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Canberra Today 12°/15° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Guide dog handlers need you to keep your distance

GUIDE Dogs NSW/ACT is launching a public education campaign, “Respect My Uniform”, calling on the community to resist patting or distracting working Guide Dogs.

CEO of Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, Dr Graeme White, says that like other professionals once a Guide Dog has its uniform on – its easily recognisable harness – it has a very important job to fulfil.

“Each highly skilled working dog has undergone almost two years of intensive training including how to navigate obstacles, travel on public transport, find landmarks such as bus-stops, and cross the road safely, before graduating,” Graeme said.

“The Respect My Uniform campaign follows the findings of a 2015 survey, in which 89 per cent of Guide Dog handlers reported that their Guide Dog had been distracted by members of the public in the past 12 months.

“The campaign aims to educate the community that a well-intentioned pat can undo months of training, and frequent distraction can cause anxiety or serious injury for Guide Dogs and their handlers.

“Guide Dogs play a vital role in enabling people who are blind or vision impaired to get around independently and interference from members of the public can compromise this.

“Any distraction to a working Guide Dog can put its handler’s safety at risk. If a Guide Dog is distracted while guiding its handler across the road, the consequences could be tragic.

“If 89 per cent of taxi drivers were distracted while driving, there would be national outrage.

For Guide Dog handler and Australia’s Got Talent finalist, Matt McLaren, the incidence of members of the public attempting to distract his Guide Dog, Stamford, is a daily occurrence.

Matt, who has been blind since birth, received Stamford about eight years ago. With the amount of travel required for the talented musician to get to gigs, having a Guide Dog has allowed him to maintain an independent, busy life and a thriving career.

“Stamford enables me to do so much more than I could with a cane, such as carry music gear and travel confidently to new places,” Matt said.

“People will try to talk to Stamford while I am walking, make clicking noises, pat him while I move past them and try to make eye contact with him.

He said although most members of the community know they should not pat a Guide Dog in harness, many will often say, ‘I know I shouldn’t be doing this’, as they proceed to pat Stamford.

“It’s like a person on a diet saying ‘I know I shouldn’t eat this piece of chocolate cake’ but then going ahead and eating it anyway.

“The problem is people often don’t perceive the consequences of their actions.

Dr White said in rare serious cases, ongoing distraction can result in the premature retirement of a Guide Dog, which costs more than $35,000 to breed, raise and train.

“This is why it is so important that people understand they should not feed, pat or otherwise distract a working Guide Dog,” he said.

“Of course once the harness comes off, and with the handler’s consent, you can pat and interact with a Guide Dog.”

Guide Dogs NSW/ACT will launch a video about appropriate behaviour around Guide Dogs on International Guide Dog Day and is also calling on the community to pledge to not distract Guide Dogs through a change.org petition.

For more information on Guide Dogs NSW/ACT please visit guidedogs.com.au or join the conversation with hashtag, #RespectMyUniform on Facebook at facebook/guidedogsnswact or Twitter @guidedogsnswact.

How the community can assist

It takes a lot of concentration for a person who is blind or has impaired vision to work safely with a Guide Dog. To help the team focus on its important work, please follow these tips:

  • Please don’t make the Guide Dog the centre of attention
  • Please don’t pat, feed or otherwise distract the dog when it is working. A well-intentioned pat can undo months of training
  • Please don’t grab the person or the dog’s harness. First ask if they need assistance.
  • When providing guiding assistance, please walk on the opposite side of the person to the Guide Dog
  • Please make sure your pet dog is on a leash or under control around a Guide Dog. When approaching, it may be polite to let the person know that you have a dog with you.
  • Guide Dogs are legally allowed to accompany their handlers anywhere, including into restaurants and onto all forms of transport, ie taxis, buses, trains and planes.

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Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

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