guide dog, she must be stoic about all this. Someone is going to rely on her steady hand, or rather her paw. When trainers find that darkest fear—and they will find it—they put the cadet face to face with it every day. They are teaching the dog to ignore it.

Nowicki describes one cadet whose fear of lawnmowers was so intense he would panic and try to escape. "We started having the dog walk by the machine when it was turned off. Then we started running it, but from a distance. We gradually moved closer." After a while, Nowicki says, the dog could walk right by a running lawnmower with no hesitation. Cadets are given every chance to succeed. "We keep trying," Nowicki says. "We keep asking, 'can the dog handle the problems now?'" One by one, every fear receives the same patient desensitization process. After the fears are conquered, the cadet then has to memorize numerous commands, listening closely, resisting the urge to follow those delicious scents that pop up everywhere along the way.

"I want to exhaust every possibility from our end," Nowicki says. "We spend a lot of time training the dogs and caring for them. We never want to drop a dog from training." But what if a guide-dog cadet just cannot get over a lawnmower phobia or the fear of motorcycles, or jumps every time a car door slams? What if the cadet just can't stop playing with other dogs when she's supposed to be working, and just doesn't feel like following all those commands? It's understandable, given all the intense training. But there is hope. The cadet can become what trainers affectionately refer to as a "career-change dog."

Pat Cook, canine resources manager at Guide Dogs for the Blind, in San Rafel, CA, says that once it is clear that the guide work is not possible, her agency makes a career-change decision quickly, to cause the least stress. "We want the dogs to be happy," she explains. "Sometimes, a dog is just telling us that he's unhappy doing guide work, but would love to do another job where he could use his other talents."

Mike Sergeant, director of field operations for Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, in Smithtown, NY, says, "We know that not every dog is going to be a guide dog, because of the huge requirements. But it's just like people. We choose jobs because of what we like and what we're best at. Our dogs get to choose what they're best suited for." He says the dogs could teach people something about important transitions. "Dogs make changes easier than people do. As long as they're treated well, get the right love, guidance, and training, the dog's attitude is, 'I can do this new job.' If people did the same thing this would be an easier world to be in!"

After working so closely for so much time, the cadet and the trainer have a strong bond. The trainer is like a career counselor and knows all the dog's quirks and habits. The decision about a career change is a serious one, and the trainer takes all the dog's natural skills and tendencies into consideration. Only then will the trainer suggest what career path the dog should pursue next. "Anything else would be unfair," Nowicki says. "Why put the animal in a stressful situation, in another job he can't handle?"

* * *

Perhaps a cadet overcame every fear, but just couldn't resist playing with other dogs or had some trouble remembering commands. Joanne Ritter, director of marketing and communications at Guide Dogs for the Blind says career-changers can make a lateral move and become what is known as "buddy dogs." These career-changers work with blind children but don't act as guides out in public (that didn't work out, remember). But buddies do teach children many valuable lessons. "The child learns how to be personally responsible for grooming and obedience," Ritter says. "We give them an almost-guide dog, one that's just a little too playful and doesn't want to work as much. But it's still a great dog." When that child grows up, she will know how to work with a fully trained guide dog. The career-changer helps prepare her.

If it was excess energy that ended a guide-dog career, police work may be just the thing. "Police dogs need to be very good with people," Nowicki says. "They must have a lot of confidence. They need to leap out of the car if a police officer is threatened." But he cautions that these dogs still deal with loud noises, and lots of distressing situations. "They have to handle gun blasts, and they have to witness extreme violence. It's very exciting being a police dog!"

Maybe the career-changer likes the excitement of police work, but cringes from violence. Did the dog have to leave guide-dog school because of a tendency to wander way off the sidewalk, following a scent into the woods? Well, sometimes a weakness in one career is a strength in another line of work. For this dog, drug sniffing, bomb detection, or search-and-rescue work may be perfect. These careers welcome high energy (none of those long sedentary periods in an office), and they allow a dog to express the independence that caused so much trouble as a cadet. Joanne Ritter says she can tell when a dog would be great for these jobs. "That kind of dog is really interested in sniffing to direct someone. I'll see this dog and say, 'he's all about nose.'" Nowicki says these dogs must be physically fit. "They need good stamina and determination to track through the woods for hours to find a lost child."

Sergeant says career-changers in his organization (which he calls "capable canines") may become counseling dogs. "We recently placed a capable canine with a counselor who works with foster kids, kids in the juvenile system, and kids who have suffered from abuse. The dogs are great ice breakers. They help build trust with the counselor. Children open up and tell the dog all their problems. The dog will listen and give a kiss when it's proper." To do this work, the career-changer must still have excellent behavior, controlled enthusiasm, and know when to stay put, but there is a bit more room for unique approaches to situations.

