How do guide dogs work
Discussion
A500leroy said:
I cant work it out. If you want to go to tesco how do you get a guide dog to take you there? it wouldnt know what tesco/the office/the doctors is surely?
Yeah they don't do that lol , what they do though is know how to avoid roads and how to keep you on paths.They have an immense amount of self control for a dog which is why they cost so much to train.
Guide dogs are implanted with a Sat Nav chip as young puppies...
As said they take a long time to train - but that’s mostly because they don’t know left and right when they’re young and it take 12 months or so to learn all the road signs and where the nearest curry house open after 2am is.
Obviously the Sat Nav chip gets out of date pretty quickly - so if you see one sat down by the side of the road with it’s owner its probably because of that... give it a gentle pat on the head.... It usually reboots then and downloads the latest maps through the dogs ears....
It’s all amazing stuff.....
As said they take a long time to train - but that’s mostly because they don’t know left and right when they’re young and it take 12 months or so to learn all the road signs and where the nearest curry house open after 2am is.
Obviously the Sat Nav chip gets out of date pretty quickly - so if you see one sat down by the side of the road with it’s owner its probably because of that... give it a gentle pat on the head.... It usually reboots then and downloads the latest maps through the dogs ears....
It’s all amazing stuff.....
h. The owner should already know the route, either from when they were sighted, or have learned it by walking with a sighted person.
The guide dog trainer will also walk the routes with both the person and the dog.
The dog’s job is to avoid all the obstacles. This could be parked cars, traffic cones etc.
When crossing roads at pedestrian crossings, the owner will give the instruction to the dog to cross, having heard the lights change. If a car jumps the lights, the guide dog MAY block the path of the human. This would be instinctive, rather than trained.
There are a couple of guide dog puppy raisers who post in photos of your dogs section of All creatures great and small who may explain it better and more fully than me
Just to add, they are amazing animals and all those involved do a tremendous job
The guide dog trainer will also walk the routes with both the person and the dog.
The dog’s job is to avoid all the obstacles. This could be parked cars, traffic cones etc.
When crossing roads at pedestrian crossings, the owner will give the instruction to the dog to cross, having heard the lights change. If a car jumps the lights, the guide dog MAY block the path of the human. This would be instinctive, rather than trained.
There are a couple of guide dog puppy raisers who post in photos of your dogs section of All creatures great and small who may explain it better and more fully than me
Just to add, they are amazing animals and all those involved do a tremendous job
My granny had two guide dogs before she became so ill that they were no longer useful to her.
They are incredibly well trained is all I can say. They know exactly when they are "working" too, which is why the harness only goes on when they're working. If they're just being exercised by a sighted person, they usually go on a 'normal' dog lead and know the difference.
As others have said, the blind person will know where it is they want to go, and do the "steering" in the general direction. My granny went blind gradually in her late 30s/early 40s (I was the only grandchild of 7 that she saw) so she had time to learn where things were, and to convert her knowledge of the world around her into numbers of steps between road crossing, and turns on routes. She baked, using measures of volume rather than weight, and between going blind and getting her first dog she used a white cane to feel for kerb edges, etc, so as not to walk into objects or out into the road.
The dog's job is to walk between the blind person and traffic, to stop (and sit) at crossings, and to generally show the blind person around obstacles and prevent them from straying into danger. We tried, as a family, to donate a dog to guide Dogs for The Blind once, but the silly arse was not sufficiently brave, and instinctively put the puppy assessor between him and traffic, for instance, and was deemed too timid to be a safe and reliable guide dog. Which was good, as we kept him and he was a fabulous family pet. There's also an element with guide dogs of just visibly "being a guide dog" to point out the blind person's disability to others.
Around the house, they're not working, and are effectively just really well behaved pets, until the harness comes out and they know they have to put a shift in.
my uncle and aunt now do a lot of fundraising for Guide Dogs, and they're 'foster parents' to many guide dogs when owners are ill, or perhaps have allowed their dog to put on too much weight - in which case they act like 'doggy boot camp' to get the dog to a healthy weight again. "Owners" who consistently fail to look after the dog and keep it exercised and it's food controlled may have to forfeit their dog in extreme cases, and the dog always belongs to the charity during it's working life, not to the recipient.
They are incredibly well trained is all I can say. They know exactly when they are "working" too, which is why the harness only goes on when they're working. If they're just being exercised by a sighted person, they usually go on a 'normal' dog lead and know the difference.
As others have said, the blind person will know where it is they want to go, and do the "steering" in the general direction. My granny went blind gradually in her late 30s/early 40s (I was the only grandchild of 7 that she saw) so she had time to learn where things were, and to convert her knowledge of the world around her into numbers of steps between road crossing, and turns on routes. She baked, using measures of volume rather than weight, and between going blind and getting her first dog she used a white cane to feel for kerb edges, etc, so as not to walk into objects or out into the road.
