Dogs do More than Bark

Adeline V. from Belgium went blind from VHL at the age of 14. It was several years later that she came to know what the cause of her blindness was — and what the longer term consequences could be. She informed her seven sisters and two brothers of the situation but only a few were prepared to undergo an examination.

Faced with a serious handicap yet young and with a love of life, Adeline picked herself up and continued her studies in special education. After completing her education, she went to work in a library for the blind and took additional course work in library studies, and later in management.

She was promoted to a management position in a production center where books are transcribed into braille, large print and audio format.

Her career has suffered two serious interruptions for operations for the removal of cysts in her kidneys and brain..

When she got her job with the National Production Center in Brussels, and needed to travel long distances to work, she knew that a guide dog would make it possible for her to travel more rapidly, more independently and more safely than she could with only a cane. She began to look for a guide dog school where she could obtain a dog.

She visited guide dog schools in England, Switzerland and France, and her first guide dog was a Labrador Retriever born in England and trained in France. It was difficult to be accepted into the guide dog program, and then to travel the long distance to France, and to train in French, when her native language is Dutch. But it was worth the effort. She found it wonderfully freeing to work with a dog. The dog is trained to watch out for obstacles. Paving stones in the street, curbs, building sites, traffic lights, cars — all are obstacles to the blind person who ventures into the jungle of towns, armed only with a white cane. Thanks to the dog, all these traps became less threatening. Guided by her companion, Adeline quickly achieved greater mobility and autonomy in her daily life and recovered a great deal of security and confidence.

In Belgium, there are narrow streets, unrecognizable sidewalks, and strange traffic patterns. The dog made it much easier to navigate her way across the open squares of Antwerp. In areas where there are crowds of people shopping, and no cars to provide directional clues, the training and memory of the dog become extremely important.

Adeline felt that Belgium needed its own guide dog school. She and her husband set out to raise money for a location, a trainer, and for the operation of a school in Belgium. They founded The Belgian Centre for Guide Dogs in Belgium in 1990 and still play an active role in the management of the Center.

Not every dog can become a guide dog. Out of ten dogs tested, only six can become good guides. The process begins with careful breeding. Candidate puppies are then placed in homes where they are reared through puppy-hood. Experience has shown that a dog reared in a family with children is always a better, more sociable and more affectionate guide than a dog that has been raised in a cage or kennel.

During this time the puppies come to “puppy school” to learn basic commands, discipline, and socialization. They have to learn to circulate in the human world, undistracted by sounds, people, and other animals. They wear special a special jacket identifying them as a guide dogs in training. When they are returned to the Center at the approximate age of 12 months, they need to have essential qualities such as obedience, balance, quietness and self-possession. They then undergo a very demanding training course that lasts for 6 to 8 months. You cannot force the dogs to work; they have to start the training when they feel ready to “learn the job”. The trainer is there only to correct them and to help them develop their intelligence.

The initial training takes place at the Center on a set course where the dog learns to deal with a great number of obstacles which it will meet in real life – open manhole covers, construction detours, overhanging branches, and such. After that, it starts to work in quiet streets where it is immediately confronted with the realities of the outside world.

After six to eight months of intensive training, the dog can be introduced to its future master. The new master comes to the Center for four weeks of residential training with the dog. The dog and its new master begin to venture into town together in order to become familiar with intensive traffic conditions and with the difficulties encountered in a big city.

But the dog is much more than simply a guide. It is also, and perhaps especially, an unrelenting friend, a gleam of tenderness, a comforting companion to the person who has to cope with the handicap of blindness.

Adeline worked for more than 20 years for the National Production Center. During that time she

assisted in a successful campaign to create a Belgian stamp honoring guide dogs, issued in November 1998. This was the first time in Belgium that the value of the stamp (17 + 4) was marked on the stamp in Braille.

She also worked on the team to evaluate the design for the new Euro currency, ensuring that coins and bills can be identified readily by blind people.

In the U.S., all bills are green and the same size. Blind people have to depend on the honesty of merchants making change, and fold and store the bills in different ways in order to tell a $20 bill from a $1 bill.

In the new Euro currency now in use in most European countries, each bill is a different color and size so that they can be easily identified. The

coins are also different sizes, and the edges are milled in distinctive ways to make them easier to identify by touch.

Our thanks to Chris Hendrickx, Chairman of VHLFA Belgium, and to the Belgian Centre for Guide Dogs, Tongeren, Belgium, for their assistance in preparing this article. Belgium has two official languages: Flemish (which is very like Dutch) and French. Adeline and Chris live in the Flemish part of Belgium. Many Belgians speak multiple languages. Chris speaks Flemish, Dutch, German, French, and English.