Phil is adorable. The kind of soft, cuddly, happy puppy you want to scoop up and hug, with a (mostly) laid-back nature that matches his name. But Phil is something else, too. Along with his four siblings – Patriot, Poppet, Potomac and Primrose – he’s a guide dog puppy, making him extra-special.
And what’s ahead of the five of them is incredible. If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to become a guide dog, American documentary Pick of the Litter showcases it all in a beautiful, captivating film: the puppies, the foster volunteers who take the pups into their homes for over a year, knowing they will have to hand them back; the trainers who then work to see if the dogs can learn the essential skills needed; and the companions hoping that they might get a chance to match with a guide dog, a partnership that transforms lives.
Not all pups who start out as potential guide dogs become one – many turn out not to have quite the right temperament. Like the volunteers who foster the pups, and the trainers who later work with them, you’ll find yourself hoping all the pups will make the cut, even with the odds against them: 800 puppies are born at (the US guide dog organisation featured in the documentary) each year, but only around 300 will make it all the way through training and evaluation.
A Guide Dogs for the Blind team member with Phil. Source: Madman Films
You might find you have a favourite. I confess I did – that mention of Phil at the start probably gave it away! (Technically, the film declares Phil a favourite too – though when a Guide Dogs for the Blind staff member says “we have Phil, the sentimental favourite”, she’s talking about the name itself, as a group undertakes the fun task of naming the five puppies in the litter.)
Before we see the pups, though, we hear just how much of a difference a guide dog can make, often saving lives, including one owner whose dog guided him down more than 70 flights of stairs to safety after planes hit the twin towers in New York in 2001, and others whose dogs stopped their owners being hit by cars.
And therein lies one of the many reasons that only ‘the pick of the litter’ make it all the way: A guide dog doesn’t just learn to obey and guide – it has to learn to disobey commands, too.
“If they’re given a command that might put their person in harm’s way, they have to make the decision not to take that command. Every other service dog is trained to take commands no matter what,” we’re told early on in the film.
Filmed over a two-year span, Pick of the Litter meets the pups right as they are born. For co-director Dana Nachman, that was one of the moments that really stuck with her.
The pups may one day join the ranks of ‘graduated’ guide dogs, who have been matched with human companions. Source: Madman Films
“The shoots were challenging (those dogs sure do walk fast), fun (I mean, they’re puppies), emotional... But nothing was more poignant to me than seeing puppies, no bigger than the palm of my hand, come into this world and knowing that one day, if all goes well, they will make a huge difference in someone’s life. That packed quite a punch.”
When the pups reach two months, they move to a key stage in their journey: heading off to their puppy raisers, where they stay until they are around 14–16 months old, before coming back to a Guide Dogs for the Blind campus for training. The GDB staff check in regularly to make sure carers and pups are all doing well.
The ‘P’ litter has an incredible journey ahead. Source: Madman Films
Some go to experienced foster folk – Primrose, one of the two white dogs in the litter, goes to Eric and Rebecca and their son, a family who have taken in six guide dog puppies before. Poppet, a sweet-natured black dog, becomes the eighth guide dog puppy for Cathy and Bill, who will co-raise with first-timers Lisa and Chris. Teenage Nick will look after Patriot, an energetic black pup who is his first guide dog foster. Phil is placed with another first-time pair, Patti and Al.
Says Linda, Potomac’s puppy raiser, “You go into the training experience with the mindset that this is not your dog. So you can love them and play with them and encourage them, but you also know that you are not keeping them as a pet. You are sad to see them go, but you are so pleased and blessed that they are doing what they are trained to do, what they were bred and raised to do.”
Two-month-old Potomac arrives at his foster home. Source: Madman Films
This is the point where you might want to keep the tissue box handy. Don’t worry, nothing terrible happens to the dogs! But these volunteers are opening their homes and their hearts, knowing that eventually, they will have to give up these dogs, and for some of them, it’s a wrench.
“You would think it would be easy after a while but no, it’s not. You get a lot of mixed emotions here, just because you want them to pass, you’re happy because you know what they are supposed to do, and what their purpose is, you’re kinda sad because you’ve become attached to them,” says Eric on the day he and the family farewell Primrose, as she heads off to begin guide dog training.
Dogs can be shifted out of the program at any stage – the Guide Dogs for the Blind staff call it being ‘career changed’. Often this happens during the formal guide dog training, which usually takes about 10 weeks, or if dogs don’t pass their final evaluation tests. Some become mothers to new generations of guide dog puppies; some find a role at another service dog organisation; others, who prove not suitable for assistance work, become pets.
Rebecca says goodbye to Primrose. Source: Madman Films
In Pick of the Litter, we get to see some of the hard work (by dogs and trainers!) that goes into creating a guide dog. We also meet two people waiting for a chance to be matched to a dog.
“Everyone who touched these dogs is working with a shared vision – to make lives better. Their commitment inspires me every day,” says the film’s co-director, Emmy-award winning documentary filmmaker Don Hardy. “Then, there are the people waiting to receive a dog. Janet and Ron… opened their lives to us and shared very personal stories about what it’s like to be visually impaired and how much having the assistance of a dog will mean to them.”
Will Janet and Ron be matched with dogs? Does my squishy little golden boy, Phil, and his ‘P’ litter brothers and sisters, end up as guide dogs, or do they bring joy somewhere else?
We’ll avoid the spoilers by answering neither of those questions, but I can assure you of one thing: I have a whole new appreciation for the love, effort and skill that foster carers and trainers invest, and for the abilities of guide dogs.
