Baker I’ve been to a church where the Pastor was blind and his guide dog would be with him all through the service. I can’t recall any cases of blind church goers but the Pastor sticks in my memory.
leechbabe , that’s pretty cool. If you don’t mind my asking, what denomination was it?
I remember a guest pastor at a church once, he had MS. Quite a young man too. He had to use two canes to walk so he didn’t do as much “to-ing and fro-ing” as usual. And since he couldn’t stand comfortably for long periods, when it came time to give the sermon, he sat on a stool placed between the lectern and the pulpit.
You know, I don;t know a thing about this subject.
But…
Training assistance dogs seems like it would be a great rehabilitative sort of work for prisoners to do.
I’m afraid that it was only a big deal because the person cleaning up was too stupid to realize you can’t sweep shit. Clean-up would have been far more effective if the guy had grabbed a pair of plastic gloves and some paper towels, picked up the poop, then mopped the area. That’s the procedure we’ve used at every clinic I’ve ever worked in (minus the gloves), and it takes maybe two minutes if you have to go all the way to the front of the lobby, then come back for the mop. If the smell is still a problem (generally not if the animal’s healthy and you haven’t smeared things around), you make one more trip to spritz a little air freshener.
It really is no big deal if there are formed turds on a tile/linoleum floor. Trust me, I’ve cleaned up more dog shit in the last five years than most people will in their lifetimes. Diarrhea on carpet, however…
Hi capybara!
Not a silly question at all! I get it all the time when I’m out working with the dogs.
The rule, in general, is to ignore the dog and let it do its work. When it’s on duty, its first concern should be to get its job done. Some dogs (like retirevers) are extremely affectionate and love people… and it takes us trainers a long time to get them out of the notion that every stranger they meet, while on the job, will give them a hug and cuddle! 
If a dog is “off duty”, then sure, ask before you pet. On long train or plane rides, I often let people pet puppies in training because technically, while they’re on duty, they don’t have much to do (and get bored).
This being said: NEVER pet pups in training when they’re out and about. Even MORESO than their working counterparts. Sometimes they get more interested in people than their job!
They are creatures of affection, after all
Smart man, Paul Yes, this program actually exists. Quite a few women’s detention centers offer this kind of program: prisonners live with, train, and groom a service dog for a year or so. The program is HIGHLY successful both in the US and in Canada. There was even a Made For TV Movie about it a few years ago. One such trained dog also appeared in the documentary Dogs With Jobs, during their first season.
The program is excellent, all around. Rehabilitation wise, it’s wonderful. A lot of these women, too, end up being employable as groomers, handlers and trainers when they are done with their sentence.
I think it’s a most wonderful program.
Such a program is also in the works right now with “troubled” teenagers - our service/assistance dog training program and research group is trying to get funding for this still. It should be up and running by 2005.
We had a non-sighted woman at my elementry school, who also went the same high school and college I did by cooicidence. Anyway, people at school were so rude to her, (she had one of those white canes) they would jump over her cane or point at her, make fun of her, etc. Later in college she got a guide dog and people there were so much more kind. It is amazing to see how people treat those with diabilities.
A marvelous tale about using guide dogs is told in Alice (Mrs. Andrew) Vachss’ book * Sex Crimes *. It seems when she was first starting a play therapy group for sexually abused children, one of her volunteers was a blind woman with a guide dog. Alice soon discovered that children who were too traumatized to speak to people would talk to the dog. Most of them had been warned “If you tell someone what I’m doing, your mother/sister/whoever will get sick and die,” but none of them had been told not to talk to dogs!
When the volunteer moved on, Alice found out the guide dogs who were too old to continue working were killed. She adopted one, the “Sheba” of Andrew’s books. The Vachss’s have since developed an entire program of using dogs to help sexually abused children, including having them there to protect the child during court. Andrew Vachss’s website www.vachss.com has a page on it.
Sheba has since died. In his book dedicated to her, Andrew wrote: If love would die along with death, then life wouldn’t be so hard.
Hi Danalan
I think the point we were trying to make is undernormal circumstances it doesn’t happen. As already mentioned the dog may have been sick. We have all had that sudden “I got to get to a bathroom NOW!” moment this may have been the dogs. (Besides mall food court food? EWWW!) I responded to snake’s rather pissy and half hysterical post by being extra firm.
