guide dogs

Geez, that's a lot of stuff. I liked the idea because my grandmother went blind in her 20's, and later was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She went through a number of guide dogs, and many breeds such as boxer's, german shepards, labradors, golden retrievers, and even labradoodles (in the late eighties, she was one of the first people to try out using the breed as a guide dog-sadly the dog was run over before I was born). She was using a labrador retriever named Wiley who was as old as I was, but like many large-breed dogs, Wiley was diagnosed with both hip and elbow displaysia when he turned seven years old, just after my grandmother died. In his old age, he is now deaf, blind, and may very soon be euthanized as he is losing control of his motions and can barely recognize people he has known for his entire life. While my famiily had to give Wiley away after he was retired from his seeing-eye service, we make routine visits to his new owners to play fetch and so on.

Wiley was a dog that suffered from separation anxiety. Whenever he was separated from my dad or grandmother he would rip things apart, knock over furniture, throw stuffing everywhere, and bite anyone who came in close contact with him. Being the kid, and having all the chores, I was typically the person who put the house back in order after he had thrown these temper-tantrums, only to repeat the process the next day, and the day after. I guess my point is that it's not a question of the amount of work involved, because I will do as much work as it takes to see something through, but my family may not be willing to wait that long.

I also found out that Wiley was a purebred English Labrador whose bloodline went for generations. His parents and grandparents were all tested for temperment, physical condition, and genetic diseases, and they passed the test for breeding. Granted, the physical conditions like blindness are bound to show up late in life, but is this just a rare case if a purebred dog suffers from separation anxiety? I'm not very good at genetics, but I know that recessive traits in certain species can appear to be dormant for generations, and then show up all of a sudden. Does this work the same with dogs? Or are there more factors than just a few alleles that determine personality?

Thanks for the response-

I'm not trying to breed that immediately, I'm just trying to get all the background information if I ever decide that I might want to. Thanks for the information, it's been really helpful. On the issue of puppies, if necessary, then I am willing to train them until they are old enough to go into the guide dog program-teach them basic sit, down, stay, come, etc. And the pound where I live is never the place to take an animal of any kind; I'm not sure if the situation is like this in most places, but here, the average stay of an animal is one week, and then the dogs are euthanized because the kennels are overcrowded. I've heard that some breeders (in my opinion, good breeders) require an interview to see if you are really devoted to the dog; I've my dogs every have puppies, I plan to do the same.