Guide Dog Training_Dfd_ERD_Case_Study
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External Entities = Green(3)
Data Stores = Blue(6)
Guide Dog Training and Assignment to Clients (People with serious visual impairment). The Guide Dog Association (GDA) buys, trains, and assigns (matches) guide dogs with eligible clients. Breeders provide the dogs for GDA and then they are trained by team of trainers, then assigned to a client (sometimes the client and the dog don’t really work well together so the dog is returned and a different dog assigned to the client). When the dog is retired, it usually spends the rest of its days as a pet for someone
The GDA over time has refined and enhanced its procedures from the initial contact with the Breeder to allocating the dog to a client and supporting the client during those first weeks, and eventually returning the dog and replacing it with a different dog.
When the GDA need new dogs for clients, they send information to the breeders they have on file, requesting dogs of a certain breed and age that will be trained by its team of specialist trainers before being allocated to a client – a dog usually remains with a client for a period of 5 to 7 years, before it starts to slow down. At that stage it is replaced by a newly trained dog. The GDA also places adverts in the newspaper media, in order to encourage breeders that aren’t on its books to reply. The breeders that reply send in details of the dogs, dob, breed, tempermeant, level it has reached on the training programme, and the selling price for the dog. If new breeders that haven’t supplied dogs before, appear at this stage, their details are taken and added to the breeder file.
If there are dogs that appear to be suitable on the lists that are submitted by the breeders, the dog selection unit (DSU) at GDA HQ invite the breeders to bring those dogs to a GDA centre for inspection and assessment. The GDA has a panel of trainers who are able to identify the positive and negative traits in dogs during the brief assessment. The GDA purchases those dogs that it believes have potential and assigns each dog to one of its trainers. A trainer may however have a number of dogs to work with it any point in time. During the time that the dog is in training, it is assessed and marked at each of the stages in the training programme. It spends some time with each of the different trainers, in order to give it as broad a range of experience as possible. During the training programme the dog spends time on each of the tasks that he is likely to be expected to do when assigned to a client. The dog will be taken shopping, to the bank/post office, the railway and bus stations, local churches, as well as hotels, pubs and restaurants. A detailed profile is built up of the dogs progress is built up as assessments are held and scored a couple of times every week. The GDA has a list of routes of varying types (urban/rural, traffic lights, roundabouts, bus stops, shopping centres) that each dog will be introduced to during its training programme. A detailed log is kept for every “training lesson/session” that a dog undertakes – the date, time, weather, hazards, the main objective of the lesson, and how well the dog performed to meet those objectives. The trainers meet regularly and analyse the progress of the dog under different headings and if necessary, the training programme for a particular dog will be refined to ensure that the dog reaches the required standard under all the mandatory sections of the guide dog training programme.
As the dog enters the latter phases of the training programme, the Dog Training Unit supervisor checks his list of clients and identifes those currently at the top of the waiting list. Each of the clients is assessed-level of eyesight loss, mobility, illness, where the person lives(urban or rural) are all considered when pairing the dog and the client. The dog is then brought by its trainer to the home of the potential client, and the trainer takes it along the routes it will typically use after assignment to the client. Again, the dog is scored on how well it performs at this critical stage of its training. If it doesn’t meet the minimum standard, it is withdrawn and a different dog is tested on the same route. When a dog succeeds in doing well on the routes frequented by its intended client, the dog is introduced to the client. If the client already has a dog, the old dog leaves before the new dog arrives. During the early weeks of its assignment, a trainer (not necessarily one that the dog is familiar with), stays in the area, and observes the client and the dog working together. He notes any aspects of the dog client working relationship that warrant corrective intervention. Some hints and tips given to the client may iron out any minor problems. However, if there are problems that endanger the client, the dog is taken aside each day for some specialised training to address the specific problems. Again, a detailed log is maintained of the dogs progress on correcting those behaviours.
Once the observation period is over, the client is by and large left to work away with the dog. A help line, staffed by experienced guide dog trainers is open during the working week to deal with any queries the client may have regarding the dog, its health, diet etc. Once a year, an inspector/trainer visits to observe the dog in action.
When a Guide dog is retired, the GDA contacts the list of Retired Dog Carers – people who have expressed an in interest in taking on and caring for a retired dog after its working life has finished. Before a dog is donated/handed over to a carer, ???
The GDA has a number of branches/centres throughout the country. Each has its own dedicated group of GDTs,
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