Animals have been an asset to mankind in so many positive ways besides providing food. One way that I have been interested in is how they provide service. Did you know that 2% of people have a seeing eye animal? Another name for a seeing eye animal is a guide animal.
There are two types of seeing eye animals that I found, and they are seeing eye dogs and seeing eye horses. The idea of seeing dogs seems more practical. After World War I, the first seeing eye dogs were trained. They were trained to help the soldiers that were blinded in battle. The first group to train these service animals was The Seeing Eye Organization, which was founded in the year 1929.
It takes 18 months to train a dog. First the puppy must be trained in house training and obedience, and then the puppy must go through its formal training, which lasts a few months. About the age of 12 to 18 months, it meets its blind partner, and then they train together for about two weeks. Sometimes it takes more than one try to successfully pair a dog with a handler.
Seeing eye animals are trained to go where their owner directs them to go. It is the owner’s job to listen to traffic and other sounds to see if it is safe, but if the dog realizes it’s unsafe, it will refuse the command. Guide dogs are trained to gauge the height and width of objects so that their owners don’t hit their body on objects. If a blind individual is accompanied by his/her guide animal, the animal can go anywhere the general public can go. These places include restaurants, medical centers, stores of all kinds, taxicabs and airplanes. When people see a service animal working, they should not walk up to it and pet, feed, or even talk to it.
Some myths and misconceptions about seeing eye dogs are that a guide dog knows where to go, a guide dog must always wear a harness, the handler must give the guide dog back after it retires, all puppies in the guide dog program are suitable for work after the program, and only people that are totally blind have guide dogs.
Some unique abilities that a guide dog possesses are that it has impeccable manners and is capable of avoiding distractions. All guide dogs have an eagerness to work and are willing to please. Guide dogs choose their profession.
Some skills that a guide dog can learn are leading a person in a straight line from point A to point B, stopping for all changes in elevation such as curbs and stairs, stopping for overhead obstacles such as tree limbs, and avoiding obstacles in the path. There are two things that a guide dog can’t do: determine a route to a new destination and read traffic signals.
So a dog is truly man’s best friend. Not only can he learn to heel and follow, he can also learn to lead. I wonder if the seeing eye horse can do the same? Well, that may be a good topic for the next article.
References
• http://www.guidehorse.com/
• http://www.petful.com/service-animal/trained-service-animals-guide-horses-helper-monkeys/
• http://www.dgpforpets.com/blog/5-facts-about-guide-dogs/
• https://www.guidedogs.com.au/sites/default/files/myths-misconceptions.jpg\
• https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/microsites/sponsor-a-puppy/blogs/2015/may/the-myths-and-facts-around-guide-dogs#.WG1cGfWcG1s
Dominique Dobson is a student at Mabel-Canton High School. She is one of eight area students participating in the Journal Writing Project, now in its eighteenth year.
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