More than a loyal companion, a guide dog is a highly trained partner in mobility. Together, you and your dog form a team. You give direction, make decisions, and ensure your dog’s health and safety. Your dog helps you travel smoothly, avoids obstacles, stops at curbs and steps, and even “intelligently disobeys” when danger is ahead. That might mean blocking you from stepping into the street if a car is coming that you didn’t hear.
Why choose a guide dog?
- Efficiency: Walking often feels smoother and faster with a dog since you avoid obstacles instead of finding your way around them.
- Teamwork: Your dog is trained to focus while in harness—ignoring food, greetings, or other dogs.
- Safety: Guide dogs are taught to prioritize your safety above your words.
Of course, a guide dog is not a shortcut:
- You still need to learn mobility basics first, including using a white cane.
- Dogs are color-blind, so they cannot tell when a light changes from red to green.
- The guide dog doesn’t read maps or know where the grocery store is—you provide the route.
Together, you navigate the world.
Sharing your life
Working with a guide dog is a partnership and a lifestyle decision:
- On duty vs. off duty: In harness, your dog is focused on guiding—not playing, greeting, or taking bathroom breaks. With the harness off, your dog needs playtime, cuddles, and rest.
- Your role matters: You set the direction, give praise, and ensure health and safety. They rely on you just as you rely on them.
- Daily care: Feeding, grooming, exercise, and vet visits (rain or shine) are part of owning a guide dog.
- Other pets: They’re welcome, but they can’t distract your guide dog while it’s working.
- Costs: Food, grooming, and preventive care like flea and heartworm treatment are ongoing needs.
More resources
Check out Hadley’s workshops Guide Dog Basics and Weighing the Pros and Cons to learn more about guide dogs.
The National Federation of the Blind publishes a list of guide dog organizations by state.
Coping with vision loss
Karen and Dan Leonetti say Karen’s guide dog, Shanti, not only helped with mobility but also brought unexpected therapy. Hear more in the Hadley Presents podcast episode The Impact of Vision Loss on a Marriage, Revisited.
After giving up her car keys, Julia noticed how others treated her differently—until she made a choice she calls “the best thing I ever did.” Hear her story on this Insights & Sound Bites episode.
Do you own a guide dog? What do you love most about the experience? If you don’t, how do you feel about the idea?