EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SERVICE, GUIDE AND AUTISM SUPPORT DOGS

Most of us couldn’t imagine life without our furry friends …but for some, their four-pawed companion offers a lot more than daily cuddles and unconditional love. Service, guide and autism support dogs play a unique role in helping their humans navigate life, providing assistance and emotional support. S A Guide-Dogs Association for the Blind has been pairing up their brilliantly trained dogs with people with special needs for almost 70 years now and answered some commonly asked questions around all things guide dogs:

1. What services are offered by the Association?

As the name suggests, the association started out working only with guide dogs for the blind, after Gladys Evans returned from England where she was trained with her guide dog, Sheena, and wanted to make guide dogs accessible to South Africans. Today, they also do breeding, training and placement of guide dogs, service dogs, and autism support dogs, as well as orientation and mobility support services.

2. What’s the difference between guide, service and autism support dogs?

A guide dog is trained to guide a person who is visually impaired. They are taught to ignore distractions whilst safely guiding its owner from one destination to another. A service dog assists a person who is physically disabled. The needs of each service dog owner varies, but generally they are taught to push, pull and retrieve items that are out of the owner’s reach. In the final stages of training, the service dog will be taught the specific tasks required from its owner.

An autism support dog provides comfort to children on the high support Autism Spectrum between the ages of 5 and 12 years. Children with Autism don’t like being restrained, but with the companionship offered by a dog, the child is less likely to run off. An Autism Support Dog can make a meaningful difference to the quality of life of both the child and primary caregiver/family. Children with Autism can feel pressured to keep up with the fast-paced world around them. Having an autism support dog lessens the pressure and expectations of the child because of the dog’s ability to accept and provide love unconditionally.

3. How do I recognise the three types of assistance dogs?

Guide dog:
They are on duty when they are wearing a harness that is fitted with a metal handle. The handle has a sign that says, ‘Do not distract’.

Service and autism support dogs:
These dogs are on duty when wearing bright red jackets bearing the SA Guide Dogs logo.

Puppies in training:
As part of the above working dogs preparation training, they are fostered by ordinary families during the age of 8 weeks and 16/18 months for their socialising and obedience training to prepare them for their final formal training. They will be wearing blue jackets bearing the SA Guide Dogs logo.

4. What are the costs involved in training and obtaining an assistance dog?

On the assistance dog Programme, it costs the investors hundreds of thousands rand to sponsor a partnership of human and canine as either a guide dog team, a service dog team, or an autism support dog team. Each new owner is expected to pay a single nominal amount of R5 for their dog as part of the contract, R100 for equipment and R100 for accommodation whilst in residential training – a total of R205.

5. What is the Orientation and Mobility Department?

The Association’s Orientation and Mobility department provides orientation and mobility training (across Gauteng) free of charge to people with visual impairment in order to increase their level of independence and provide them with “skills of daily living”.

6. How can I help?

• Sign up for a monthly debit order
• Volunteer your time by joining their Puppy Raising Scheme
• Sponsor the training of one of their assistance dogs or college students
• Consider leaving a legacy in your will to GDA

For more information about South African Guide-Dog Association and the services offered, or to get involved, visit www.guidedog.org.za or contact info@guidedog.org.za or 011 705 3512. Follow on social media – Facebook: @SAGuideDogs / Twitter: @saguide_dogs / Instagram: @sa_guide_dogs