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Guide dogs have to go to school and graduate, too! Dogs have to be taught to judge width and height to guide a person safely to avoid obstacles or hazards. And that�s only some of the skills they will require to become a guide dog. Training takes place either at a training centre or from the blind person�s own home. It takes 18 months to train a dog and not all are found to be suitable. Those dogs which do not graduate because they may have minor defects can be placed with disabled, sick and isolated people as a companion or pet and they can make a great difference to the life of such people. Dogs which do graduate have a further one month�s training with the visually impaired person to whom it is allocated. Guide dogs are only on duty when they are in harness, but when out of harness they behave like any family pet. Dogs normally work for about 8 to 10 years and give the vision impaired person a mobility service and love that is unsurpassed. You have to be over 18 to get a guide dog allocated to you so I don�t know what it feels like to have one. But maybe one day! Return to Independent Living Return to Dogs, Canes and Talking Microwaves main page Go to Association for the Blind of WA |