What a Guide Dog Can Do
Socialization
For the first year of their lives, Guide Dog puppies live in the homes of volunteer puppy raisers who teach them the social skills necessary to be a working Guide Dog. These skills are reinforced in formal training and maintained by the Guide Dog handler.
Skills Include
• Maintaining a reliable relieving schedule
• Behaving in a non-destructive manner i.e. not chewing or digging
• Walking calmly on a leash
• Obeying basic commands such as sit, down, etc.
• Acclimating to crate training and security line training
• Lying quietly at handler’s side in public places such as restaurants and on public transportation
• Demonstrating confidence in a variety of situations and with different people
Guidework
At around 16 to 18 months of age, the young dogs return from the puppy raiser’s homes to Guide Dogs for the Blind for formal training in guidework. Their skills are tested frequently. Only those dogs that pass rigid criteria become guides.
Once they have passed the training phase, the dogs are matched with a qualified blind or visually impaired person. The Guide Dog and blind person attend a 2 week residential training class where they learn to work together as a team.
Guidework Skills Include
• Turning left or right, starting or halting at the command of the handler, and advanced obedience
• Increasing or decreasing speed at the command of the handler
• Stopping for changes in elevation such as steps
• Stopping at street crossings
• Walking a straight path of travel
• Steering the handler safely around obstacles
• Slowing for uneven pavement or other tripping hazards
• Riding confidently on escalators
• Ignoring distractions such as other dogs, people, and food
• Refusing to proceed when a situation is unsafe, otherwise known as “intelligent disobedience”
• Locating street crossing poles, elevators, stairs, chairs, whatever handler trains
These are the basic skills a Guide Dog can demonstrate. As the team learns to work together, some new skills can be added: finding certain objects in their environment such as traffic control buttons, elevators, and specific locations that they visit regularly. Mention must also be made of the unique human/animal bond relationship that is involved, to the benefit of both the handler and guide.
Responsibility to Maintain Training
It is the responsibility of the Guide Dog handler to maintain the dog’s training. This means that every time the dog performs a skill correctly the handler must give praise and sometimes a food reward. Every time the dog makes a mistake the handler must rework the setting and sometimes give a correction, which is usually a verbal sometimes followed by a light leash correction. Guide Dog handlers have been taught the appropriate training and repatterning methods to use with their dogs.
What a Guide Dog Cannot Do
A Guide Dog is highly trained and well socialized; however, guide work is a team effort. The blind person who is working with the dog must give clear direction to the dog as to their destination. Although a Guide Dog is trained to stop at street crossings, it is the responsibility of the handler to decide when it is safe to cross. If, however, the Guide Dog notices a car approaching, the dog will perform “intelligent disobedience,” and move the handler back from danger.
Access
Access laws in the United States and Canada permit Guide Dogs to accompany their handlers anywhere the public is allowed, including planes, taxis, buses, restaurants, theaters, stores, office and apartment buildings, etc.
National Office: P.O. Box 151200, San Rafael, CA 94915-1200 • (800) 295-4050 • www.guidedogs.com
California Campus: 350 Los Ranchitos Rd., San Rafael, CA 94903
Oregon Campus: 32901 SE. Kelso Road, Boring, OR 97009 • (503) 668-2100