A little guide dog for someone needing a little guidance
I am legally blind. My visual acuity is below 20/400 and cannot be corrected with glasses. I see motion. I see through contrast – the higher the contrast, the more likely that I can see it. And I see large objects within a few feet in front of me. I do not see small details like the details of the person’s face. Rather, I recognize the person by their voice or if I know them very well, I recognize their walking stride. Often I can see the curb, but at other times there will be no contrast between the color of the curb and the color of the street. When that happens, I don’t see the curb and trip or stumble. Parking lots have ankle high cement barriers that indicate where the row ends to the driver. I often can’t see those barriers. The variables that are important for me to see objects are constantly changing. The amount of lighting makes a difference, shadows make a difference, how fast I am moving makes a difference.
So while I have a significant amount of mobility with the low vision that I have, help from a seeing eye dog is helpful. My living space is relatively small. My yard is relatively small. My needs are relatively small. Therefore my seeing eye guide dog is relatively small.
My guy dog does just what I need him to do. I need him to show me when I come to a curb. He does that. I need him to walk around objects lying on the ground. He does that too. I need him to guide me to the right car in the parking lot. He keeps me safe from tripping and helps me walk back to my companions when out in a crowd. His ability to guide me to my family’s car, or to the right people in a group gives me a tremendous amount of freedom in large areas and crowds.
When I dropped something on the floor while he was a young puppy, he would dart to it with tremendous speed, grab it and run away with it. Over time, I trained him to pick up the objects I dropped but bring them to me and trade them in for a treat like a small piece of chicken or hamburger. His ability to bring me what I drop saves me from needing to crawl around on the floor trying to find things.
My little guy dog stays near me wherever I am. He alerts me with a little tiny bark when someone comes on the property. Even if we are all the way behind the house in the backyard, he will stand straight, cock his head and give a slight whimper if a delivery person puts a package by the front door. He even signals differently if the approaching person is a family member or known friend.
And in addition to helping me with sighted assistance, he’s just a fun dog. He knows the game of fetch very well. He runs circles around, over and under our other family dog. There isn’t anyone or anything he doesn’t love! He brings a great deal of joy and laughter to me through his boundless energy, loyalty and assistance every day.
