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How To Adopt TSA Working Dogs Who Are Too Nice For Service

Some dogs just don't make the cut when it comes to service dog training, but they could definitely make a great family pet!

Adopting rescue dogs is all the rage these days. Credit animal shelters for raising awareness of animals that need homes and provide companionship for merely a bowl of water and food a day as well as a yard for romping around in return. But some prospective owners do have concerns about the temperament of shelter pups depending on their former environments and are opting for another source to find something cuddly and loyal, which is why service dog dropouts are becoming more and more attractive these days.

Service dogs, in turn, are performing a lot more functions lately from guiding their blind owners through public places to providing comfort to those with mental issues, such as PTSD. And while most dogs that go through the programs graduate, a few of them wind up being dropped for the list for service, due to physical shortcomings or emotional issues like lack of drive, nervousness or because they just simply don't fit the requirements of the program.

Quite a few of them fail the program for being far too nice for the job. One case involved a German shepherd being trained by Queensland police in Australia. It turns out he was far too amiable to take down fleeing criminals, instead wanting to be friends with everyone within sniffing distance. Authorities turned him into a Vice-Regal canine at the state's government house instead.

But a dog deemed too nice for the job certainly fits the bill for prospective owners who are assured that the pup's temperament is ideal for a domestic atmosphere, especially with families raising very young children. And while they may not have the right stuff for whatever service they were selected for, chances are the basics when it comes to obedience have already been covered.

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There's no shortage of organizations that train dogs for arduous tasks who make available dogs looking for different homes. Guide Dogs of America, which primarily use Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers and German shepherds for assisting the mobility of the blind, stated that roughly 40 percent of their dogs don't graduate. They also let people adopt retired dogs that still have long lives ahead of them.

Puppy In Training is another resource that runs the gamut of service dogs and has an extensive list of contacts throughout North America when it comes to getting a pup that didn't make the grade, but would still make an ideal pet.

As well, the Transportation Security Administration has a Canine Adoption Program for animals not up to snuff in their biggest function: sniffing out drugs. They also note the many of them may not be housebroken or have mastered the basics of obedience, but are still adorable enough for a domestic setting.

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