This paper compares the concepts of traveling with a dog guide and traveling with the white cane. It is intended to serve as a resource to prospective dog guide users and may also be of interest to family members, friends, or professionals who work with blind people.
Much has been written in argument over whether traveling with a cane or a dog guide is more efficient or desirable. Some of this literature has been written well but entertains a number of misconceptions about one or both methods of travel. Dog users and orientation and mobility instructors freely admit that neither method is superior but that each has advantages and disadvantages. Making a choice about which to use as a primary method of travel depends on being aware of these facts and able to evaluate one's own abilities and feelings about the importance of each factor.
Generally, a blind person first learns to travel using a white cane. Today training starts as early as preschool, sometimes using a regular cane and sometimes using a device known as the Connecticut Precane. The precane is a device which offers protection simultaneously to both sides of the child's body. It has two side bars with a short bar on the top and a longer bar on the bottom so that the side bars angle toward the child's sides. This cane gets the child used to pushing something in front of him wherever he goes. When use of the precane is mastered, use of the straight cane begins.
The cane has several advantages. It can be used to locate sidewalks and doorways or to detect changes in texture or ground level. It is also a very well-recognized and accepted symbol that a person is blind. It's disadvantages lie in its inability to protect from overhanging objects and to be used at high speeds in certain environments. Although many people can travel very quickly with a cane when their way is unobstructed, there are natural moments of slowness when one must pick his/her way around obstacles.
Dogs were first used as professionally trained guides in the United States in the 1930's. They provide the blind person with several advantages: protection from overhead objects, speed, and the ability to follow another person to name just a few. The disadvantages of a dog include the extra time, expense, and energy required to care for the dog's needs; denial of access to public facilities; and the need to attend training sessions each time a new dog is needed. These disadvantages may or may not be significant for each individual user.
In deciding whether or not to get a dog guide, it is important to know what your own needs and preferences are as a traveler. Traveling with a dog guide can provide an extremely satisfying sense of self-confidence because of the ability to get somewhere without appearing to "feel around". Traveling with a cane can provide a sense of security because of the ability to be constantly aware of one's surroundings.
A person's feelings about dogs can also play an important role in the decision-making process. Some people choose not to obtain dog guides simply because they don't like dogs. If you are happy with your travel method and you don't ilke dogs, there is nothing wrong with choosing not to get a dog. For other people, the benefits of traveling with a dog guide can outweigh the dislike for dogs. I decided initially to get a dog because I wanted to be able to travel at night without being afraid of being alone and I wanted the benefit of smoother, quicker travel. Dog guides are not trained to protect; however, some people experience a feeling of security when traveling with a large dog, particularly at night or in large cities.
A dog can be a good conversation starter. At the same time, after years of conversations built around dogs and blindness, this advantage can become tiresome. If it seems attractive to you, it si important to use it as a starting point for building broader conversation skills and relationships.
Instructors from dog guide schools often attend ACB and NFB conventions, where they are available to talk with prospective students. If possible, attend a convention and take advantage of these opportunities as part of your decision-making process. You may even have the opportunity to walk with a demonstration dog.
Other dog guide users are often willing to talk with prospective users as well. Talking with dog guide users gives you an opportunity to learn about various schools' training programs and how the schools have probided follow-up support as well as what life with a dog guide is like.
A common assumption is that a person must be a good cane user in order to be admitted to a dog guide training program. The truth is that what is necessary is good orientation skills. Cane skills will not help a dog guide user--in fact, use of the cane itself is very different from using the dog guide. The assumption is that successful cane users have the necessary orientation skills to travel with a dog. The important skills in traveling with a dog guide are awareness of direction, ability to interpret traffic sounds and recognize landmarks without verbal or tactual feedback, and ability to be alert to the dog's signals.
Most dog guide training classes for first-time users last for three or four weeks. The training is very structured and physically demanding. It is important that a person entering a training program be able to walk as much as a mile at a time at least twice a day. The best way to prepare for this is to begin exercising early, walking every day and gradually increasing the length of the route until you can walk a mile or two comfortably.
