They may look like ordinary puppies, but they are smarter than anyone else. ST has learned about guide dogs, reliable companions for the blind. Let’s take a look with ST on how to treat guide dogs. Ed Please Don’t Do This When You Meet Us! If someone who is not the owner touches me, there can be an unexpected danger. When you meet me on the street, please watch me with. ...........................Ed
At the end of last year, a heated argument was going on about a certain mart’s employee’s abusive remarks and his refusal to let a volunteer enter the mart. The volunteer brought a puppy to train a guide dog for the blind. In addition to the controversy, there are many cases in which guide dogs (training dogs) for the blind are denied entry. For the blind, guide dogs are more than companion dogs. Therefore, guide dogs for the blind grow through various management and training to help the disabled lead their own independent lives and live as a confident member of society.
Let’s find out how guide dogs get trained and live!
Most guide dogs are trained as easy-to-training; they are sincere Labrador retrievers, and gentle, attachable, and loyal golden retrievers.
1. Puppy Walking
The seven-week-old puppies born in the guide dog school are commissioned into the general household for a year and go through the socialization process. This process is called Puppy Walking. During this period, he learns bowel movements and relationships with people. The guide dog school shall regularly visit the home and provide tips on socialization training and breeding management.
2. Guide Dog Training
After a year of Puppy Walking, the dog will be evaluated for the suitability of guide dogs, and the dogs who pass will be trained in earnest. The training period is six to eight months, and in addition to the guide dog school, the training is given in various environments such as roads, shopping malls, and transportation, which are actual living spaces. In addition to basic training, they also conduct various training, such as intellectual disobedience training (training to recognize obstacles or hazardous situations and act in a safe direction regardless of the owner’s order).
3. Encounters with the Blind
It is called matching to select the most suitable guide dog considering the nature, occupation, walking (walking, speed), health condition, and living environment of blind people who want to sell guide dogs. It is a process to thoroughly understand the characteristics of guide dogs and work with blind people who will become partners.
4. Partner Training
If a guide dog that is considered most suitable for the blind is selected, it will go through a four-week education process. Education in guide dog schools and training in visually impaired dwellings are conducted. During this period, blind people and guide dogs are closely related based on mutual trust.
Please Don’t Do This When You Meet Us!
1. Please don’t pet me walking.
If someone who is not the owner touches me, there can be an unexpected danger. When you meet me on the street, please watch me with your eyes and be cute with your heart.
2. Don’t give me food.
If you give me food while walking, I may not be able to guide the master properly. I have to eat only the food that my master gives me. Giving food like snacks can be harmful to both my master and me.
3. Please don’t call me.
Calling me can reduce concentration. This can interfere with the owner’s safe walking.
4. Please do not take pictures without the owner’s permission.
Even though I am cute and commendable, taking pictures without the permission of blind people is very rude. When there’s a click, the owner feels embarrassed and doesn’t know if he’s filming me or the owner. Also, if I’m walking, my concentration will decrease and both me and the owner may be in a dangerous situation.
The welfare law for the blind has been revised and there is a system for guide dogs, but if our perception and attitudes do not change, it will be useless. Sometimes, some people view guide dogs as sacrificing themselves or as poor ones. However, guide dogs wiggle their tails when they are taking a walk, being trained, or walking along the street with the blind. Every moment is a fun and happy moment in itself. As mentioned above, guide dogs for the blind are friends who have been trained at a high cost through a tremendous length of training. It should be a society that naturally recognizes them as members of society, ultimately relieving the inconvenience of the blind, and promoting their social activities to reduce discrimination.
Lee Ga-eun (News Editor)
nameun33@soongsil.ac.kr
