To ask this question about Guide Dogs?

[MarvellousMarbles]

Did you know that you are not supposed to touch a working guide dog in harness?

I am asking because i am a new guide dog owner, and approximately 10 to 15 times a day, someone will come and pet my dog without asking me. I know they mean well, but it's really distracting/confusing for my dog, and that makes things more difficult for me.

Is it that they don't know? I thought nearly everyone did, but perhaps I am wrong!

I wouldn't touch anyone else's dog without permission, guide dog or not - I find it amazing that people think it's ok to do so. Our neighbour had a guide dog which we used to look after occasionally, I loved the way she totally ignored me when she was at work, but as soon as the harness was off she was playful and all over us.

Never thought about all those things. Food for thought!! Also, is it expensive for you as the VI person? Do you own the dog? Who pays vets bills and what happens when dog needs to start taking it easy?

I didn't know this and hadn't considered it. Do you think it sends mixed messages having the ones presented for clapping and collecting for charity at supermarkets?

Mrs Morton - Guide Dogs have a policy that no-one should be excluded from guide dog ownership because they can't afford it. You buy the dog at a cost of fifty pence (but are free to donate as much more as you like). You decide whether you will pay all, part of, or none of food and vet expenses - I pay all of these, but if I couldn't afford it, Guide Dogs would step in.

The dogs are monitored by regular vet visits (6 monthly when they are younger, 3 monthly as they get older) and visits from your Guide Dogs trainer. Dogs will retire when they get to somewhere between 9 and 10 years old, usually - the exact age depends on the individual dog.

When a dog retires, the guide dog owner has the first choice of keeping it as a pet. If they can't, then a friend or family member can. If there's no-one suitable, then the puppy walker who brought up the dog for the first year of it's life will be offered the chance. If they can't, then it will be offered to someone on Guide Dogs' waiting list of people eager to own a retired guide dog. Whoever gets the dog will be thoroughly vetted by Guide Dogs to make sure that they can look after the dog in a suitable way.

Mrs Peabody - Guide Dogs gets no government funding at all. It can only operate thanks to donations from the general public. I think that having dogs at public events and collecting for charity is probably essential for raising donations. Perhaps some people are confused by that, and think that all guide dogs anywhere are public property for handling at any time (someone upthread did say that some people think the dogs are owned by the charity and therefore public property!)

I think it's actually more just that there are a whole load of people who just kind of assume that if a dog is in public, it's ok to stroke them...because they must be friendly - and even more so for guide dogs, because obviously they're going to be friendly.

With no thought at all as to any reason other than not getting bitten as to why it might not be desirable for the owner of the dog to have people just wander over and interfere with their dog.

I did know, but my 9 year old was telling me the other day too because the Beavers and Cubs group had had a visit from a guide dog (and its owner obviously) and had been told this. Although he did say something about being told they could touch it if... And I can't remember what it was he said, it may have been if it's harness was off but I am not sure.mthey were allowed to have a stroke of this one at the meeting though, which ds2 did but ds1 was going to but 'forgot' or 'ran out of time', which basically means he was too scared to as despite all my efforts he is still dog phobic!

Last (highly ignorant) question, how do you MN? If you're VI I mean, can you see it or do you use a different medium?

I didn't know this but then I would never voluntarily go near a dog anyway, working or not, so maybe my parents never saw the need to tell me!

Mrs Morton, I have a small amount of central vision, so I can see the screen (though I have to magnify it rather enormously!) There are a number of software screen reader programs that read out the text on the screen if you're totally blind, and that you can dictate your posts on to.

Thanks!

I just wanted to correct one slight point about guide dog rehoming. It used to be the case that there was a waiting list of potential rehomers, but guide dogs have actually got rid of this in the past two years or so. Now if you want to rehome a retire guide dog you apply and if in three months you have not been contacted then it is assumed you were not matched to a dog and you have to apply again. There is no longer a waiting list, and all applicants are removed from the list after three months. This policy has come in for a lot of criticism, along with the criteria for rehoming a dog, e.g. while you are not to leave the dog for more than four hours a day (fair enough) you wouldn't be accepted to rehome a guide dog if you had a dog walker/had the dog go to your parents during the day or anything like that.

I know someone who was told they couldn't rehome their dog to a friend as their garden was too small (pub garden with fields round the back, but was told that he himself could keep the dog even though he lived in a one bedroom flat with no garden. hmm

I have recently been in a position of having to rehome a retired guide dog (I kept him when he retired, but divorce/moving house presented issues which meant I couldn't keep him), and the emphasis now is very much on the owner finding their own home with guide dogs finding one if it's a last resort... Every time I spoke to rehoming their first question was "have you found somewhere yet?" This is potentialy problematic for owners who are unable to keep their dogs but might not be able to have a family member take them on either (normal rehoming policies apply to those as well), who are now often left feeling that they can't have a replacement dog if they can't find a suitable home for their retired dog..

Also, if you as owner keep your retired dog guide dogs will continue to pay vet fees whereas if you rehome they do not.

Mrsmorton I have no vision and use a screenreader called Jaws for Windows which reads what is on the screen/whatever I type. I touch type normally and the screenreader reads it out as I type (mine reads in words as I type at 95 wpm so reading one letter at a time would be a bit tedious for me).

Fascinating. Thanks wannaBe.

A woman my mum used to know, over 20 years ago, had about 4 retired guide dogs. At least one of them had to be retired when it lost it's own sight.