We have met several times on other issues. Thank you very much for keeping the perspective of service dogs front of mind in this.
Traditionally, people with vision loss who have dogs that guide them have either rescue dogs or a breeding program. If it's a breeding program, when the dog is approximately eight weeks old they go to what's called a “puppy raiser”, typically a family that spends the next 10 to 11 months of their lives socializing the dog, taking the dog out, getting it used to various noises and so on, and getting them prepared for moving forward into their job.
When the dog hits about a year old, they are taken back to the school and assessed. If they are accepted, they go into the formal program, which is typically four or five months long at that point. It depends on the dog. Sometimes they go through more quickly, sometimes more slowly. At that stage of the game, they are trained for the work. It's basic training such as finding doors, stairs, chairs, elevators, escalators, and stopping us from being hit by a car, and so on, when we're crossing streets.
We go to the school or the school provides home training, depending on the school you go to, usually for three to four weeks at that stage, and then we become graduates as a team with our dogs. At that stage, it takes about six months to a year for you and that dog to be a good working team, to the point where you can just flick your hand in a direction and your dog will go that way or you can give them a certain noise as opposed to giving them formal words.
The cost for one of these dogs—again, depending on the dog and what they're trained to do—can be anywhere from $30,000 to $80,000 per dog, taking into account medical costs, the time they spend with their puppy raisers, the cost of feeding and so on, and the formal training process. Some service dogs for people who use wheelchairs will go through a different training procedure, and it may take a little longer and cost a little more money. Other dogs might be trained for other activities that don't take quite as long.