Good Dogs

``We will not have him put down. Lucky is basically a damn good guide dog,'' Ernst Gerber, a dog trainer from Wuppertal told reporters. ``He just needs a little brush-up on some elementary skills, that's all.''

Gerber admitted to the press conference that Lucky, a German shepherd guide-dog for the blind, had so far been responsible for the deaths of all four of his previous owners. ``I admit it's not an impressive record on paper. He led his first owner in front of a bus, and the second off the end of a pier. He actually pushed his third owner off a railway platform just as the Cologne to Frankfurt express was approaching and he walked his fourth owner into heavy traffic, before abandoning him and running away to safety. But, apart from epileptic fits, he has a lovely temperament. And guide dogs are difficult to train these days.''

Asked if Lucky's fifth owner would be told about his previous record, Gerber replied: ``No. It would make them nervous, and would make Lucky nervous. And when Lucky gets nervous he's liable to do something silly.''

[Source: Europa Times, October, 1993]

Maybe it is time to return to Heather Has Two Mommies


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Reader's Comments

Has anyone considered the possibility that Lucky is a serial killer?

-- David Cheater, June 5, 1999
I think, in the interests of science, they should find a blind person whose previous dogs have all died under circumstances similar to Lucky's owners. Match the two up and see which one's "luck" is the strongest.

-- Wade Masshardt, August 29, 1999
I am a guide dog user and have been for twelve years. If i were getting a "new" successor dog, I would definately want to know the history of such a dog as "lucky". to be teamed up wity such a dog an be expected to put your life in his trust is unconsciencable. who ever knew his history and neglected to revel such to a blind user uould in a sence be guilty, in my mind, of murder. guide dog users put their full trust in their partner and this trust often means their life, as well as the dog. true, guide dogs are highly trained and very expensive to train, but a life lost can not be regained. lucky is not trustworthy and can not in good conscience be reassigned to another blind handler. I would want to know the history of a dog such as this and would not use him to cross the kitchen floor in my own home let alone dangerous situations away from my own place of relitive safe activity.

-- larry hokanson, January 1, 2003
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