The Benefits of Guide Dogs and the Process of Obtaining Them
If you are 16 or older, legally blind, and have the ability to love and take care of a dog, you may be a candidate for a guiding eyes dog. Guide dogs help blind or visually impaired people get around the world. In most countries, they are allowed anywhere that the public is allowed, so they can help their handlers be any place they might want to go. To do this, a guide dog must know how to: keep on a direct route, ignoring distractions such as smells, other animals and people, maintain a steady pace to the left and just ahead of the handler, stop at all curbs until told to proceed, turn left and right, move forward and stop on command, recognize and avoid obstacles that the handler won’t be able to fit through (narrow passages and overheads), stop at the bottom and top of stairs until told to proceed, bring the handler to elevator buttons, lie quietly when the handler is sitting down, help the handler to board and move around buses, subways, and other forms of public transportation, and finally, to obey a number of verbal commands (Fueoco, 2001).
Additionally, a guide dog must know to disobey any command that would put the handler in danger. This ability, called selective disobedience, is perhaps the most amazing think about guide dogs – that they can balance obedience with their own assessment of the situation. This capacity is extremely important at crosswalks, where the handler and dog must work very closely together to navigate the situation safely. When the team reaches the curb, the dog stops, signaling to the handler that they have reached a crosswalk. Dogs cannot distinguish the color of traffic lights, so the handler must make the decision of when it is safe to proceed across the road. The handler listens to the flow of traffic to figure out when the light has changed and then gives the command, “forward.” If there is no danger, the dog proceeds across the road in a straight line. If there are cars approaching, the dog waits until the danger is gone and then follows the forward command.
In a handler – guide dog team, the guide dog doesn’t lead the handler and the handler doesn’t completely control the guide dog; the two work together t...
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...to the puppy - raisers if they are thinking of one day owning a dog but are unaware of the responsibility that comes along with it. Puppy – raisers are also just doing it out of the goodness of their hearts, which is a great thing, in my eyes. I believe that the process in which these dogs go through is necessary, and extremely important if there is expected success. Success, of course, is the ability of a blind person and dog to work together and live happily. The dog serves as eyes for the owner, and the owner is a companion to a dog that is required to have much socialization during training. It is not difficult to see how wonderful this practice of guide dog training can be, and the substantial benefits that develop once the training is completed.
Works Cited:
Fueoco, Linda. “Guide Dog Educates Students, Gives Owner Mobility.” Pet Tales. 1.2 (October 2001). Oct. 2001.
http://www.post - gazette.com/pets/20001025spet.asp
http://penny.myriad.net/chosen.html
http://www.guidedogs.com.au/faq/faq_dog.html
http://www.guiding-eyes.org/info/getdog.html
http://thepuppyplace.org/page19.html
http://www.guidedogsofamerica.org/pupraise/about.html
There are dog-training techniques you can follow so that you can handle it easily such as dog whispering, reward training and clicker training.Knowing these techniques all will make Effective Dog Training easier to manage.
Training your dog is the most important part of canine companionship. A happy dog is one who has structure and boundaries. Dogs are pack animals, and as such, they need guidance in the behavior that you expect from them. If you don't follow through in this leadership role, then the dog will naturally feel as if it is his place to do so. A dog that understands that you are the leader will naturally be easier to train.
It can be a companion, an aide, or both. Pet dogs are loyal and make wonderful company, and an emotional support dog creates bountiful joy, but a service dog is much more. A service dog not only serves the same role as a pet, but creates a safer environment for its owner. Without the service dog it would be much harder for the owner to get around on a daily basis indecently. However service dogs and their owners are discriminated against because people are skeptical of the dog’s legitimacy, but instead the service dogs and their owners should be respected and treated as
Waterlander, Tara A. "Canines In The Classroom: When Schools Must Allow A Service Dog To Accompany A Child With Autism Into The Classroom Under Federal And State Laws." George Mason University Civil Rights Law Journal 22.3 (2012): 337-388. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.
Dibble, Susan. “Service dog changes life for multi-needs boy.” http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20110208/news/702089899/. February 8, 2011. Daily Herald. Web. February 22, 2011.
Service dogs are another form of Animal Assisted Therapy. For example, a person that is deaf can own a hearing dog. “In these circumstances, a hearing dog can offer ameliorative benefits aside from alerting the caregiver to the phone ringing. A dog, being a full-time companion, ends up being a conversational partner that responds behaviorally to the statements and moods of other people nearby” (Fine 67). The dog becomes more than just a pet, but acts as a family member that takes full-time care of you.
