People often ask me questions about dog guides and play. Movies show very devoted pictures of dogs at work! They are inspiring but perhaps frighteningly serious. Our playful society is not up to the task of processing such devotion. Perhaps a little discussion will help.
- Does your dog get to play sometimes?
This is one of the most common questions people ask. There is often great anxiety involved, as if perhaps the dog never has any fun and has to work all the time because I am blind and need a guide. To answer the question, I will say a few things about blind people and dog guides together.
In order to get a dog in the first place, a blind person has to be able to travel independently. This means that the person must first be able to get around without the dog.
If this makes it seem silly for a person to get a dog at all, the point of getting a dog is not to make it possible for a person to get around but to make it easier and more efficient. With a dog, I can walk about three times faster than I can walk while using a cane. This is not true for everyone–some people have better strength in their wrists, and they can walk very fast with a cane. With a dog, I can go around things just like a sighted person does instead of finding them with the cane and taking extra time to figure out how to get around them.
There are some things I do in the same ways whether I use a cane or walk with my dog. I still listen to traffic in order to figure out whether a light is green. (This is not the dog’s job.) I still pay attention to sounds around me, smells, etc, to identify shops and other places that I am passing since I cannot see signs. So even with the dog, I still have to know where I am going. After I get home from a day out, I am in my own house and I do not need a dog to help me get around there since I live there and I move around in that place every day. That time is the dog’s relax and play time.
- What kinds of toys can the
There are some kinds of toys that people give to their pets that I do not give to my dog guides. Toys that can be easily chewed up can enter the dog’s stomach and make the dog sick. Sometimes, a toy that the dog has swallowed can even make the dog sick enough that it needs surgery. So I have always been very careful about choosing toys. Everyone has their own practices about toys and play; but these are mine.
Some of my dog’s toys only come out when we play together. This way she gets to play with a special toy, but she isn’t alone with it and she doesn’t have a chance to swallow dangerous pieces of it while she is chewing on it. Other toys are on the no-no list. because they are too easy to swallow or break.
All of my dogs have loved their NylaBones. Elli had a football and a stuffed duck that were her favorites. Some of my dogs have not been able to play well with stuffed toys. Dori’s favorite toy was a tennis ball–she could play tennis long past the time when my arms got tired.
Meghan and Loretta both loved to run. Loretta’s favorite way to play was to run through the house and throw herself into my arms, then “tee up” at my side and wait until I said, “Go play!” and do it all again. She was quite the party dog, and we had great fun with this game over and over and over!
One of Meghan’s favorite activities was swimming. She didn’t get to do it often, but she enjoyed it a lot. In fact, I had to get her out of the water because she would make herself so tired and not realize it.
- Does your dog get to run outside?
All of my dogs go through training at home with a long retractable leash so that they know how to behave in a fenced yard. Some yards are very safe for them to play in; but they were always supervised in yards. If something was to scare them, they were big enough and strong enough to jump over a fence.
It is always important for a dog guide to be safe and near its person. A dog guide that is distracted or afraid does not think about traffic or home. It thinks about what it is distracted by or afraid of, and it runs–it runs very, very fast. It is very hard for a person to catch a running dog.
I have been very selective about the yards where I allowed my dog to play. I once made the mistake of thinking that a yard was safe where I was vacationing and learned later that my dog ate something toxic. My dog became very sick because of this. She was treated by an out-of-town veterinarian. She was given an emergency medication to stop her vomiting so that we could travel home; and at home she was hospitalized for several days.
Dog guides generally get lots of exercise–not only physical but also mental. The reason pets need exercise so badly is that their people are away all day and the pets are left at home without any type of interaction. Pets’ diets are also often not well controlled, and they can become dangerously overweight. Dog guide users keep very strict control over their dogs’ eating habits; and many dogs do not struggle with lifelong weight control problems.
- Can your dog play at a dog park?
Dog parks have risen in popularity over the last few years; and I know several people with guide dogs who use them. The Seeing Eye discourages using them for several reasons. First, it is not possible to monitor the health of the dogs who have used the park; and therefore, I cannot stay aware of any risks to my dog’s health. Second, dog fights can break out quickly, and I am not able to monitor my dog’s risk of injury. All people are not equally responsible to monitor their dogs’ behavior; and once a fight breaks out it cannot be stopped. Finally, in order to play well in an environment like this, my dog would need to have such good behavior that she comes to me every single time on the first call. None of my dogs have been that good; and without the ability to go and retrieve them, I do not feel that a public dog play area is a safe environment for them.