Published
Video duration:
3 mins
Guide dogs are allies who make life easier for the visually impaired and blind. Nothing is left to chance in the training of these dogs.
New puppies arriving at the training center to become guide dogs for the blind are trained for two years. A long-term task awaits them. The dogs all come from lines selected for years. “A guide dog that reacts to cats or pigeons will not be kept because this may endanger the visually impaired person”explains Capucine Arson, trainer of guide dogs for the blind.
Valuable help
For some people with visual impairments, the wait to get a guide dog can be long. Colette Yu had to wait four years before owning one. Suffering from a degenerative disease which reduced her field of vision, Colette saw the arrival of Shiba bring color back into her life. “It’s a renewal”, she says. There are 1,500 dog handler pairs in France for 1.7 million visually impaired or blind people.