Vision loss - training guide dogs

Guide dogs help people who are blind or vision impaired to achieve independence and mobility. They are specially bred and trained to work with their handler as a team, safely guiding them where they need to go. Guide dogs are sometimes also called seeing eye dogs or dog guides.

The Labrador is the preferred breed for guide dogs around the world. Labradors are responsive, intelligent and even-tempered, and they learn quickly. On average it costs around $30,000 and takes up to two years to breed, raise and train a working guide dog.

In many places, guide dogs are provided free of charge to people who are blind or vision impaired. Referrals can be made by a health practitioner or directly by the person experiencing vision loss.

How a guide dog helps#

Guide dog mobility allows a vision-impaired handler to walk freely and with confidence. Independent mobility is essential so that a person with a vision impairment can enjoy the same rights, responsibilities and freedoms as anyone else in their community. A guide dog is trained to work in many settings, including residential, city and rural areas.

The handler can be confident that their guide dog will:

• understand and respond to commands such as “forward”, “straight to the curb”, “find the door” and “find the counter”
• recognise obstacles and guide the handler safely around them
• have good traffic awareness
• be intelligently disobedient when necessary – for example, ignoring an unsafe command if the handler has not heard approaching traffic
• ignore distractions and not react to other dogs, even if attacked
• help the person use public transport safely

A person who uses a guide dog generally has a legal right to travel on all forms of public transport and to enter public places with their dog, including taxis, planes, food shops and restaurants. In this way the handler enjoys the same access as a person with full vision.

Who can have a guide dog#

Guide dogs are available to people who have difficulty with mobility because of vision loss. A person does not have to be totally blind to be eligible. In fact, only a small percentage of guide dog handlers are totally blind – most have some degree of residual (partial) vision.

Prospective handlers come from all walks of life and may include school or university students, parents with young families, people in full-time or part-time work, people not in the workforce, seniors, and people from non-English-speaking backgrounds. Handlers need to be mature enough to provide the dog with leadership and physically able to manage and care for it.

A guide dog’s working life is, on average, around eight to ten years, and it provides constant support and companionship throughout. A close relationship between the dog and its handler is vital. Time and care go into profiling the behaviour of each dog in training so that every match has the best chance of forming a strong and successful partnership, complementing the handler’s personal characteristics and suiting their individual mobility needs.

How guide dogs are trained#

Guide dogs are trained through leadership and positive reinforcement, and are praised when they show the desired behaviour. A dog learns many commands, including how to disobey a command if its handler has not heard approaching traffic. Each dog is also trained to recognise the height and width of its handler, so it can guide them around obstacles such as overhanging branches.

Training generally includes the following steps:

• Assessment – each dog must pass a thorough physical and temperament assessment at around 12 months of age.
• Intensive dog training – the dog completes around five months of intensive training at a specialist training centre.
• Intensive handler training – the handler attends the training centre for about one month of intensive training with their dog. Practical and educational sessions help them learn to care for the dog, earn its respect, and build the skills and confidence to work together.
• Supported orientation – the team is supported to settle into their own home, and an instructor helps them become familiar with their local environment and learn to navigate their most-used routes for work, shopping and personal needs.

Follow-up and support are provided throughout the working life of each guide dog. Mobility instructors can also help the team with other challenges, such as adapting to a new home or job.

Meeting a person with a guide dog#

Guide dogs are responsible for keeping their handler safe as they travel around the community, so they need to be quiet, well-behaved, non-aggressive and clean at all times. Despite the demands of their work, guide dogs enjoy what they do and the love and companionship they share with their handler.

A guide dog is not always “on duty”. When its body harness is removed, the dog understands it can relax and play like any family pet. For the handler’s safety, however, you should never distract a guide dog while it is working.

General cautions include:

• Don’t pat a guide dog while it is in harness, even if it is sitting or lying down.
• Talk to the handler, not the guide dog.
• Don’t whistle to a guide dog or intentionally distract it from its work.
• Don’t offer food.
• Keep your own dog on a leash, away from the guide dog and under effective control.

Where to get help#