For dogs who are not fit for guide work because they just can't resist saying hello to every human they meet, Sergeant says there is another exciting career possibility. "We have 'facility dogs.' These dogs are placed in assistive-living situations like hospices or nursing homes. The dog becomes the center of attention for a whole group of people." A facility dog must have a steady temperament and be patient with all kinds of personalities. The job carries outstanding benefits. "The dog's sole job is to make daily rounds and provide love and affection, give people back some quality of life," Sergeant says. "Dogs rule in these situations. They get tremendous love, and they are well taken care of."

How about working with large groups of kids? Cook tells the story of one career-changer adopted by a teacher at the California School for the Blind. "She brings the dog to work every day, to teach students how to look after a dog, so that when they are old enough and responsible enough, they can apply for their own guide dog." After seeing what the dog can do, Cook says, "the school set up all kinds of programs to teach kids how to handle a dog. He has made a tremendous impact on these kids' lives."

During guide-dog training, the dog was perhaps reprimanded for constantly picking up random objects and bringing them to the trainer. Does this dog also have a knack for making people smile and feel better? A perfect career option might be a "companion dog." As Sergeant explains, "The dog may be trained to do pick up dropped items, or if there is an emergency the dog would retrieve the mobile phone so the person can get assistance. They are also just good at providing love and patience."

Cook says some career-changers in her program become companion dogs for people with social or physical deficits. "We worked with a family recently that has an autistic boy," she says. "They wanted a dog that could be a catalyst for their son to form better connections with other kids." The companion-dog placements described by Cook and Sergeant take time, because a specific dog is matched to a specific person and home environment. Cook spent several days with one family learning just what they needed. "Then, when a particular dog was dropped from guide-dog training," she says, "I knew he was a perfect match for the family." For this job, career-changers must have the good behavior of a guide dog, although they may not have been straight-A students with commands.

In extremely rare cases, the career-changer may end up as a pet. However, Sergeant says, "It is our lowest priority to have these dogs be pets." Ritter says her agency gets far too many phone calls from people wanting pets. "People make the incorrect assumption that they can get a fully trained guide for a pet. We never promote the idea of our dogs becoming pets." Cook says that this would run counter to the whole mission of guide-dog training. "We do this as a service to humanity. We don't raise these dogs to be pets."

Even if a dog doesn't make it as a guide, there are many other jobs, all equal to the original career choice. And one never knows what kind of unpredictable, but terrific, opportunities a new career may offer. Remember that teacher who adopted a dog she took to work every day at the California School for the Blind? Little did she know, this dog was a canine ambassador by day, and worked after hours as a therapy dog. The teacher lived with her niece, whose mother had died recently. Cook says, "The aunt noticed that the dog was going into the niece's bedroom each night. The niece had been keeping a vase of dried flowers by her bedside from her mom's funeral. The girl had this huge emotional attachment to the flowers, and she would scoop up the dried petals that had fallen and place them back around the vase." One day, the aunt went into the bedroom and noticed that the dried-up flowers were gone. "She asked her niece about it," Cook explains, "and the girl said she didn't need the flowers any more. She felt all right now, because she had the dog with her." That dog was not suited for guide work. Sometimes change is great.

Westminster Isn't Everything

For most dog-show enthusiasts, winning at Westminster would be the highlight of their lives, the trophy and ornate ribbon symbols of the hard work they put into training.

For James, the English Springer Spaniel who took Best in Show at Westminster in 2007, winning came because his owner, Teresa Patton, emphasized just about everything except trying to be a best-in-show dog. "The key to our success is that James had a normal life. Our dogs are house pets who happen to become champions."

Early Stimulation

James' personality extends deep below his winning gait. Like her 30 previous champions, Patton wanted James to have a full emotional and mental life. "I put mobiles above my puppies' heads, to teach them to look up and look around. They are constantly surrounded by music, people coming in and out. From a very young age, even if they just parade around the kitchen with a toy, we applaud and tell them how wonderful they are."

Too often, Patton says, emotional encouragement is missing in the early lives of show dogs. Ironically, emphasizing non-show qualities has resulted in greater success in the ring. "People often think that nurturing their dogs for the show ring means grooming, feeding, exercise. They forget the mind. For me, it's the opposite. I develop the mind first. They are always going to have hair!"