The dog's job is to walk between the blind person and traffic, to stop (and sit) at crossings, and to generally show the blind person around obstacles and prevent them from straying into danger. We tried, as a family, to donate a dog to guide Dogs for The Blind once, but the silly arse was not sufficiently brave, and instinctively put the puppy assessor between him and traffic, for instance, and was deemed too timid to be a safe and reliable guide dog. Which was good, as we kept him and he was a fabulous family pet. There's also an element with guide dogs of just visibly "being a guide dog" to point out the blind person's disability to others.
Around the house, they're not working, and are effectively just really well behaved pets, until the harness comes out and they know they have to put a shift in.
my uncle and aunt now do a lot of fundraising for Guide Dogs, and they're 'foster parents' to many guide dogs when owners are ill, or perhaps have allowed their dog to put on too much weight - in which case they act like 'doggy boot camp' to get the dog to a healthy weight again. "Owners" who consistently fail to look after the dog and keep it exercised and it's food controlled may have to forfeit their dog in extreme cases, and the dog always belongs to the charity during it's working life, not to the recipient.
garythesign said:
The owner should already know the route, either from when they were sighted, or have learned it by walking with a sighted person.
The guide dog trainer will also walk the routes with both the person and the dog.
The dog’s job is to avoid all the obstacles. This could be parked cars, traffic cones etc.
When crossing roads at pedestrian crossings, the owner will give the instruction to the dog to cross, having heard the lights change. If a car jumps the lights, the guide dog MAY block the path of the human. This would be instinctive, rather than trained.
There are a couple of guide dog puppy raisers who post in photos of your dogs section of All creatures great and small who may explain it better and more fully than me
Just to add, they are amazing animals and all those involved do a tremendous job
hope i never have to find out, it must be hard to go somewhere new.The guide dog trainer will also walk the routes with both the person and the dog.
The dog’s job is to avoid all the obstacles. This could be parked cars, traffic cones etc.
When crossing roads at pedestrian crossings, the owner will give the instruction to the dog to cross, having heard the lights change. If a car jumps the lights, the guide dog MAY block the path of the human. This would be instinctive, rather than trained.
There are a couple of guide dog puppy raisers who post in photos of your dogs section of All creatures great and small who may explain it better and more fully than me
Just to add, they are amazing animals and all those involved do a tremendous job
stuartmmcfc said:
i4got said:
Who pick up their sh!t ?
They’re trained to “go” on command so you take them outside to their toilet area before you go out.My assistance dog goes on “better go now” and it helps when you know your dog and their toilet habits.
i4got said:
Who picks up their sh!t ?
Sighted family members and carers usually. When granny got her first dog, the first thing Guide Dogs did (before the dog was matched to her, even) was to have a sturdy chain-link dog-proof fence installed around the garden. The dogs would then be let out into the garden to do the necessary, as they were trained to do. Then me, or my uncle, whoever visited first, would carefully check the garden clearing 'mines' as we went. The only thing that lets Guide dogs down is their choice of names for the dogs. Granny's were called Unity and Avril. But then I suppose you don't want to call them a name popular with other dogs lest they think they're being called when they are working?
The way names work with Canine partners is that whoever raises the initial £5000 of training money can choose the name, normally from a list. They try to work alphabetically, without using the same name twice. You’re right, they do try and steer away from names like “rover” so they are different.
However, the initial sponsor can put forward a name eg maybe some connection with the company (maybe the CEOs wife not the business name)
That’s why mine is called “Mary”. She is named after a lady who was very involved in the charity and when she passed, her husband raised the initial £5k.
It’d wouldn’t be on my shortlist but under the circumstances I quite like it now.
I also had to ensure the garden was secure but I also had to “build” a toilet area which is pebbled and enclosed so there’s no danger of anyone accidentally walking in there. I send the Wife in every couple of days to pick up any mess. She loves doing that and eagerly looks forward to it.
However, the initial sponsor can put forward a name eg maybe some connection with the company (maybe the CEOs wife not the business name)
That’s why mine is called “Mary”. She is named after a lady who was very involved in the charity and when she passed, her husband raised the initial £5k.
It’d wouldn’t be on my shortlist but under the circumstances I quite like it now.
I also had to ensure the garden was secure but I also had to “build” a toilet area which is pebbled and enclosed so there’s no danger of anyone accidentally walking in there. I send the Wife in every couple of days to pick up any mess. She loves doing that and eagerly looks forward to it.
My wife and I love dogs, but with us both currently working it's not fair or practical to get another one. So for Christmas I have sponsored a Guide Dog in her name as a gift. Hope she likes it, we'll be getting updates etc on Bailey's progress as he learns to be a working Guide Dog. 
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