Life unleashed
The concept of guide dogs first came about way back in 1780 when a doctor for the blind in Paris first had the idea to attempt to train a dog to help blind people in their everyday lives. The first successful attempt came not long after, in 1788, in Vienna. The idea then became popular after World War 1 to aid blinded soldiers. Since then, guide dogs have become an integral part of society, and it’s now hard to go outside without seeing a guide dog. However, there is so much the public doesn’t know about the hard work, rules and effort that goes into training and maintaining a guide dog.
One big myth about these dogs is that they can only be labradors. In fact, guide dogs come in many different shapes and sizes. Of course, many of them will have a similar temperament as the dogs will have to be calm, patient and smart to complete training. Currently, six breeds are being trained as guide dogs: Labradors, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Lab-retrievers, Labradoodles and Shepherd cross Retrievers. Because of this variety, a visually impaired person can choose what breed they get, however it may mean they wait a bit longer for a dog of their choice.
Jacqui McVeigh, a guide dog trainer with Guide Dog Scotland, said another big misconception about guide dogs: “I would say a big one is that people think that a guide dog tells people when it’s safe to cross the road, but they don’t. Dogs only have the mental capacity of a three year old so that would be up to the person to decide when it’s safe.”
As part of their training, guide dogs learn to stop at the end of the pavement/start of the road, which is where the confusion may lie; however, they are definitely not trained to identify and predict the speed of a car on the road.
Guide Dog Scotland does a lot of good for visually impaired people in training their guide dogs, but it doesn’t end there. Jacqui talked about some of the other services that they offer.
She said, “there’s a ‘buddy dog’ service for children and young people up to the age of 25. They are for children with visual impairments for companionship which really helps grow their confidence. We also offer ‘Free Tech For All’, where we provide and pay for a laptop for all visually impaired children, and we have ‘My Sighted Guide’. This is for people who do not want a guide dog but still need help with different activities. They are paired with a volunteer who accompanies them on their shopping trips, walks in the park or other things like this.”
There are currently 68 guide dogs in training in Scotland; however, not all of them will finish training. Dogs can be withdrawn for many reasons, but the most frequent are skin conditions, medical and temperament issues. When a dog is withdrawn, there are a couple of different paths they can take. They can go into the buddy dog program, become another type of service dog (for example, a police dog), or they will become a pet. Guide dog training is expensive, and because of this, every effort is put into making sure that training doesn’t go to waste.
For one guide dog, lifelong costs are about 55 million pounds, according to Guide Dogs Scotland. This includes food, vet bills, bedding, and so much more. Guide dogs provide an essential service for visually impaired people. Without the help and support from guide dog companies around the world, so many visually impaired people would be left behind.