Can someone please explain why my guide dog Trigger, who is a lab/retriever is adept at getting his blanket out of the dog bed, running around, tail wagging furiously, but leaves the blanket in the middle of the floor for me to pick up or trip over? I was under the impression that retrievers – retrieve? Obviously I have been labouring under a misapprehension on that score! In point of fact Trigger will greet me and my guests with all kinds of fascinating objects ranging from shoes, socks and, of course his beloved blanket. It is merely that my four legged friend point blank refuses to return said objects to where he found them!
I think that there is a case for the Guide Dogs For The Blind Association (GDBA) to train our canine helpers to put things back precisely where they found them. In fact lets forget about training guide dogs to assist blind people to cross the road, putting my shoes back in the exact spot where Trigger discovered them is far more important even if that spot was not well chosen, by me in the first place! I shall close now. I’m off to pen a letter to the Guide Dogs setting out my suggestion that they concentrate training on the retrieval and return of objects rather than on piffling matters like getting blind people such as myself from a to b safely. I’m sure they will be receptive to the idea, or maybe not!
K Morris - Poet 
Ha, this gave me a good laugh (though it did make me a tad bit nervous about getting y guide dog “retriever” in a few months!) Does Trigger chew the shoes and socks, or just move them around?
I’m glad that my post brightened up your day! Trigger is my fourth guide dog and to the best of my recollection none of them chewed anything. When I first got Trigger he chewed his plastic dog bed. I had had it since my first dog, Nixon and it haden’t been touched prior to that. Trigger went through a phase of eating his leather leads (he went through about 4 but, fortunately always spat out the metal bits)! He now has canvas leads which he doesn’t chew. He doesn’t chew shoes or socks but, when I first got him he went through a phase of taking tissues out of the waste paper basket! Every guide dog is different and I am sure you will bond with your new friend and, with the help of your trainer iron out any teething (no pun intended)! problems. I find having a guide dog much more useful than using my long cane and I wouldn’t want to revert to pre guide dog days. Please feel free to contact me offline if I can help in any way (newauthoronline @ gmail . com – I have rendered the address in this way to try and defeat spammers who, as you know harvest e-mail addresses from the internet and bombard bloggers and others with junk mail). All the best, Kevin