[NAGDU] Guide dogs and Toddlers

Tue Jul 18 20:59:45 UTC 2023

Joy,

This is such a good message!
I'm going to keep it in my "future reference" file to share with young
parents should they ask.

Kind regards,
Susan & Topher

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Joy Relton via NAGDU
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2023 3:00 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users'
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Joy Relton <joy.relton at icloud.com>
Subject: Re: [NAGDU] Guide dogs and Toddlers

Hi Julie,

I have two children. They are about twenty-two months apart. They are now
thirty-three and thirty-five respectively. I have used dogs for forty-seven
years. I got all of my dogs from The Seeing Eye. What follows are a few tips
and tricks which worked for me. You'll need to adjust them for you and your
child. Believe me, just when you think that you have them figured out, they
pull a new one over on you and that has nothing to do with sight.

I had my dogs before my children. I used to walk with my baby in the snuggly
and it made life much easier than attempting a stroller. In fact, my husband
used to pick me up from evening classes with our infant. He said that babies
are chick magnets. All the women would come up and talk to him while he
waited for me to get out of class. 

AS my daughter got older I found a wonderful stroller which I could pull
behind me because it was designed for that purpose. It's wheels and handles
would fold up and there were straps so that I put her up on my back and took
the subway with my dog. We lived in D.C. at the time. I would go on the
subway to the law school and a friend would take care of her during my day
classes which I had switched to.
The dog that I had then was a lab who liked to pick up scraps under the high
chair. I quickly learned that Zenith needed to learn a new command "living
room". That meant he was to go into the living room while she was in the
high chair. Even though, in that small house it wasn't very many feet it
made life much easier.

When child number two came along I carried him in a snuggly and later in a
back pack. I had my daughter in a harness. You'll have to teach your
daughter to walk on your right and let the left side be for your dog. When
our son was old enough to walk he was in a harness. Then, for a short time I
would hold the straps from both children's harnesses in my right hand. If
you work with your children and explain how you need to do things they
usually cooperate pretty well. I always made it fun and listened to them
when they didn't like my arrangement. Mostly I listened so that they knew I
cared what they thought, but also, to learn if something could be done to
make it better. My daughter, who turned thirty-five yesterday, told me that
she remembers how big she thought that she was because she was old enough to
walk with me and not have the harness on. 

When I went to the play ground I did take my dog. Basically, I would hook
the dog on a bench or somewhere so that my hands were free to handle the
children. We eventually had a swing set, sand box and a fort in our
fenced-in back yard which made supervising them much easier. I didn't like
going to big playgrounds by myself with the children or in playgrounds when
there were a lot of children when they were quite small. My rule was that
they had to mind me and answer me when I called them or we would go home
because it wasn't safe. 

I will tell you that once, when both children were on harness and leash they
loved to go the opposite way around light poles so that they were coming
towards me. They would giggle and I would laugh and make sure that they were
safe.

When our children were infants, my dogs used to lie next to the baby's
blanket on the floor. 

I used to take the kids with me to my husband's soccer games. Both the ones
he played and the ones that he coached. I                            used to
manage the children pretty well. Since we had friends who also had families
at the games we would take care of each other's children. So, some of the
mothers would tell their children, "you have to talk to miss Joy she can't
see you shake your head". But I would swing them and go down the slide with
their children as well as kick the soccer ball. When they're young they
aren't as critical of your skills.

I never had any problems with my dogs hurting the children. My children were
taught that you have to be nice to the dog. They have feelings too so you
can't pull their ears or poke their eyes. I never let them ride on the dogs
either as this can cause damage to their spine. Besides, they're not horses.

My advice is to use good judgement, think ahead and have a strategy as how
to handle different situations, and, of course, speak with your dog guide
school and let them know that your dog has to be good with children. Another
obvious thing to be careful of, especially when the children are infants is
unintentional scratching from dog paws. My dogs seemed to intuitively know
that they needed to be careful with babies and toddlers. 

Best of luck to you.

Joy 

-----Original Message-----
From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Julie A. Orozco via
NAGDU
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2023 2:11 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Julie A. Orozco <kaybaycar at gmail.com>
Subject: [NAGDU] Guide dogs and Toddlers

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

--
Julie A. Orozco
MM Vocal Performance, 2015; American University Washington College of Law,
JD Candidate 2023

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