The other important thing for prospective dog guide users to do in preparation for training is to build skills as a follower. The dog gives information about certain aspects of the environment. Trust is essential in working with a dog guide. If the person does not trust the dog's information, the dog will begin to perform poorly and will stop providing this information. A good practice exercise is to walk sighted-guide with another person and have the person stop at steps or curbs so that the prospective dog guide user can get used to following. It is also good to practice giving the guide directions and telling him/her when to begin or resume travel.
Dog guides can be an asset for people with residual vision; however, the residual vision can present some unique problems. Traveling at night or under a blindfold may help to foster the development of trust. However, when the team is home and the person is confronted with visual stimuli in the environment, it is very important to have had the opportunity to learn to work with the input from the dog as well as the residual vision. Determining when the vision is an asset and when it may be providing deceptive information is vital.
Loss of vision can also present some problems. If a person is accustomed to being able to use residual vision for certain aspects of travel, loss of this vision presents a new challenge for both the person and the dog who may have become used to not providing certain kinds of input because such input is not needed. When I lost a good deal of my residual vision, I began to experience fear in traveling with my dog. My fear was primarily of becoming lost because I could no longer see well enough to identify landmarks. Elli was very aware of my fear and distrust, and she displayed this in her work by becoming distracted and unsure of where we were going. During this time, my expectations of her were quite unreasonable. The fact is that my dog is never responsible for knowing where we are. This is my responsibility, and if loss of my residual vision hinders my knowledge of where I am in the environment, it is vital that I seek assistance from orientation and mobility instructors in learning how to travel with my new limitations and possibly from the staff of the dog guide school in learning new ways of relating to my dog.
Whether or not to get a dog guide is a matter of personal choice. Some people even choose to use a dog guide for a time and then return to using the cane when the first dog retires. Neither method is inferior to the other, and both methods present unique advantages and disadvantages.
If you are considering obtaining a dog guide, it is important to discuss your thoughts and feelings with family, friends, dog guide users, professionals from the dog guide schools and orientation and mobility instructors. Observing dog guides at work and at play may also be helpful. If you are not acquainted with a dog guide user, contact the ACB and NFB to find out if there is a chapter in your state. These are the most likely places to locate dog guide users.
Many excellent books present the history of dog guide training as well as the experiences of dog guide users.
Morris Frank's book, First Lady of the Seeing Eye, published in 1957, is available from the National Library of Congress in Braille with shelf number BR 1320. This book details Frank's experiences with Buddy, his first guide and the first Seeing Eye dog in America. Frank also discusses the Seeing Eye's growth as an organization and the first dog guide school in the United States.
Margaret Gibs' Leader Dogs for the Blind: For Wither Thou Goest discusses the training of dog guides and students at Leader Dogs for the Blind as well as puppy raising and other aspects of dog guide preparation. It is available from NLS as book number BR 6315.
Available as book number RC 13824, FD 13824, or BR 04133, Peter Putnam's Love in the Lead: The Fifty Year Miracle of the Seeing Eye Dog presents a history of the Seeing Eye and dog guides. This book has been updated since these versions were printed.
Available from NLS as book numbers BR 01321 or RC 34518, Peter Putnam's The Triumph of the Seeing Eye presents a history of the founding of the Seeing Eye.
Available from NLS as book number rc19280, Peter Putnam's Keep Your Head Up, Mr. Putnam is an autobiography of Mr. Putnam's life and experience with dog guides.
Guide Dog Users, Inc. has a number of useful resources, including a survey of dog guide schools (linked from the front page) and a free handbook for prospective dog guide users available in a variety of formats called Making Impressions.
This document is copyright 2003 by Sarah J. Blake. For permission to reprint, please email Sarah at sarah@growingstrong.org.
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This page is part of the Dog Guide Information Center. and was last modified on August 1, 2002.