Guided to a rewarding career

October 2005

Report: Elisa Dimas
Photography: Melissa Di Ciero

Growing up in Wodonga in north-eastern Victoria, Lauren Stanford (BSc(Hons) 2004) knew she wanted to spend her life working with animals.

A dog's life: Lauren Stanford with one of her charges.

During her science degree at Monash, she majored in biology and zoology, and her honours project focused on an examination of the feeding ecology of lorikeets.

Ms Stanford discovered Guide Dogs Victoria as a university student seeking part-time work. She applied for a job with the not-for-profit organisation -- and remains there today.

"During my honours year, I volunteered at the training kennels," Ms Stanford says. "While I was working there, the position of trainee guide dog trainer was advertised, so I applied."

As a trainer, Ms Stanford's tasks include assessing and training potential guide dogs at the organisation's headquarters in the Melbourne suburb of Kew. Each dog takes five months to train. The work is physically demanding but rewarding, she says.

"The end result is what I look forward to the most. Seeing one of my dogs working with a vision-impaired client and witnessing the benefits that person enjoys is extremely rewarding."

Guide dogs play a vital part in helping vision-impaired people achieve independence, but the psychology and process behind their training and behaviour are simple.

"We don't teach the dogs complex processes -- more a series of simple tasks that become habitual behaviour," Ms Stanford explains.

"We train the dogs using a sequential approach where we build each skill upon a previous skill, and our dogs are very willing. We use positive reinforcement rather than food rewards."

Ms Stanford says she is fascinated by canine psychology and animal behaviour, the twin elements that form the basis of the training she conducts.

She is also interested in human behaviour and psychology as they apply to Guide Dog Victoria clients, and she hopes to work as an instructor.

"Working as an instructor means you work with a trained dog and its new vision-impaired owner to help the two of them establish an understanding and rapport and work as an effective team," she says.