[NAGDU] Guide dogs and Toddlers

[Raul Gallegos - NAGDU]

Hello Julie, this is a great question. I will answer what I can. 
Disclaimer. my children are grown now, therefore, my information will be 
around 15 years or more out of date. Please keep this in mind when 
considering what I say. I hope that parents who have younger children 
now will also chime in for a differing point of view.


First and foremost, when my children were younger, I had a different dog 
than the one I have now. The dog at the time was a black lab, great with 
kids, and for a lab, not as food motivated, which basically meant that 
he would eat something if offered, but would not automatically swoop 
down to vacuum things the second they dropped onto the floor. This leads 
into a suggestion if you are concerned with food, I have heard that some 
people will go with a dog that is not as food driven as Labradors are.


In terms of playgrounds and tracking kids. I never thought to use my 
guide dog to assist with tracking kids. However, now that I think about 
it, although my dog was a kid-magnet, he tended to take me toward my 
kids first over other kids. I just never saw this as a reliable method, 
and like I said, never pursued it. To track my kids, I had them wear 
pipe squeaker shoes. I also had them wear key finders. These were the 
kinds that would chime if you whistled. I'm not sure if they are even 
made any more. Now with Apple air tags and tiles that can chime via your 
phone app, maybe the key finders are obsolete. My kids learned how to 
walk quietly so the shoes would not squeak, but it turned into a game, 
and it still worked out for me over the long term. I do not remember 
ever specifically going or not going to playgrounds or my children's 
school with or without my guide dog. So, I can only guess that it was 
never an issue for me. As for playground equipment, I would take my dog, 
but I always had a cane handy in case. As a matter of fact, I still 
always have a cane handy for those situations where the dog is not 
communicating the information I need, but that's a discussion for 
another topic.


In terms of the kind of dog I had, I lived in Denver at the time and it 
is a big city. My dog was able to handle city sidewalks, traffic, office 
work, kids, playground, and all kinds of things. About the only thing 
that my dog could not handle well was traveling inside air ports and bus 
stations. However, that would have been an issue regardless of the age 
of my children.


In terms of traveling, I used two methods. First was a stroller with a 
pivoting handle that could be moved to the front. This meant that I 
could pull the stroller behind me while my child was still facing 
forward. this allowed me to work my dog or cane with little issue. For 
those times when I did not have this kind of stroller, I simply reversed 
the regular one and my kids got to ride backwards. My son didn't care 
for this but my daughter had issues with it, which I eventually worked 
out with the fancier stroller. Second was a hiker baby/toddler carrier. 
I got one from a sporting good store, and wore it to carry my young kids 
when traveling. When it wasn't too hot and when they weren't too big, 
this was a great way to travel. It was fun too for them, because 
eventually, they could reach branches and they would pull stuff onto 
daddy's hair as a game.


Circling back to the food issue. Whether my kids ate from a high chair 
or from the table, I kept my dog away as best as I could during this 
time. Kids are smart and will eventually figure out that if they don't 
want to eat something, there will be a furry creature in the house who 
will be happy to take over. As the fake Alastor Moody from book 4 of 
harry Potter was fond of saying, "Constant vigilance" is key in this 
situation. To help with this, I would often keep my dog in the other 
room. At the time, I also did not have room for a crate in my apartment, 
but a tie down helped for those situations where the dog was truly being 
a dog and forgot his down-stay command.

As to your final comment, I am not one of those parents who found it 
difficult working a dog while caring for my children. However, I, too, 
have heard similar from others.


I did not answer your questions in the order presented, but I still hope 
my message is helpful to you and to others.



Raul Gallegos / President
National Association of Guide Dog Users
346.439.7444 | RGallegos at nagdu.org
https://www.nagdu.org

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On 7/18/2023 1:10 PM, Julie A. Orozco via NAGDU wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> I came to this list a while back asking about guide dogs and babies.
> Well, now I have a toddler who will be two in November. I am just
> about finished with my Seeing Eye application and am hoping to get my
> third dog next spring after graduating law school and taking the bar
> in the winter.
>
> I wonder if anyone has any tips or experience working guide dogs with
> young kids. My daughter will be almost two and a half when I'm hoping
> to get my dog. At this time, she is a good walker, if a little slow,
> as little kids often are. I know I will need a dog that is good with
> kids, but I'll also need one that can handle the big city and the DC
> metro. This seems like a tall order to me, but maybe I'm just nervous
> about getting a new dog.
>
> For those of you with experience, how did you manage working your dog
> at different paces depending on whether you had your children with
> you?
>
> My daughter is also not terrible about dropping food, but how did you
> handle dealing with your dog and a toddler dropping food? I am always
> really serious about not letting my dog have table food. We don't have
> room for a crate in our apartment.
>
> My final question: is there a way you have found success in working
> your dog to the playground and using the dog to track your toddler. I
> don't expect the dog to find my daughter, but I've just heard from
> parents that they don't like using their dog at playgrounds because it
> is difficult to work around all the equipment.
>
> To be honest, I have not heard of a lot of blind parents working
> successfully with guide dogs and young kids. Most parents find it
> difficult to manage both the dog and the children. But I'm getting so
> tired of exclusive cane use and miss working a dog, and I am ready to
> to what I can to make it work.
>
> Thanks for any advice,
>
> Julie
>