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if a guide dog isn't physically distancing, it's ok to talk to the handler
trainers now have to make sure guide dogs don’t react to masks.
apr 27 2021
3 minute read
jean menzies and percy have been together for about two months. they’re getting on so well together, the two of them will be graduating from the cnib guide dogs program wednesday. percy is a male black labrador-golden retriever cross with brindle (unusual streaks of colour).
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by: kevin griffin
jean menzies wants everyone to know that her guide dog percy doesn’t know anything about covid-19.
he’s a good dog but menzies knows percy can’t read signs and he doesn’t know how to physically distance from others.
so if you see menzies and percy and they’re not standing in the right place in a lineup, speak up and say something to her, not percy.
she’d appreciate it and so would others with guide dogs.
“please feel comfortable to interact and say: ‘excuse me, the line is back here,’” she said by phone from nanaimo.
menzies and percy have been together for about two months. they’re getting on so well together, the two of them will be graduating from the cnib guide dogs program wednesday.
menzies has been waiting 3 1/2 years for percy, a labrador-golden retriever cross.
for menzies, who has been blind from birth, a guide dog means independence. since her last dog, her ninth, she’s had to rely on using a white cane or taking her husband’s elbow when she leaves home.
now when she’s out she can relax because she knows percy will find a safe route.
“i feel very lucky to have gotten a guide dog because i know the waiting list is very long,” she said. “cnib for guide dogs has come through with flying colours.”
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diane bergeron, president of cnib guide dogs , said the group of 20 graduating handlers and dogs across the country that menzies is part of is the first to be fully trained during the pandemic.
covid-19 has forced cnib trainers to be creative and compensate for the absence of the usual hectic urban conditions such as busy streets and crowded public transit that dogs would normally be exposed to.
as well, trainers now have to make sure guide dogs don’t react to masks.
“a mask can be a trigger for a dog not making it through the program because they’re not used to seeing people with masks,” she said from ottawa.
“this class is a group that have trained with dogs in very challenging times.”
founded in 1918 as the canadian national institute for the blind, the organization was renamed cnib foundation in 2018.
the pandemic has also affected training guide dogs at cnib in other ways. in the past, some people who needed guide dogs could get them in the u.s. since canadians haven’t been able to do that since the border closed, it’s meant a huge increase in demand for guide dogs across the country.
“we’ve had more than 300 per cent increase in applications in 2020,” she said.
cnib is only in the fourth year of its training guide dogs and hasn’t established its own breeding program. the pandemic meant it could no longer rely its supply of guide dogs from australia which also closed its borders.
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cnib has been able to bring dogs in by land across the us border but the cost is much higher than by air, she said.
for the working life of a guide dog, cnib pays for all vet bills and food costs. bergeron said the cost of training and providing for a single guide dog starts at $50,000.
“dogs are provided at no charge, completely free to clients,” she said.
“it’s one of our basic principles — that financial barriers should not stop anyone from having a guide dog.”
on international guide dog day on wednesday, cnib guide dogs is holding a virtual 5k pup crawl fundraiser. registration is at
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