What I Wish the Public Knew about Guide Dogs
Being that I have been a guide dog handler for a little over a year, here are eleven things that I wish the public knew or would keep in mind as it relates to guide dogs and their handlers.
They are not robots: Guide dogs do not know exactly what their human is thinking nor the exact location that their human needs to go. The human needs to give direction to a given location. This is why the person with a guide dog must have good orientation skills to give proper direction. This is also why in some cases the handler may need to teach the dog where a desired object or location is.
Training never stops: As the environments that the guide dog handler goes into are usually not the same, training has to continue for the entirety of the dog's working life to help them work successfully.
They cannot read the traffic lights: Unlike most believe dog guides cannot read the traffic lights as dogs themselves are color blind. It’s the job of the handler to tell the dog to go forward when the handler thinks it's safe to do so. If the dog sees that it may not be safe to go forward, they will exercise intelligent disobedience and not go forward until they see that it is safe to do so.
Please do not talk, touch, feed, or look at them: When coming across a guide dog team please do not talk, touch, or look at the dog, as the dog could take their attention off their handler in these moments potentially putting the team's life in danger depending on the environment, they are in. One example of a time in which an environment could put a team in danger is if someone was trying to talk to the dog guide as the team is actively crossing a street because the handler is trusting that the dog guide has all of their attention on getting them both across the street safely.
Give their handler directions to a location: When working to assist a guide dog team to a given location it is best practice to give the handler direction to a given location, so that these directions can be relayed to the dog by its handler.
There are many different types of harnesses used in guide work: Some of the types of harnesses used are specific to running similar to the Unifly Harness, off set, different shapes and sizes. The important thing to keep in mind is that the harness that each team uses has been adapted to the individual team's lifestyle and important aspects have been taken into consideration when making the decision as to what will work for the team as a whole. Some of the considerations that are often made have to do with the handler's height, walking speed, footfall, hand grip, and much more.
Lindsay and Eve walking down the halls of congress. As Lindsay is walking, she is using an offset harness handle.
Harnesses of many shapes and sizes.
Unifly harness example.
The thing on some guide dog’s faces is a head collar not a muzzle: In some cases to get added control of their dog’s guide dog handlers may use a head collar, which goes around the dog's mouth and above the nose. This is used to help refocus the dogs in high scent distraction areas. I personally use one, as Eve is known to get distracted around scents and food.
Eve wearing a head collar.
There are only two questions you can ask: In a public situation if one is unsure if the animal present is a service animal the only two questions that can be asked are:
Is this animal a service animal required for a disability?
What service does the animal provide?
Guide dogs choose their jobs: Unlike most may think guide dogs choose their jobs. In most cases guide dogs are assessed for their ability to be guide dogs at various points of their journey as puppies. As the puppies grow and mature the assessments become more challenging. In the article The Journey of a Guiding Eyes Dog the different stages of training for each guide dog are explained. If they fail at any point or are seen not to be interested in guide work other jobs are considered such as bomb sniffing, medical alert, therapy, or just as pet dogs.
Guide dogs have off days just like humans: Like humans Guide dogs have days in which they may not be feeling well, may not be in the headspace to work, the weather may not be permissible, they may be in a space where they struggle, etc. It's important that the handler realize the issue that may be at hand and do their best to correct it. As the public, what you can do is give them grace, as you do not know the exact challenges that this team may be facing.
Not all handlers are totally blind: Not all guide dog handlers are totally blind, some like me have some remaining vision, but struggle in dim or dark spaces, may have a limited field of vision, or reduced eye acuity. The important thing to keep in mind is that a person that typically has a guide dog is legally blind, meaning that they have a visual acuity of 20/200 or less, or a visual field of 20 degrees or less with correction. 20/200 can be described as whatever a person with 20/20 vision can see at 200 feet the person with 20/200 vision must be 20 feet from that same object to see it.