J’s first dog was so well behaved he would let people pet him frequently. You of course had to ask for permission, then J would let go of the harness handle and Pup would be offially “on break.”
J’s second dog was not so well mannered. We had by this time split so I saw her rarely. She had to stay on duty rigidly. So I think it depends on the dog and on the person. And it never hurts to tell the blind person that their dog is beautiful.
Mama Tiger J was Airborne Green Beret before becoming blind. And although he was skinny as a telephone pole he was strong. He woulda picked up the woman and THROWN her!
**Annie ** thats a wonderful story!. Guide Dogs for the Blind has an adoption program for “career change dogs” ones that are either too old to work or were in training and couldn’t make the grade. I looked into it at one time but I didnt have the money so I decided against it.
Coldybaby! It amazes me too. And I do think they’re proud of themselves… well, happy to be working anyway. Dogs love doing their job, no matter what it is.
There are also similar programs with kids who have difficulty reading reading to dogs. The dog is just happy for the attention, and the child feels no pressure. Dogs and kids are a great combination.
I work with a golden retriever rescue, and a family recently adopted one of our dogs as a companion (not trained, just as a friend) for their three-year-old autistic daughter. Within two weeks of the dog arriving, she’s now talking for the first time ever, learning to hug and pet the dog, and starting to be aware of things outside herself. And this is just with a pet. I’ve seen a program on a trained autism dog for a little boy who is actually leashed to the dog (for his own safety), and it’s just made a world of difference for the family – the little boy is learning to calm down and be quiet and the family doesn’t have to worry about him hurting himself every time their attention is distracted for even a second.
Service dogs are WONDERFUL. EVery one I’ve known took great pride in what it was doing.
Y’all should keep an eye out for the Dogs with Jobs TV series. They cover not only service dogs but drug dogs, police dogs, shepherds, etc.
When I was a mere lad 30+ years ago, the organist at our church was blind. His guide dog would lie on the carpet next to him throughout the service.
When I was in high school (In New York City) there was a blind gentleman who would frequently get on the subway with his guide dog about the same time as me. It was a yellowish labbish type of dog, and very cool. Just to enter the station you had to go down two flights of stairs and make several turns (then of course get on the right platform, it’s very easy to get turned around even if you can see). Good Dog!
One time when we both arrived a bit earlier than usual, I complimented the dog and asked if I could pet it. He asked me not to, as she was working. I think that’s somewhat typical.
Uh huh!
And if you keep an eye out on Season 3, you should see my dog Valen, n’ me, working with a young boy named Kevin (Cerebral Palsy/High Functionning Autism)!
The old kids book Follow My Leader is still a pretty good story which illustrates some of the ins and outs and ups and downs of guide dogs.
For those of you who havn’t read it, the book tells the story of a boy who loses his sight through an accident, recovers and works with a trainer to learn how to navigate his new world, deals with his friends and their reactions to his situation, and eventually receives and learns to work with a guide dog (named “Leader”, of course!).
Quite a good story, for all that it was written in the 1950s. It does give a interesting picture into societal attitudes of the day – many of which haven’t changed all that much.
The first time I saw a service dog (for a non-blind individual), I was in awe of what these animals can do! The owner saw me looking and I smiled and said, “What a beautiful dog you have!” And he was-he was this gorgeous Irish Setter. (I think)
As for the animals making a mess-hell, a properly housebroken dog shouldn’t shit or piss all over the place! Of course they have accidents sometimes, but most dogs, if trained properly, will let you know if they have to go outside.
Guin…
Probably a dark red Golden Retriever.
I don’t know of any school who trains Irish Setters for service work… unfortunately, though absolutely pretty, Irish Setters are… usually… erm… dumb as a box of hair. They’re kind, and sweet, and wonderful family pets. Just… not… terribly smart.
Yeah Irish Setters are way too stupid to be guide dogs, I’d think. Golden Retrievers, on the other hand, are wondermous balls of wonderment. Not that I’m bragging on Sparky or anything…
WHAT?!?!?!?!?!
These would make the best pets in the world, people would line up around the block to adopt old service dogs… but they KILL THEM!!! Mother of fucking god! I HATE PEOPLE!!!