Are you a prospective student, potential supporter or volunteer, or just curious to expand your knowledge of our exceptional Guiding Eyes dogs? Maybe you’re welcoming a new guide dog team to your community? Learning more about guide dogs can help ensure that new teams can safely continue their work together. Need more help? Contact us at (800) 942-0149.
A guide dog’s first responsibility is to their handler. While in harness, a guide dog is constantly navigating around obstacles, indicating objects such as street curbs or stairs, and looking to their handler for direction. As such, it is crucial that they remain focused. Even a momentary distraction could cause an individual who is blind to run into a pole or miss a turn down a particular grocery store aisle or sidewalk.
Guide dogs and their handlers are carefully matched using factors such as environment, temperament, and pace to facilitate a natural bond. Handlers are taught to use strict commands as they grow comfortable together to reinforce their partnership. It is essential that the dog only looks to the handler for those commands, so they are always on their best behavior and maximize success.
The handler plays an equal part in the team’s safe and independent travel and actively gives directions to the dog. Both dog and handler communicate through verbal and visual cues to navigate to new destinations and memorize routes to frequently visited places. Offer specific directions to the handler, as vague phrases such as “over there” are ineffective at best.
A guide dog handler is the expert on their dog’s needs and equipment issued to them. Attempting to grab the leash or harness can result in confusion for the dog, inability to work, and in some cases, dangerous consequences for the team. If you have been asked to assist a guide dog team, you should lead the handler, not the dog.
Just as you can be a distraction, so can your pet. It is your job as a responsible pet owner to prevent your pet from interacting with a working guide dog in any way. Always keep your pet on leash and out of indoor spaces open to the public. If your dog has a history of aggression, take extra precautions, as negative interactions can lead to stress and trauma for guide dogs and their handlers.
To download the Dos & Don’ts as a printable document, click here.
A guide dog is a service animal that has been specially trained to assist a person who is blind or visually impaired in independent travel. Guide dogs lead their handlers around obstacles, indicate stairs and street curbs, target doorways and other useful landmarks, among countless other tasks. The handler holds a harness secured around the dog’s body with a handle that enables them to feel the dog’s movements and communication.
As defined by Title II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a service animal is any dog that has been individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability. Emotional support animals, on the other hand, do not qualify as service animals because they do not have any formal training to assist those with disabilities, and instead are pets who provide instinctual comfort. Legitimate service dogs, by law, are permitted to accompany their handlers into any place the public is allowed, including restaurants, hotels, stores, healthcare facilities, and so on.
On average, it takes about 2 years to train a guide dog. For the first 16 months of their lives, the dogs are properly socialized, exposed to diverse environments, practice obedience and house manners, and form relationships with volunteer puppy raisers. Upon demonstrating strong foundational skills, the dogs enter formal harness training where they spend a minimum of 5 months learning behaviors and commands to become successful guide dogs.
The most common dog breed used for guide work is the Labrador Retriever.
It can cost up to $50,000 annually to train and care for a guide dog throughout its working lifetime with a person who is blind. This includes items such as food, equipment, medical care, and other expenses. We provide all services to clients completely free of charge.
Working with a guide dog is purely a personal preference. Some individuals who are blind or visually impaired would rather depend on the tactile feedback they observe on their own while using a white cane, and others appreciate the teamwork aspect of Traveling with a dog. As you can imagine, working with and caring for a guide dog is a huge commitment. Each handler has a physical, emotional, and financial responsibility for their dog; therefore, it is not right for everyone.
A guide dog is matched with their handler based on a specific set of criteria, including pace, environment, harness pull, and lifestyle. Just as the handler undergoes an intensive application process, each guide dog’s characteristics and strengths are also carefully assessed. A guide dog team living on a busy college campus or commuting to work in a large city has much different needs than someone who lives on a farm.
Guide dogs do not have the ability to read street signs, communicate the colors of traffic lights, or indicate walk signals. It is up to the blind handler to auditorily determine when it is safe to cross the street. People who are blind or visually impaired with the advanced travel skills necessary for a guide dog have been trained extensively in how to listen to traffic cycles and identify the shape of the intersection and how it is controlled.
Off-harness, a guide dog is just like any other dog. They love to play with people and other dogs, snuggle, sleep, and eat. While their time in and out of harness may vary, they are always given significant breaks. It is crucial for guide dogs to be able to release their energy and have fun, as the balance to their job.
A guide dog and handler work together to memorize routes and problem-solve. They take note of significant landmarks, turns, street crossings, changes in footing, and so on. A guide dog can be patterned to familiar routes, such as a handler’s favorite coffee shop. They are also trained to target specific doorways, escalators, locations on the train platform, or whatever locations are beneficial to the handler. The handler is always just as aware of their surroundings as their four-legged partner.
Guiding Eyes has a large network of staff and volunteers to coordinate all the moving puzzle pieces of a guide dog’s journey. To learn more about ways to get involved or donate, please visit Get Involved or Ways to Give.
To download Guide Dog Q&A as a printable document, click here.
Guiding Eyes for the Blind is approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (C) (3) tax-exempt organization, and all donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.
Guiding Eyes for the Blind Federal Identification Number (EIN) is 13-1854606.
© 2023 GUIDING EYES FOR THE BLIND PRIVACY POLICY | ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT
