by Sheila Styron
If you have ever visited Topanga Canyon in southern California on a Tuesday afternoon approaching sundown in late May surrounded by all the sounds and smells of the area's natural beauty, you have experienced a little piece of heaven. Add to this, observing seven blind teenagers taking their first walk with a guide dog, and now there's magic. This was the scene when I visited GDB's facilities where staff and volunteers were familiarizing blind teens with various aspects of relating to, caring for, playing with and generally learning about guide dogs. I have participated as a volunteer in this pilot project before; however, the dog/teen workout was a first for all of us, and the experience was a positive one. My guide dog, Dorian, was a furry little trooper who completed a short route seven times with seven enthusiastic young people who all appeared to be enjoying themselves immensely. The teens were encouraged to hold the harness in a relaxed manner in their left hands and just experience the feeling of the dog guiding them.
When Dorian paused to alert to changes in the underfoot terrain, the novice handlers were encouraged to probe with a foot to figure out why she was stopping. Then they were coached to praise her effusively, which they happily did before issuing the next "forward" command. Off they would go again, with Liz Morosco walking alongside holding the leash as a safety precaution for inexperienced handlers and me out front maintaining Dorian's confidence leading the way with the use of a cane loaned to me by one of the teens. During the course of their route, the young people experienced Dorian guiding them down a grassy hill, up and down a flight of steps, along some slightly uneven cement much like a normal sidewalk, a left and a right turn as well as the proper technique for turning around when working a guide dog. When turning around, handlers drop the harness while holding the leash, make a 180-degree turn, then call the dog to their left side before retrieving the harness handle and issuing the "forward" command. One of the teens amused us when after successfully turning around, praising Dorian and issuing the "forward" command, she walked off without the harness in her hand, leaving Dorian trailing behind looking bewildered. Some of the teens were more confident when executing these unfamiliar tasks than others, but all did a great job considering they had never worked a guide dog in harness before.
As blind adults, we have two options for independent mobility, cane travel and partnering with guide dogs. Most blind students receive some O&M instruction in cane use while growing up, which is extremely beneficial to their developing the skills so necessary to blind adults for safe, independent travel. I know of no programs, however, that introduce children to the experience of working with a guide dog. Perhaps this is an idea whose time has come, and thought should be given to the creation of opportunities for young people to experience formal interaction with trained guide dogs.
I know that when I was a teenager, I already knew in my heart of hearts that I wanted to train with a guide dog the summer between high school and college. At that time, when I pictured myself whizzing independently around a large university campus in the company of a beautiful, devoted guide dog, I was doing so without the benefit of ever having met one. It would have meant so much to me personally in my teenage years to have had the opportunity of meeting and walking with a real guide dog as participants in the Los Angeles Braille Institute's after school program got the chance to try. Maybe I would have become a more proficient handler in a shorter time, much the way younger children learn foreign languages more easily than adults. Who knows?
As it turned out, I did have the pleasure of attending all my classes at UCLA with Inca, my only guide dog to go for that coveted college education, and I often wonder how much more emotionally satisfying my high school years would have been with a guide dog by my side. Whether I could have handled the responsibility of working with and caring for a guide dog at age 16 or even younger will never be certain. However, after my experience with the young people for whom Dorian provided an e-ticket ride that afternoon in Topanga Canyon, I am sure that some sort of visually impaired teenager/guide dog interaction is a good idea.