Hi, my name is Baldwin. My human, Tom, asked me to talk a bit about the work of a guide dog. I’m glad he did, because what does he know about being a dog anyway?
A little bit about me, I was born in New York state, at Guiding Eyes for the Blind. That’s where thousands of guide dogs are born. After a couple of months, I moved to Virginia to be with a puppy raiser family. I spent a year with them, they taught me how to behave. Tom says they did good. They loved me so much, they even write for my birthday every year.
When the school determined that I was a good fit to guide, as some dogs aren’t, I moved back to New York state where I was trained. It took about five months to learn everything. This time I lived with my doggie friends and relatives. When I was trained, they told me they found me a human who had kids and loved traveling. Good match. His kids are very good to me, and he sure took me to a few places. We have been to 13 countries together, though I was very upset when he didn’t take me to a few places due to regulations. For some dogs, it is just too much paperwork to travel to certain countries, and even more to come back home.
What do I do?
My human’s kids say that I sleep for a living. I don’t wish anybody this kind of sleep. I have no idea when Tom will wake me up and I will have to be on the road at 0 notice. I have no idea when we board a plane and if the trip is 30 minutes or 10 hours. I love the long flights though, because I always get some ice cubes. I know the Cleveland airport so well that I can get my human from the flight to the curb outside without any instructions.
But generally I follow instructions. I never know where we need to go, I’m not allowed to guess. Well, except when my human gets lost. But he knows the directions, I just help him to safely get to places. I know how to find doors, stairs, curbs, while navigating safely. Imagine how many obstacles I have avoided for my human, but the only thing he notices is when I do something wrong. That’s dogs’ life. Though I have to say, when a trip goes uneventfully, he always praises me for the job well done, as if I navigated around some dangerous objects. Sometimes I really do, but he will never find out.
The most important thing I do is guiding safely. I simply can’t make a mistake. Though I must obey most of the times, I am also required to disobey when my human wants to do something dangerous. Then I just stop, and won’t go, unless I can navigate him around the dangerous area. And if he still wants to go, I turn around, lay down in front of him, and will not move. If he still doesn’t get it, from then on it is his fault. I usually get it right, with one exception. I did not want to allow him to walk into a glass elevator, I thought it was dangerous. Now I will do it, but I don’t have to like it, right? First he was angry, because he had no idea that the elevator was made of glass, fortunately somebody told him, otherwise he would have no idea how I decide if an elevator is safe or not.
People rate dogs’ obedience on a scale of 1-10. A guide dog is generally around 6 or 7. I need just the right balance of following instructions and not obeying when it is dangerous. I sure saved his life a few times, and he has no idea.
At the end of the training, we do an exercise at a subway station. We walk to the platform, and humans instruct their guide dogs to go forward. It sounds scary to people first, but after becoming a trusting team, it is obvious what happens. Nothing. I just act like I didn’t hear the command. And if he starts walking, I just turn in front of him and that’s the end of the conversation.
People often ask my human why did he get me if he could walk around with a white cane. I am cuter, but that’s beside the point. I can see farther than his cane can reach. If he wants to go to a door that’s 20 yards away, I can just take him there, with the cane he needs to follow the wall and find it. With a cane you can find obstacles, with a guide dog you can avoid them. Not to mention that it is much faster to walk with me, I know what I’m doing, the cane doesn’t. It is much easier for me to figure out new places.
Can we play?
Guiding is my job, my vocation for life, but I am still a dog, and I love attention. I can say I have two personalities: when I have my harness on, I am professional. When the harness is off, I act like any dog, any well-behaved dog of course, but I like to run around, make friends and get belly rubs. And when you touch me when I have a harness on, it is very tempting to play, but please don’t do it, it distracts me and I can’t do my job well. If you want to play with me, please ask my human first. And when he takes my harness off, we can run around. Often people ask him if they can play with me when I’m just sleeping under the table. He says, no, because he is working. Of course people are wondering, how can you work when you are sleeping. You see, I have a hard time knowing what’s work and what’s play. So, the way they taught me was if I have a harness on, it is work, the rest is play. This way I don’t get confused, and better understand the expectations.
Next time when you really want to play with a service dog, just remember, when the harness is on, the dog is working. Think of me like a pair of nice sunglasses. It is ok to admire, but you don’t just take it from somebody, first you have to ask.
Food
I get the most boring food ever. Lamb and rice dog food, some dog treats, and an occasional ice cube on long trips. I am not allowed to get anything else, and only my human can feed me. There is a good reason for this, I am not allowed to learn what human food tastes like, because I would definitely love it, and I could get more excited about it when I need to guide. So, it is just best not to try it. One of the exercises I had to do when I was trained, was to navigate my human around a plate of ham they put on the floor. It smelled good, but I can only imagine what it tastes like.
Retirement
I am almost ten years old now, this is the age when most guide dogs retire. I am still doing ok, a little slower than I used to be, but I can still guide safely. At some point soon, trainers from Guiding Eyes will decide how long I can work. At that point my human can send me back to the school and they will find a new family for me, or he can keep me as a pet. He will keep me for sure. I’m part of the family now.
Guiding Eyes for the Blind
Let me tell you about the greatest school, where I was born and trained. They also check on me once a year to make sure I’m well. They breed dogs there, mostly Labradors. About 60 percent of us will become guide dogs, but many of the other dogs will also become service dogs, for example they will make excellent therapy dogs. Guiding Eyes tests us a lot during the first two years to make sure we are ready for the job. They have hundreds of dogs at the school at any given time. Each month they train about 15 dog-human teams for three weeks. The trainers are very special people, they need to have good people skills while they are excellent dog trainers.
It is important to match the right person with a right dog. Usually it takes about a half year for someone to get a dog after they apply. One gets into the training when there is a good match, not when there is an available dog. People are interviewed for hours before they are matched with the right dog.
Even during the training, they monitor if the good match was made, this is partly why it takes three weeks. Also, we need to spend time to get used to one another and trust each other.
Once the teams go home, the trainers are available to provide any assistance as needed. They are a phone call away, and ready to help with anything.
I have to say, it is not cheap. Ten years ago the average cost of a guide dog was $50000. But for blind people it is completely free. The school trains hundreds of dogs each year only from donations.
You can visit Guiding Eyes and learn more about them. If you have some extra cash, they will put it to good use. I promise.
