National guide dogs day
Today is national guide dogs day and Guide Dogs Scotland are tying to educate people on the animals.
The main focus for the charity is to make people aware of the fact that guide dogs need to stay concentrated and cannot be distracted while they are working.
Guide dogs can be life changing for people with sight loss and can help them live an independent life.
Gemma Findlay from Guide Dogs Scotland tells us how to spot a guide dog:
“There is sort of weird uniform, our working Guide Dogs were a white harness and our dogs in training wear a brown leather harness.
“So that’s how you would know and distinguish between a dog that’s in training or a working guide dog.
“If the dog is not working, it might have a Guide Dogs flash on its lead and the guide dog owner might be carrying the harness so they might not be giving assistance or on a free run or something like that.
“So if the dog’s not wearing the harness it won’t be working but do still ask if you want to speak to the dog.”
It is important to ask the owners if you want to pet the dog or give it attention as the dogs are assisting people who cannot see and these people are relying on the dogs to keep them safe while going about their day.
Gemma adds:
“I think with our adverts that we have on TV and a lot of our posters we have fluffy puppies which are very cute and we do want to speak to them, you know, even staff really love seeing puppies and dogs when they are on a walk.
“I do think we need to remember that guide dogs are working professionals who do play an essential role in providing independence to people with sight loss.
“So what we would do is kindly ask members of the public to respect the guide dog’s job by refraining from petting it, talking to it, distracting them while they’re working, and on duty, if you like.
“So yeah, Just ask first or admire from a distance.”
