Interview to Trainees becoming a Guide Dog Trainer

2022. 3. 23

News

3 Trainees becoming a Guide Dog Trainer

Trainees with one black, two yellow labradors and a golden retreiver at the Kanagawa Training Center.

Graduates of 2021 at the School for Guide Dog Trainers at Japan Guide Dog Association have spent a successful year and will finally become guide dog trainers from this April. All three have spent two years at the guide dog school and another year as a trainee at the Kanagawa Training Center. They will be transferred to different centers and will start their career as guide dog trainers from this April. Enjoy the interview with our three new guide dog trainers!

How do you feel about these three years to become a guide dog trainer?

Trainee A: We finally made it!
Trainee B: Yeah, totally.
Trainee C: I think we all got so much stronger. I have a clearer sense of who I am as a person.

Is there anything you remember that was fun or hard?

Trainee A: In our second year in school, we had to stay home and take online lessons because of the corona crisis. Not being able to train the dogs for about two months was really hard for me. I was worried that I would lose my training skills.
Trainee B: Visiting other centers such as Fuji Harness with everyone was fun. Also, I remember participating in promotion activities like fundraising and meeting people in the town. Everyone was so nice, and it encouraged me.
Trainee C: I had a chance to engage with volunteers who care for our dogs. Being able to communicate with them was interesting for me.

What kind of guide dog trainer do you want to be in the future?

Trainee A: I guess a trainer that enjoys my job.
Trainee B: A trainer that’s friendly to juniors.
Trainee C: I want to be a trainer loved by everyone, including colleges, volunteers, guide dog users, and so on.

What do you want to do or expect from your new working place?

Trainee A: I expect to see the *1Shimane Asahi Puppy Project. Few people are working at my new center, so I hope to work not just as a trainer but get involved in many other jobs as well.
Trainee B: I would like to see rehabilitation programs and participate in the “*2Wanpakukko Summer Camp”.
Trainee C: I will see the whole lifespan of guide dogs from birth to retirement at my new place, and I hope to learn a lot from those experiences. We mainly train labradors and golden retrievers, but I want to train different breeds in the future. I also wish to take part in puppy raising.

*1 Shimane Asahi Puppy Project: The first project in Japan in which prisoners and local volunteers work collaboratively to raise puppies candidates for guide dogs.
*2 Wanpakukko Summer Camp: A rehabilitation program for visually impaired children.

Please send a message to people who want to be guide dog trainers.

Trainee A: There are many people with great personalities here, so I think you should develop your individuality.
Trainee B: What’s exciting about being a guide dog trainer is that you can meet so many kinds of people and I think it’s a great job for people who would like to do several things because there are various fields in this job.
Trainee C: Be interested in all sorts of things, not just about dogs, people but social things, and also yourself.