Shoulder to tail: who brings up guide dogs and how
It is impossible to talk about people who have lost their eyesight without talking about those who accompany them on their way of life. One of these helpers are guide dogs, which are raised from an early puppy age for a noble mission. How they are trained for service, why one out of ten puppies is suitable for this, and who he lives with in the first year of life — in the Izvestia material.
The Fawn Labrador of the World
A guide dog named Mira lives in Moscow with her owner Yulia. When they first met, the girl called herself a cat lover, and she had never had a dog at all. Julia was very worried about how she would cope with the dog, how they would develop a relationship, but everything turned out to be a great love for each other.
Mira inspired Julia to open her own charity organization, which she named after her guide dog - in the name, the nickname turned into an abbreviation that stands for "Mobility, inclusion, rehabilitation, activity."
One of the projects of ANO Mira is the development of adaptive cynological sports for people with disabilities. Blind people with their pets are engaged in canine freestyle, that is, they dance with their guide dogs. Julia and Mira also perform dance routines and participate in competitions, because Fawn Labrador has learned more than 40 dog dance steps.
Little friends of the blind
Elina Pochuyeva, Deputy director of the ANO "Training and Cynological Center "Helper Dogs", told Izvestia how guide dogs are trained today.
— Most often, dogs of the Labrador breed and, rarely, but still, golden retrievers become guide dogs. This is due to the fact that it is a medium-sized breed. Labradors are also very friendly, human-oriented dogs, and they are interested in him. Labradors are very fond of eating. Their love of food makes them good students. They learn new teams quickly and with pleasure," said Elina Pochuyeva.
At the same time, not every puppy is suitable for this job, so every "recruit" is tested — they make sure that he is brave, human-oriented, emotionally stable, self-confident, not afraid of loud and harsh sounds, so that in the city and in public places with his master he does not succumb to fear. On average, one out of ten puppies viewed will turn out to be like this.
For the selected puppy, this is where his first stage of training begins. During the first year of their life, they are raised in volunteer families and get to know the city, learn proper behavior at home. The volunteers are provided with everything they need — food, toys, and veterinary care.
— If anyone wants to become such a volunteer family, we will be very happy. In order to educate a future assistant to a blind person, you need to submit an application on our website. Our specialist will contact you and arrange when it will be convenient for you to meet the brought puppy," said Elina Pochuyeva.
When a puppy turns one year old, he moves on to the next stage of training — training at the training and cynological center, which is located in the Moscow region, in Balashikha, where he undergoes from six months to eight months of intensive training, including both general and special training courses. It is important that a blind person checks the execution of a command not with their eyes, but with their hands, and the dog learns to respond to tactile touches and bring fallen objects. After the dog passes the exam, it is ready to work with the blind.
— We know everything about her, we know how she works, what her pace of movement is. Based on this, we are studying the questionnaires of blind people whose waiting time for a guide dog is two years. These are more than a hundred people from different regions of the country. When we realize that the dog that passed the exam and this person on the waiting list are the perfect match, we call this person and invite him to come to our training and canine training center and take a two—week training course," Elina said.
And after that, the owner and his dog take a joint exam and return home to start a new life, but the work does not end there — regional curators regularly visit graduates in different cities of the country to help them cope with emerging difficulties and make sure that they work effectively with the dog.
Counseling and classes with blind people are conducted by the curators together with the project "Special View". They travel to the current owners of dogs, go through joint routes and conduct training. If they notice that something needs to be "tightened up", they talk about it and invite them to classes. They also go to the future owners — they form pairs and select an individual dog for each participant of the program.
Joyful days
During the pandemic, Lyudmila Berezkina and her family watched the movie "Puppy School" and decided that they also wanted to become educators for future assistants to blind people. Lyudmila weighed the pros and cons for a month, and then applied to the Helper Dogs school. The first pupil was a puppy named Betty.
— We really love these little fluffy balls of happiness that come to us. The most difficult thing is a sense of responsibility. I want to raise a good pet to become a guide dog. It's difficult for the first couple of months, when the baby "goes about business" at home, walks five or six times, when there is a habituation to walking, we have to walk a lot, but we like it, Lyudmila told Izvestia.
According to Lyudmila, each of the raised puppies was completely different — there were those with whom there were no problems, and those who loved to arrange performances. The interlocutor of Izvestia said that in this case, the trainer and the veterinarian of the center were always in touch with them, who always gave hints and guided them.
— I am the main person around the puppy. The rest — the husband and children — help as much as they can and play. Our dog, the zwergpinscher, is already old enough to help with parenting in his own way, showing the right boundaries and playing with the puppy. The cats also got used to it and quickly began to get used to the new dog in the house, but at first they were apprehensive," Lyudmila explains.
