Guide dog is a dog specially trained to guide people who are blind or people who have visual impairment. Dogs chosen for this kind of training must show several qualities. These qualities include good disposition, intelligence, physical fitness, and responsibility. Guide dogs can help blind or visually impaired people lead fuller, more independent lives.
Most future guide dogs are placed with carefully selected families when they are 6 to 8 weeks old. The families help the dogs to learn manners, basic obedience, and how to live with a family and other animals. Guide dogs must learn to be comfortable in all public places. The dogs must become accustomed to riding in cars, buses, and other transportation. The dogs learn to tolerate loud noises and ignore squirrels and other distractions. They learn to lie quietly under the table in a restaurant.
After a year or more, the guide dog begins an intense training course with a professional instructor. This training period generally lasts for four to five months or longer. The guide dog becomes accustomed to a leather harness and a stiff handle. It will wear these items when guiding a blind person. The dog learns to recognize and obey such commands as forward, halt, steady, left, right, and straight. The instructor teaches the guide dog to lead a person safely across streets by watching traffic flow.
Guide dogs are trained to disobey commands that might lead a person into danger. For example, a guide dog will refuse to cross a street unless traffic has stopped. This refusal to obey dangerous commands is called intelligent disobedience. The guide dog’s training becomes more challenging over time. The dog must learn to cope with heavier traffic, stairs, elevators, escalators, and a variety of walking surfaces.
The training is so demanding that some dogs cannot complete it. These dogs may return to live with the family that raised them. Some become therapy animals, helping people who are ill. Other dogs may train for work in search and rescue or law enforcement.
If a guide dog completes its training, it is paired with a blind or visually impaired person. The person must be able to handle a dog. Guide dog users should have the physical endurance to walk for extended periods, to meet the dog’s need for exercise. The person must also be a stable and loving caregiver to the dog. The person and the guide dog learn to work together by taking a class. This class may last as long as four weeks.
A guide dog can work for 7 to 10 years. The dog must retire when it can no longer keep up with the physical demands of guide work. Some people keep their retired guide dog as a pet. Many others choose to place the dog with a family member or close friend. The blind person may then be paired with a new guide dog.
The organized training of guide dogs began in Germany during World War I (1914-1918). Such dogs were needed because a high number of soldiers were blinded by their injuries. The first guide dog school in the United States was The Seeing Eye, Incorporated. The school was founded in 1929. Other schools in the United States include Guide Dogs for the Blind, Incorporated; Guiding Eyes for the Blind; and Leader Dogs for the Blind.
