It's estimated that more than 1 million Americans are legally blind, with many relying on guide dogs. Iris is a guide dog with a special ability: she’s been specifically trained to help the visually impaired go running. 🎥Dogs With Extraordinary Jobs | Smithsonian Channel

Did you know? Our Guide Dogs are taught lots of very specific tasks that assist with their handler's mobility. Here, Nina demonstrates two tasks with her trainer – ‘find the chair’ and ‘under’. When given the ‘find the chair’ command, the dog locates an empty chair and rests their head on the seat. They keep their body straight and stay in place as their Guide Dog User feels along their back and up to the chair. The dog is praised and their User can sit down, then giving the dog the ‘under’ comm

"What happens to a Guide Dog that fails the training" is a question we get asked a lot. The answer is, none of our Dogs fail. From the minute our pups are born, they have a unique personality that makes them the perfect fit for different roles supporting different people. Each dog in the Guide Dogs WA training program is regularly assessed throughout its training journey and a career pathway is chosen based on what best suits the dog’s skills, abilities and characteristics. These careers include

Watch a future Guide Dog in training! 🦮💛 Every Guide Dog’s journey begins with moments like this: early harness lessons, tiny steps, and big bursts of confidence. Across Queensland, over 70 dogs are in training right now, learning the skills that will one day give someone with low vision or blindness the independence to move safely and freely. It costs more than $50,000 to breed, raise and train each dog, and none of this life-changing work is possible without urgent community support. Your do