Guide Dogs who do they?

[sunflower71]

How do Guide dogs know where the blind person wants to go?

[IggyB]

they don't - they can be trained to know certain regular locations e.g. the shops, but when they are going outside the normal areas the blind person has to know where they are heading and the dog is simply there to help the blind avoid danger - like crossing the road.

[MrBen5]

Hmmm, well basically a blind man doesnt even know where he is going so the dog just walks by his side and alerts him of and obstacles (except dog poo)

[warpig1]

Just for laughs.

http://www.snopes.com/critters/malice/lucky.ht m

[shaneystar2]

Although the dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are partially (red-green) color blind and are not capable of interpreting street signs!! The human half of the guide dog team does the directing, based upon skills acquired through previous mobility training. The handler might be likened to an aircraft's navigator, who must know how to get from one place to another, and the dog is the pilot, who gets them there safely.

[andy-hughes]

A few weeks ago, I saw a blind man at the local library who'se dog was obviously confused, and instead of turning left to the exit doors, had gone straight on and taken him in the children's library. Once shown the right way, off they went.

I emerged about ten minutes later to find the man standing on a concrete traffic island, with the dog sitting, waiting. i asked if he was lost, and he confessed he was, and was going to the bus station. I offered to guide him there, and advised him that he had actually stopped on a traffic island. He confirmed that his dog ususally knew his way out of the library, and back to the bus station, but just seemed to be having an 'off day' - which I suppose is logical, they are not robots.

Having seen the man to his bus stop, i left him to it. The dog did stop at all kerbs, but, as advised, it obviously was not sure of exactly the route to take, only how to hget his owner safely across the roads.

[pie+mash]

This reminds me of a story my dad told me some time ago. He had gone to the tube station on his way to work, and saw a blind man with dog attempting to cross the road. The dog was pulling the lead in a slightly different direction to the way the man was heading. Seeing his distress, my father asked him if he could assist. The man said that he couldn't understand why the dog was pulling in a different direction to where they normally crossed. My dad explained that outside of the tube station was scaffolding of which water was coming down and blocking one of the entrances. So if they crossed (in the usual place) he would have got decidedly wet!!!