On this page, I answer questions people often ask about street crossings and traveling on planes with dog guides. The street crossing questions include questions about helping people to cross streets. If you have more questions you would like to see answered on this page, you are welcome to email me.
- How does your dog know when the light changes color? My dog doesn’t understand street lights. It is my job to make choices about when to cross the street. I do this by listening to the traffic. So it is important for drivers to follow the rules of safe driving. I have met people who think that it is a nice thing to stop and let me cross even though their own light is green. This is very dangerous for me because it makes me think that traffic is flowing differently from what the traffic lights say it should be. Never tell a person who is blind that they can go when the light says otherwise.
- What if I want to help someone cross the street?It is a nice thing to offer to help someone. Remember, though, that blind people generally have a good idea where they are going. Most of the time they have made very careful plans for their travel, and there is not a special reason why they should need help just because they are blind. Never grab someone and take them across the street without asking; and never take someone across the street after they have refused your help. You may be taking them where they don’t want to go; and when you leave thinking you have done a very nice thing, you may actually have left them more lost than they were to begin with.
- How do I know if a person needs help? Most people are very willing to ask if they need help. The greatest problem that I experience when traveling is that it is hard to find people who are available to ask. So if you want to be available and helpful, be friendly. Say hello as you pass people, ask how they are doing, etc. If you are friendly and approachable, people will feel comfortable asking for help if they need it. If they don’t ask and you walk along a little way while chatting, you may observe that the person seems to be attempting to locate an address, and you may be able to offer some helpful information. If the person does not need help, then you have had a friendly conversation and everyone’s day is a little brighter. There is much more to life than helping and being helped; and one thing I appreciate most is a friendly conversation that begins with “Hello, how are you?”
- Where does your dog ride on the plane? Most of my dogs have been fairly small, and I have short legs. My dogs ride in the cabin with me and can fit under the seat in front of me. A person with longer legs or a bigger dog is sometimes more comfortable in the bulkhead seat, where the dog can lie in front of their seat lengthwise and they can drape their legs over the dog.