For the visually impaired, a guide dog is far more than just a helping tool: he/she is a companion, a personal and tolerant helper at all times and under all circumstances who accepts each and every disability and handicap of the owner.
Training a guide dog is a complex task. Emphasis is not only on the dog itself, whose capability development is also amended by contact-building skills with a diversity of people – all of this requires sophisticated psychological and pedagogical knowledge and extremely special skills on behalf of the trainer.
Requirements and conditions towards guide dogs-to-be and their future trainers likewise are very strict.
The trainer
- At least five years of guide dog training experience
- Secondary education
- Passing of theoretical and practical cynological exams
First step
The first and most decisive step is the careful selection of the dog for training. In most cases these are Labradors or Golden Retrievers who need to be extensively tested in and under a vast variety of situations and circumstances.
Their behaviour needs to be analysed under a number of different impulses and factors, be it in intensive traffic, on vehicles, in extreme crowds, noisy environments or together with other animals.
The next step
The next step is an all-comprehensive health screening, upon the successful completion of which the training itself shall start, lasting for about 6-9 months. The single most important initial step is the training of discipline, after which the the training continues with the guiding training.
The essence of the guiding training
The essence of the guiding training are different real-world circumstances. In this sense, the training itself takes place in a real environment in busy traffic intersections and urban environments, starting from the less intense towards the extremely intense. In addition to this already demanding task, the trainers, who themselves know very well how to simulate the movements and behaviour of visually impaired people, test the learned material in a simulated environment.
Once this phase comes to an end, all of the skills need to be tested in real-life situations: the trainer with his/her eyes covered needs to be impeccably lead through designated routes, and these skills have to be proven and attested in front of an examination committee.
The last step
The last step is the practicing with the future master. In this phase, the dog has to get acquainted and used to his/her new owner with all his features and attributes. This is the point where the success of the training is to be measured, since it is the owner the dog will need to be guided, not the trainer.
The dialog between dog and owner is of extreme importance that has to be learned at his point as well.