One of the most dangerous things that I face as a blind person are obstacles that are either just above my head or right in line with my face. Having a guide dog makes these objects slightly less dangerous if my guide sees them and warns me,, but guides are not always perfect and sometimes they don't see the obstacle in time. For my guide dog Midge, this is not one of her strong points, but it wasn't until just recently that this problem ended up causing me injury. On our way home from a walk I ran into a piece of wood that was sticking out into the sidewalk, and it hit my eye. To be fair to my guide dog, the board was being held by one of my neighbors and he neglected to warn me or ensure that I wasn't in harms way. I could say that this really was human error, but the fact is that my guide should have stopped me before I hit the obstacle.
In our nearly five years as a team, I've hit the occasional tree limb, and she often doesn't warn me about leaves that are going to brush my face, but it's never been anything too concerning or harmful. I worry now though that I have hit something hard that this could be a more serious issue for us in the future. I plan to work with my guide on this problem, but I'm not sure what the best strategies are. One idea would be a proximity sensor, but the problem is that our rate of speed is such that I'm not sure it would give me enough advanced notice. I'm curious what my readers do to avoid overhanging obstacles, and if there is a way to help guides learn the importance of looking up.
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Hi there. I’m a first-time guide-dog user myself and have had my dog for three years now. The overhang problem is a chronic one according to most users I know. I know some people have had some success with stationary overhangs such as branches. One fellow I know, upon running into the overhanging branch, would have his dog go up on his hind legs and would gently brush the dog’s forehead with the branch. The dog got it but only for that one tree.
ReplyDeleteStopping and thumping on a portion of a building that jets out into your pathway can work too. I think the dogs would catch on to the danger factor if they were exposed to it more regularly. My dog used to be great at finding elevators but I’ve been in an environment now without any for a couple of years and he’s not so good at that any more.
Sorry, there are no guarantees with training techniques. Curbs, doors, cars, etc. are commonplace events but overhangs are not.
I hope you can reframe your most-recent experience as simply a freak accident. Some things are simply not 100% preventable. Don’t let it shake your confidence or your confidence in your dog. As I know all too well, they have good and bad days too. Soldier on!