Dianne is one of the most obedient two-year-olds in Taiwan. She goes to school eager to learn, obeys her teacher's every command and has never had a tantrum. Occasionally, though, she'll pee in class.
She is one of eight Labrador retrievers currently in training at the Taiwan Guide Dog Association (
Right now, Chen's class is in its final months of a program that will last over a year. After that, Dianne, her brother, Takky, Jacky and the rest of their classmates will each be paired with a blind person by whose side they'll stay for most of their adult lives.
They are the second class of canines to be trained at the association and, when they graduate, the eight will double the number of dogs currently helping the visually impaired in Taiwan. With some 50,000 blind people in the country, Chen has a lot of training to do.
Rough Start
The dogs are not just trained but bred to help the visually impaired navigate their way. Each of Chen's charges were born to guide dogs in the US or Japan, where training programs have been in place for decades. Chen himself trained for four years in New Zealand before founding Taiwan's first, and so far only, guide-dog
association.
The dogs in his first class were raised by "puppy walkers" in the US before coming to Taiwan to start their training. The association started its own puppy walking program in April of last year. Each of the dogs in this current class goes home to its family at night, then returns to the association's offices to train each day.
"Their behavioral training starts when they're placed with a walker, at about two-months old," Chen said. "They are taught not to pee in the house or bark or steal food. After they're more settled and well-behaved -- at about 14 to 18-months-old -- we start guiding training: how to stop at curbs, avoid obstacles and watch for traffic."
There is a common misconception that guide dogs are trained to lead visually-impaired people across the street, stopping when they see a red man glowing from the signal light and waiting for a green man. Actually, the dogs are trained only to stop at the curb; the blind person must determine when it's safe to cross by listening for traffic.
If their assessment is wrong and they command the dog to walk into traffic, the dog will disobey the command -- one of the last things they learn in training and one of the most difficult things to teach them.
The training takes place all over Taipei, with classes ranging from walks down crowded streets to navigating shopping malls, understanding escalators and riding the MRT.
Only a few months ago, such lessons weren't welcome by the city government in Taipei, or most other cities in Taiwan. Guide dogs were seen as "pets" and as such they were prohibited inside public facilities. Kaohsiung leads the way in accepting the animals and changing the perception that they are just pets.
"We have a good relationship with the Kaohsiung City Government," Chen said. "Kaohsiung was the first to allow them in public."
This past June, the city's mayor, Frank Hsieh (
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