Trai­ning

Already in the classical period the blind have been guided by dogs. It's easy to imagine how much assistance the dogs have given in enhancing the mobility of the blind. The dog was able to keep direction and find the way to doors. It also provided companionship and security. We can read books about many famous guide dogs in the 18th and 19th centuries. The dogs were trained to be guides by the blind and with the blind.

Guide dog training has three fields; city training, rural training and obedience training. Modern community planning and heavy traffic make extra demands on using a guide dog. Moving around in cities is complicated, and it's difficult for the blind person to train a dog on his own in a city. Fixed points, such as curbs, are often missing, and in such cases it's difficult for the guide dog user to know where the pedestrian crossing starts. The dogs have to be trained more and more custom-made depending on the surroundings they are going to work.

Training methods haven't changed very much for a long time. The training is very thorough and progresses at fairly slow rate. The instructor has to bear in mind, that the dog will be guiding another person, who possibly hasn't have that much to do with dogs earlier. The duty of a guide dog is to enhance the mobility of the visually impaired person. It has to be able to keep direction, avoid obstacles, stop before crossroads and changes in elevation on the ground that cannot be gone around. A guide dog can also be ordered to look for certain targets, for example stairs, pedestrian crossing, or a bus stop.

Guide Dog School's co-operation training includes preliminary courses, co-operation courses, in-home training, and updating training of guide dogs. One has to walk many kilometres with the dog before the co-operation starts to go smoothly. The success of the co-operation depends on both ends of the leash. It is said that successful co-operation requires a good dog, a good user, and good training.

The path to success may be difficult at first, and the user may feel that learning to work with the dog is unreasonably hard. But also in co-operation, practice makes perfect. The team can sometimes get lost, but the dog's natural ability is to take the host home sooner or later. And it's more pleasant to lose one's way with the dog than alone with a white cane. The first year of co-operation is mostly practising, and little by little the reliability of safe mobility increases. The more a guide dog is used, the smoother the co-operation becomes.