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Blind and Visually Impaired Community

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Full History - 2018 - 09 - 16 - ID#9gdnqv

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Guide dog handlers how do you avoid broken glass on the street? (self.Blind)

submitted by CalmingDog

I every now and again see broken glass on the street and wonder how guide dog users would handle something like this?



I am a service dog handler (not blind/visually impaired.



Thanks for any replies!





AchooCashew 9 points 4y ago

The dog goes around obstacles on the ground (branches, glass, garbage, etc.) If there isn't room to go around, the dog will stop and the handler probes to see what's going on, and decides the best course of action. In this case (sidewalk completely blocked by broken glass), I imagine the best course of action would be to find the curb, travel along the shoulder, and rejoin the sidewalk after a few yards in order to clear the obstacle.

CalmingDog [OP] 3 points 4y ago

Would a guide dog recognize small pieces of shattered glass as obstacles? I know a few in real life and theyre awesome, but I never got around to asking about glass shatter from the handler.

AchooCashew 6 points 4y ago

If there are so many that the way is blocked, yes. One or two pieces, I don't think so, but it depends on the dog.

If they go around some glass but the handler still steps on it (audio cue, or else they may be able to see what's going on), they can choose to stop and rework that part of the route so the dog learns glass as an obstacle in future encounters.

Edit: Broken glass is a nuisance, I'm not afraid of my dog stepping on it but it's still a pain to navigate.

CalmingDog [OP] 3 points 4y ago

Thanks! I've wondered about this multiple times. I have an autism service dog and I always watch out for glass.

Thank you for taking time to reply to my question!

AchooCashew 5 points 4y ago

No problem! It's pretty easy to teach a guide dog to stop for certain things, or to ignore something if it's not an issue (garden hoses across a sidewalk come to mind- some people would want to stop, other people might feel okay squishing right over them).

I'm not confident about how other service dogs might handle the same situation, so if you're traveling a rough area you might want to consider booties?

RogueCandyKane 3 points 4y ago

I’m a guide dog owner. My dog doesn’t want to walk on broken glass herself so she avoids it and this I get led around it.
Any kind of obstacle she navigates me around,
She also doesn’t like crooked pavement slaps or ones with cracks in. It’s not so much that she’s protecting me, she just doesn’t like them herself so she side steps them meaning I do too.
She also doesn’t like walking through puddles when she’s working.
This makes me laugh because when she’s on a free run, she dives in the muddiest stinkiest ditch she can find.

CalmingDog [OP] 3 points 4y ago

Thanks for the answer! Prior to knowing this I always worried about guide dogs stepping in glass shatter. My service dog will also avoid puddles when working and when not working loves rubbing his back in mud. Dogs are awesome.

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