How are our Students Doing at the School for Guide Dog Trainers？

2022. 2. 23

News
Two students are crossing a street, each with a labrador in harness, under the watchful eye of an instructor.

<Students and the instructor at a Town Walk Training> 


School for Guide Dog Trainers

The School for Guide Dog Trainers at Japan Guide Dog Association was founded in 2004 and has sent out many graduates who became guide dog trainers and guide dog mobility instructors. Three students have been studying for the past two years, waiting to graduate this March to join the Training Department from April.

A student is training in a busy sidewalk with a yellow labrador, a harness in her left hand and a white cane in the other to detect obstacles. There is a parked bicycle on the right side of the sidewalk, making it even more narrow.

Students in Daily Training
Students spend most of their time training dogs, except for the classroom lectures (sometimes online). This time the students came to a crowded place near a train station. In Japan, some sidewalks are very narrow and difficult to walk with a guide dog. The students train their dogs to avoid obstacles, including dynamic obstacles (walking people, bicycles, and so on) or even stop when the dog thinks it is difficult to avoid the obstacles.

A student is training a yellow labrador on a narrow sidewalk. The dog has just avoided a restaurant's signboard and is trying to head back to the left side of the path.

<Students training on a narrow sidewalk with obstacles>

One student says, “The school has helped me in so many ways to become a guide dog trainer. Next year I will be working in Kanagawa Training Center, but I hope to go to other centers and grow through many experiences as a trainer.”