Navigating the internal environment is a challenge for the visually impaired that is typically minimized through familiarization of the internal environment. That is to say, the visually impaired people can learn the way their homes are arranged. However, the issue of navigating the external environment proves to be a challenge because the external environment is not directly under the control of the visually impaired person [2]. It is challenging for the person to take a stroll, access social amenities and go to places of work. When examined on a global scale, most visually impaired people depend on the public transport system and walking to navigate around. Therefore, they depend on sighted assistance to identify the bus number, bus stops and the physical location of the bus. Moreover, challenges of navigation through walking includes barriers, uncovered drains, construction sites and lack of handicap-friendly
Guide dogs begin training at just a puppy. The dogs are taught basic things like to sit, stay, wait, down, off, etc. and of course they are taught to be house broken. The social training for the dog is one of the most important of all they will learn. During this training dogs are introduced to sights, smells, sounds, and unusual surfaces. The trainers also keep close attention to their socializing toward dogs, people, and traffic. And this is a basic training for a guide dog.
Kristin found out that Bea was from a laboratory and decided to give her a loving home. In the first years of Bea’s life she was mute, pathologically fearful, and terrorized from the trauma she experienced for the laboratories. She even shook when someone approached her, and rolled over and urinated every time a man was around. When Kristin would take Bea to the vet she would shake uncontrollably with fear. This just goes to show how the trauma from these animal laboratories effects the animals. Luckily, from the love and care from Kristin Bea transformed into a healthy dog without fear of her new owners or veterinarians. This story shows that these animals need love, attention, and care that they are clearly not getting at the laboratories. (Williams, and
Dogs can help children cross the street, lead the blind, alert the deaf, and they do so much more. Many of times, an adult might focus on the problem that doesn’t need requirements. An adult might focus on the problem that a child is socially disabled and by focusing on this problem, they may not even see how this child is trying to cross a busy street or might be trying to talk to someone that they shouldn’t. A service dog prevents the child from going out of sight and many of times can lead a child out of danger or avoid it in the first place.
Animal-assisted therapy is often confused with service dog; it is two completely different type of usage of animals, which usually are dogs. It is commonly misunderstood because animal-assisted therapy and service dog are working animals with individuals with disability although according to (Hart-Cohen, 2009) service dogs is when an individual with disability is in need of help in order to function in daily life such as answering the door, crossing the street and the list goes on. While animal-assisted therapy animals are trained to offer comfort companionship, and affection to those in need in different situations such as courtrooms, nursing homes, schools, hospitals, and other places (Hart-Cohen, 2009). The point of animal-assisted therapy is to be available in specific situations to offer comfort to individuals. In order to become an assisted animal, the animal must undergo training, to receive a certified to prove that the animal is qualified to be able to control his or her behavior and is able to work with an...
Dogs make great companions, can be an assistance dogs and help people with disabilities, and even protect a household. Hearing dogs can be the ears for a person that is hard of hearing, seeing dogs can be the eyes for someone who is legally blind, and service dogs can be an alert system for someone with epilepsy. Although, these dogs are put through a lot of special training for a specific need. More often than not, an assistance dog is adopted but also donated to someone who is handicap. Since a landlord is unable to refuse a house or apartment to someone with an assistance dog, and they are allowed everywhere it is less likely for them to become an inconvenience.
“A dog is a man’s best friend” goes much deeper than the phrase might initially imply. Recently many medical journals have begun to identify with the many and varied benefits of pet ownership. Men have always relied upon animals for work, transportation, and survival. As times have changed, man has begun to appreciate a different bond with animals. Gone are the days of animals running free outside around the homestead, for now animals are allowed inside and are considered by many to be an integral part of our daily lives! Medical studies have found that animals have a much greater intelligence level than originally thought. Through proper training and experience, animals are not only household pets, but also are becoming an accepted form of medical treatment.
You will realize that this technique is not favorable for large dogs. This technique normally involves setting up an agility lesson requiring the dog to concur the obstacles in a set time frame. Such obstacles comprise activities such as: jumping over fences, crawling through tunnels, climbing walls and so on. You will realize that the dog owner’s presence is vital. No other help apart from issuing commands should be offered to the dog. Before you commence this training technique, it is important that you offer leasing guidance to your dog. This actually instills a high level of obedience in dogs because they realize the importance of listening to their masters and also teamwork
Dogs are wonderful creatures. They are loyal, dependable companions if given the opportunity. In recent years I have come to the opinion that we could learn something from these animals. We should also take a look at the manner in which they are being treated. Abandonment, irresponsible breeding, and neglect are only some of the ways that humans are failing the canine species.