Walking Routes Independently

What is a Route? Why is it important for me to walk and know routes before I apply for a guide dog?

A route may consist of all kinds of destinations such as:

• Walking from your house to the bus stop to get to work, church, or a restaurant

• Walking from your house to the grocery store

• Walking from your office to your favorite restaurant

Routes may be for pleasure and exercise such as:

• Walking a loop around your neighborhood

• Walking to a bus stop and then riding the bus to a park

• Routes should take you at least 30 minutes to walk.

You should be able to do these routes completely on your own and be willing and ready to walk every day.

You should have at least 3 routes you can do independently and are comfortable walking with an Instructor.

You need to know your routes before applying for a guide dog so that when you are training with your guide dog you will be able to focus on the dog.

You also need to be able to physically walk the routes to ensure that you are going to want to walk every day and that your body will tolerate the exercise.

It is important for a guide dog to have exercise and stimulation every day. A guide dog has to practice his work consistently in order to continue to work in a safe way. So your routes would need to provide both physical and mental stimulation for the dog and include places that allow the dog to practice his work.

What is NOT a Route? The following are situations that do NOT count as routes. You can use a guide dog to assist you with these things but by themselves these situations do not constitute routes.

• Walking down your driveway to your mailbox

• Getting picked up at your front door, and dropped off at the door of your destination

• Walking around a track or a walking trail with no work for the dog

If your current lifestyle is such that you mainly get rides to all of your destinations and you are not interested in walking at least 30 minutes twice a day, then a guide dog is not the best form of mobility for you at this time. If you find that your situation changes please feel free to apply at that point.