Guide dog

Guide dogs or seeing eye dogs are assistance dogs especially trained to lead blind or visually impaired people around obstacles.

Related Topics:
Assistance dog - Blind - Visually impaired - Obstacle

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These dogs spend their early lives in foster homes where they are socialized through exposure to loving attention, and taught rudimentary skills through obedience training. Once potential guide dogs reach a certain age, they then begin their schooling as assistance animals before being matched with compatible human partners.

Related Topics:
Foster home - Socialized - Obedience training - Human

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These matches are cemented through a 30-day training course, wherein the human half of the team learns to control the dog and interpret its signals. Very few visually impaired people go through this training, and these candidates must already have fully developed orientation and mobility skills before they do.

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Dogs are partially (red-green) color blind and so guide dogs cannot see colors the way people do, nor are they able to interpret street signs. The human half of the guide dog team does the leading, based upon skills acquired through previous mobility training.

Related Topics:
Color blind - Color - Street sign

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In several countries, guide dogs are exempt from regulations against the presence of animals in places such as restaurants and public transportation.

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