It is always difficult for volunteers to part with their pupils, but they have learned to cope with this — they take a new ward or go to visit a puppy who is being raised at the center.
— I advise everyone to try it, because it is never known in advance whether it will work out or not. The most important thing is to have plenty of time for baby care and walking at first. The trainer helps to close the training questions, suggesting what to pay attention to. Take it and get a lot of positivity and joy! — the woman shared.
Tactile communication
Emotional connection and close contact between a dog and a human is the most important aspect in the work of a guide, it is important that they feel each other, said Elina Pochuyeva. According to her, this is a partnership that develops over time, because although dogs are trained to follow directions, they can make mistakes, and it is important that a person notices and corrects this mistake in time.
— A guide dog stays with its owner most of the time. An ordinary pet does not spend so much time with its owner. As a rule, a person goes to work with his guide dog, does all his business, and the dog is always there, so this is a very close, close relationship," Elina said.
A living example of the work of a guide dog is the story of a couple Anna and Valentin, who both do not see and work with the same dog named Snowball. This is a rare case when one dog serves two blind people. Snowball successfully copes with this task, accompanying them to lectures, university and other events. This outstanding Labrador even became a publication hero when he was issued a "student ID."
Another fawn Labrador, named Thea, also studies with her owner Alina at the Faculty of Psychology of Kemerovo University. According to the girl, Thea is the only "student" who has not only a tail, but also the right to sleep during lectures. They also do dancing, stunt training, and travel extensively.
When it comes time for a dog to retire, it always becomes an emotionally difficult moment for the owners. A dog that a person has been associated with for years no longer becomes a working guide, but a beloved pet, which they continue to care for until the end of her life and take care of in gratitude for her years of service.
However, if caring for an elderly dog becomes difficult, for example due to illness, the person can seek help and the dog can be transferred to a new home or center. Sometimes, in rare cases, a person can get a new guide dog while his former guide is still alive. In this case, a person can have two dogs — one works, and the other remains as a pet.
Dogs that don't know depression
Labradors are very cheerful creatures. Natalia Rafieva, a senior trainer at the Dog Training Center, said that she had never seen a Labrador with depression or a bad mood.
— They really like to eat and really like to communicate with people. We always use treats in training. I have never met a dog that would not want to go to classes, because they always do it with pleasure," Rafieva shared with Izvestia.
A puppy's socialization begins from the moment he gets into a volunteer family — he grows up with them and goes to shops, parks, cafes and rides on public transport. When a one-year-old dog gets to the dog handlers for training, socialization continues. The city always has a different environment and different weather, and events do not repeat themselves from day to day, so dogs graduate from school and become experienced guides.
— Since the future owner of this dog is a blind person, we definitely go to all public places. We walk with dogs in the store and observe how the dog behaves, whether it has a tendency to take something in bags, whether this dog has a tendency to sniff what other people have in bags and baskets, and, if possible, adjust behavior so that the dog behaves decently. We always take the dog on public transport, go to the train station, where it is noisy and crowded, and watch how she behaves. This is how socialization takes place — the guide learns to be at railway stations, ride the train, walk over high railway bridges and learn not to be afraid of anything, behave adequately and well—mannered everywhere," Rafieva said.
When training guide dogs, a combined approach is used - one method is not always suitable and appropriate, so each dog is trained based on different situations and different methods, which helps to prepare a professional little assistant for a blind person.
— We do not observe any problems with memorizing the route in dogs. Dogs naturally tend to memorize different paths and roads. It's built into them, so after walking several times to a certain point, the dog remembers the route quite easily," Rafieva said.
The dog also learns general navigation algorithms — when walking along an unfamiliar route, it will always stop in front of steps, always walk around a puddle and fix all obstacles that it encounters on its way to a blind person.
"She knows them as obstacles. No matter which route she goes, they are always there, so she goes along a completely unfamiliar route, fixing these obstacles as familiar phenomena to her, without experiencing any problems or difficulties," the dog handler emphasized.
Black Labrador Joss
Boris lost his eyesight during the accident, and his black Labrador Joss became his guide dog. Before Boris went blind, he loved motorcycles and cars — in a word, everything related to speed.
When Joss appeared in Boris's life, the man founded a project called "Blind Racing", because he never stopped loving speed — blind people go karting in it, where a sighted navigator and a blind pilot participate. They pass the track together one after the other — the card of the sighted navigator emits a sound signal, followed by a blind person, as well as the instructions of the navigator.
Joss accompanies Boris at all training sessions, and during tournaments and sports competitions supports and supports his master, with whom he has become inseparable.
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