People make many matches in their lives: romantic partners, workplaces, and friends. But the match between a guide dog and the person they serve is especially rare and intense.
“The connection transcends family — transcends everything,” said Ellie Carlson, founder of Canines and Canes LLC. “There’s no other role in the human world like it."
The closeness comes from the time the pair spend together, as well as the depth of vulnerability and knowledge of each other. The dog serves as a human’s eyes during travel—avoiding obstacles and stopping at all street crossings—while the human decides where to go, giving directional commands based on their mental map or a GPS device.
It isn’t easy to find the “magic match”—a dog and person with similar energy levels, temperament, and walking speeds, who trust each other completely to move through the world. Once paired, the two become virtually inseparable, keenly aware of the other’s movements, moods, and needs. When a guide dog retires or passes away, the loss can be intense enough to require grief processing.
The process begins with identifying which dogs are good candidates. Carlson pays close attention to the dog’s body language to see if they enjoy the work and have the right temperament to become a guide.
It’s possible to spot early signs in dogs Carlson calls “old soul” dogs. They should:
-
Be attentive and focused while walking
-
Stay calm while lying down in work settings or restaurants for long periods
-
Be ready to go when their human asks
-
Ignore distractions like food, people, or other dogs
Guide dog training starts around 12–14 months of age and involves navigating obstacles, understanding directional cues, and responding to “find the ____” commands. An Elevations Credit Union member, Carlson would often bring her guide dogs-in-training into branches to practice finding the door or counter and to polish their obedience skills in a public setting. She says the welcoming atmosphere made that possible.
“Elevations has been amazing,” she said. She says instead of using the credit union’s online banking service, she “would rather go in and deposit because they’re just so friendly and helpful.”
Service Dog Do’s and Don’ts
Do use the right terminology. Service dogs are dogs specifically trained to perform a task for an individual with a disability. Guide dogs are a type of service dog. Emotional support animals and therapy dogs are not service dogs and are not allowed in public indoor spaces.
Don’t distract them while they’re working. Interacting by petting, talking, making eye contact, or any other distraction should be avoided. Keep your own dog at a distance.
How Compassion Became a Career
Though she now focuses on teaching individuals who are blind, low-vision, and deafblind to use a white cane, raising guide dogs and matching them with their human counterparts has been part of Carlson’s work for the past 23 years. She entered the profession after seeing how accessibility can open doors and empower people with disabilities.
Carlson was working at Colorado State University’s accessibility office, learning how to print materials into Braille and make tactile campus maps so students could find their classes. One day at CSU, she saw a student who had low vision crying after class. A professor had handed her a print syllabus that would take three days to translate into Braille—she’d already be behind her sighted classmates.
Faster, more accessible resources, Carlson realized, could help that student keep up in class, be more independent, and feel empowered instead of frustrated. A perpetual helper who had been aiding people with disabilities through efforts like the Special Olympics and adaptive snowboard instructing, she realized orientation and mobility instruction—a specialty role for an underserved population—was a way to be part of the solution.
While many guide dog mobility instructors come to the profession from a dog training background, Carlson came from a more human-centered context, helping her offer emotional support to her clients as well.
“Clients are not always looking for a solution,” she said. “They’re also looking for someone to validate that they’re really trying. They’re exhausted.”
The energy required for an individual who is blind or low-vision to keep up with sighted people can be draining and frustrating—especially if they also experience hearing loss. To support this population more fully, Carlson has started primarily focusing on training her clients to use a white cane—a prerequisite for getting a guide dog and an essential skill in and of itself. Mobility specialty is a high-needs area, as a recent study reported only one mobility specialist for every 175,000 people in need in America.