Guide Dogs Info About Guide Dogs for the Blind

How Does a Guide Dog Know Where to Go When Leading the Blind?

Guide dogs for the blind are one classification of assistance dogs that are specially trained for guiding visually impaired individuals. These guide dogs for the blind undergo intensive training to act as aids for the blind to move around and be independent and productive despite their visual impairment.

Although guide dogs for the blind are trained to navigate around obstacles, they are partially (red-green) color blind. Guide dogs’ color vision deficiency makes them unable to perceive differences between some of the colors that humans can distinguish. In spite of their intelligence and the potential developed during training, guide dogs for the blind lack the capacity to read or interpret street signs. Thus, even though they are trained to walk in straight lines and avoid obstacles from both sides or above, guide dogs could not sense the safety or harm when crossing a road. Guide dogs can not interpret traffic patterns in order to determine when it is safe to cross a busy street.

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Since guide dogs do not read the traffic lights or understand traffic flow nor do they make the decision to cross the street, it is the guide dog user’s task to give the command to go forward. Initially, the guide dog’s handler listens for the traffic movements. When the guide dog owner determines it is safe to move on, they give the signal and cross the street. However, if the guide dog senses danger in crossing even if it is given a command, it will refuse the command. This is called “intelligent disobedience”. This situation may occur if the guide dog user would misjudge the traffic or if there is a sudden change in the motorists’ movements.

Training programs for guide dogs for the blind emphasize the importance of teamwork between guide dogs and guide dog users. The human half of the guide dog partnership is responsible for directing, based upon skills acquired in previous mobility trainings. The guide dog owner gives instructions to where he or she wants to go. It is the responsibility of the human member of the team to listen and be sensitive for any forms of threat or danger, movements and sounds around them; a keen attention and responsible coordination will ultimately determine the safety of both the owner and his or her guide dog.

The handlers or the guide dogs owners are like aircraft navigators who must know where to go and how to get from one place to another; the guide dogs on the other hand are the pilots who get them safely to their destination.