The next Wednesday April 26 is celebrated on International Guide Dog Day. For this reason, ONCE demands from society the importance of not distracting their attention while walking next to a blind person, an action that requires their concentration to guarantee their safety.
Currently, there are 957 ONCE guide dogs that accompany blind people in our country during these days, providing full autonomy and mobility in their movements by becoming the eyes of those who cannot see. Andalusia has 165 active dogs: eight in Almería, 24 in Cádiz, 10 in Córdoba, 18 in Granada, 10 in Huelva, five in Jaén, 35 in Málaga and 55 in Seville.
Knowing that guide dogs are charming, have exemplary behavior and inspire great tenderness for the attitude and work they do, the ONCE Guide Dog Foundation has developed a series of recommendations for citizenship and proper proper behavior of other pets:
• Never distract the guide dog while it is wearing a harness, because they will be carrying out their work as a guide or pending to behave appropriately to the place where they are, in support of the blind person. In case you want to pet him, ask his user or user first if you can do it.
• Never give food to a guide dog. You do not know if he has any food intolerance and you can cause a digestive problem that harms his health and alters the support he provides to the blind person. Keep in mind that there are foods suitable for humans that are harmful to dogs.
• Never let your dog loose if there is a service dog nearby. Always keep it controlled by your side.
• If you want to give some indication to the blind person, never pull on the leash or the dog’s harness to do so. Simply go to her and do it, preferably, on her right side, the opposite of the dog.
• Guide dogs also enjoy many moments of rest and recreation. Let’s respect their work while they guide, and let us leave the game and the greetings for your leisure time.
To support this International Guide Dog Day, ONCE will illustrate five million coupons under the motto ‘Not now. I’m guiding’where a drawing shows how a person offers a bone to a guide dog in a harness to play with.
Walking together
ONCE has as one of its maxims the inclusion of blind people in society. Employment, social and cultural relations and personal autonomy are the pillars on which this work rests. For this reason, he created the ONCE Guide Dog Foundation (FOPG) more than thirty years ago, adopting the model of the European and North American guide dog schools.
Located in Boadilla del Monte (Madrid)its current facilities have 110,000 square meters that accommodate all services: breeding, housing and care of puppies, training and instruction of dogs, veterinary clinic, shelter for retired dogs and residence for the training of users.
Throughout its history, the ONCE Guide Dog Foundation has facilitated close to 3,500 dogs to blind people or people with low vision in our country to improve their autonomy, displacements and security, turning these animals into a neighbor next door to society. The most used breeds are labrador retrieverthe crossing of this with golden retriever and Giant poodle as a hypoallergenic dog, and german shepherd.
