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• Seeing Eye Dog
• Posted: 2009-02-26 12:52:15 By Judy I
• our 15 yr old son has RP. His vision took a turn for the worse and his peripheral vision is now only 8 degrees. He can qualify for a seeing eye dog when he is 16. Of course, we are doing all kinds of research on the pros and cons of having a dog and also have some insight from his mobility instructor. Thoughts/opinions?

• Posted: 2009-02-26 17:38:59 By Darran Z
• Judy,
  
  If your son is legally blind, then he'd surely qualify for a guide dog. Which school are you looking into? You do not need to attend the one near your home, you can apply for any of the schools. Some schools would allow a student younger than 17 and will do a case by case evaluation. As long as the individual is competent and can show ability to take care of the animal they are fine.
  
  Now having said this, I have a guide dog. I went to Guiding Eyes for the Blind (GEB) in Yorktown Heights, New York. It's a really good school, small, but I loved it.
  
  Just because one has a guide dog does not mean you need to take the dog everywhere. For example, if one goes to a theatre or to the zoo, then you don't need to take the dog if you don't want to. Zoos may prohibit the access of guide dogs anyway.
  
  My biggest fear of this was cleaning up to the dog. But they are on a very strict diet and therefore, cleaing up waste is 1-2 times a day at most and it's not as bad as I thought. They can interact with the family so it's not always with the handler 24/7. My three children play with my guide dog, but know when the harness is on, that they cannot play and he is working. That's the key, is how the dog is handled with the harness on or off. That lets the dog know whether he's working or on play duty.
  
  It is important that your son have mobility skills for the cane. The schools require you to have mobility skills with a cane. if you do not have those skills, then he would be denied.
  
  Darran

• Posted: 2009-03-11 23:15:03 By Judy I
• Darran,
  I'm sorry I just saw your response. Thank you for the information. He is legally blind, only has 7-8 degrees peripheral vision left. We just had to tell him that he will not be able to drive as he is turning 15 this month. Tough stuff!
  We are looking at Seeing Eye in New Jersey. His mobility instructor highly recommends them and they also offer dogs to 16 yr olds who qualify and they deem mature enough, etc. If he is accepted, he will be going to Seeing Eye in June and participate in a 3-day program to learn more about the pros and cons of having a guide dog. I think a seeing eye dog would be a big plus for him for the obvious reasons, but also for companionship, etc. How long have you had your dog and what breed do you have?