Training Philosophy

Expanding the mind of her dogs involves more than praise and play. For Patton, it all began in the mid-1980s, when she was looking for ways to become more intellectually fulfilled herself. She worked at a law firm, teaching obedience classes in the evenings. "All day in the office I was imagining the next show and where I wanted to compete. Finally, I opened my own dog-obedience school."

She established Felicity Dog Training School in 1989. Since then, Patton has employed clicker training in private and group classes. "We've taught celebrities, professional athletes. When they come to my class, they're just like everybody else – it's about being JoJo's dad or Fluffy's mom. They just want to have a well-behaved pet. That's quite humbling."

Most students never enter a conformation ring, which is fine with Patton. Proudly, she describes her students' successes: "They have won multiple titles and high honors in rally, obedience, and agility. It's so rewarding to see the tools I've given them make a better dog and strengthen the human-dog bond. What's important, what it's all about, is that they have learned together."

Patton emphasizes that the best route to a happy connection is mutual trust and a desire to please each other. "Dogs by nature want to please. If they don't, something has gone wrong and the bond isn't there. My job is to help people build that connection."

She says good training never involves force. "That's just using fear. In my classes, I won't let people use prong collars," she says, referring to collars that poke into a dog's neck. "What happens when you remove that collar? You have no control."

Key to Patton's success at Felicity, and in the show ring, is including her own dogs in class. James has been a king among students for four years. Patton describes a favorite demonstration. "It's called air leash. I move my hand as if I'm holding a leash. But there's no actual leash. I let James see my hand, and when I move he begins to gait as if there's a real leash."

After James' demonstration, Patton invites a student to try air leash. "The student says something like, 'No way will that work with my dog.' Well, we do it, and it works! You just have to build that connection."

Air leash helps Patton make larger points. "In class, there's constant exchange. The dog gives you this piercing look, almost right into your soul, asking, 'What else can I do?' This goes for any dog, not just James, not just Springers. People often see their dog and themselves as separate entities, like you're each in a bubble. You need to think of yourselves as being in the same space."

James the Philanthropist

Winning in the show ring is not enough for Patton, nor for James. Obedience, rally, and agility are also not enough.

Patton takes James into hospitals, where he uses his connecting powers to help Alzheimer's patients. "The longer they stroke James, the clearer their sentences become. They know they can take their time getting their thoughts out. James doesn't judge. There's total acceptance."

Patton is proud to report that in February 2007, her Westminster champion became a "celebrity" for the Alzheimer's Association. "Twenty celebrities speak for the Association – all these famous people, and James! He's bringing more awareness to Alzheimer's."

James' skills were further tested when he and Patton began going into hospitals to meet children who are difficult to reach emotionally. "James works with anorexic girls, kids with hyperactivity problems, or other serious difficulties. I'll ask, 'Who wants to join James and me?' A lot of these kids are really drawn within themselves. A hyperactive kid will volunteer to come up. They'll start using some toys. One by one, the other kids join in. The kids start brushing James, and before you know it, the questions are coming. It's amazing how the kids come out of themselves." Sometimes Patton stands back and watches, awed by her own dog's skills. "It might sound corny, but when James does therapy, it comes from his heart. I can't cue the piercing way he looks and wants to please people."

James' vibes affect anyone in the vicinity. "One time, I was reading to the children. I looked up and saw all the doctors outside the room, watching. They had tears in their eyes because of how James connected with those kids."

Westminster Has its Advantages

Still, Patton cannot deny the benefits of winning the most visible event on the show-dog calendar. It helped James become a spokesdog for the Alzheimer's Association. Or did his therapy work with Alzheimer's patients give him what he needed to win at Westminster?

Winning gained Patton greater respect at Felicity. "Students know there must be something special about him. But they've known him since he was a puppy and saw the silly things he does. They've known him as a celebrity, but also a normal dog." This is the balance Patton tries to achieve in class.

In the spring, Patton took James to a Washington, DC, nursing home. "I couldn't even get out of the car before they were all coming towards James. To see their pride and sense of ownership in James's achievement, that means as much as winning."

When James goes to children's hospitals, the kids know him as the dog who appeared on Animal Planet. "That's made him more approachable. Touching James is suddenly more special to them."

It has been a whirlwind year of interviews, charity events, the Oprah Winfrey Show. Patton reflects on the experiences: "James could be best in show, but what if he wasn't approachable? What if he couldn't sit still for a child with IV ports in both arms? Ribbons fade. They are just things. If you can really connect with your dog, and help other people, that transcends any award you'll ever win."