L A Felger Community and Career Services LLC

10/01/2025

Guide Dog Etiquette 101 🦮

Guide dogs aren't pets. They're partners in mobility for people who are blind, Deafblind, or have low vision.

🐾 Harness on means hands off - A guide dog in a harness means, "Please don't interact with me. I'm working." As tempting as it may be, never pet, talk to, or make eye contact with a guide dog in a harness.
🐾 Contain your excitement - Don't encourage excitable play with a guide dog. Excitement directed toward them is distracting.
🐾 Say "hello" another time - If you approach a guide dog team with your pet dog, keep your dog on a leash and away from the guide dog."
🐾 Never grab a guide dog's harness or leash, or try to steer their handler - This can be disorientating and dangerous for the guide dog and the handler.
🐾 Never offer food or treats to a guide dog - This can result in disruptive behaviours like begging for food and scavenging off the ground.
🐾 Before offering your assistance, you should always ask if it's needed - When approaching a guide dog handler, introduce yourself and always speak directly to the handler, not the guide dog.
🐾 Don't Discriminate! Guide dogs belong everywhere - Guide dog teams are allowed access to any premises the public would normally have access to. It's the law.

Distracting guide dogs while they're working can jeopardize both their safety and the handler's. By learning and following proper etiquette, you can help make your community more welcoming for guide dog teams.

Learn more:https://www.cnib.ca/sites/default/files/2024-08/Guide%20Dog%20Etiquette%20101_FINAL-s.pdf

Image 1: The text reads: "Guide Dog Etiquette 101" on a yellow background. A photo of a guide dog is placed in a circular frame on the bottom-right. In the bottom-left corner, on a black rectangular label, the text reads: "How you can make a difference!"

09/23/2025

Great info!

Five helpful tips when walking past those of us who are blind or partially sighted.

1. Please say “hello” to us because we cannot see your smile, wave or nod of acknowledgment. Your verbal “hello” is taken as that smile and friendly gesture, that we miss out on, visually😃

2. Please use your words by saying “I am passing on your left” or “ hello, have a nice day!” when you speak it alerts us that you are there. When we know you’re there, if any help is needed, you just opened the door for us to ask you. What is great about this tip is by saying “hello” you are treating us like everyone else and that is all anyone really wants.

3) If you notice low hanging branches or other objects that our head may hit, it is helpful if you let us know so we can duck or put our arm up to protect our face and head. Our canes alert us to low objects but not to objects above our waist. Yeling “look out” or “watch out” is not helpful because we do not see what we should be looking or watching out for.

4. When you see someone coming toward you who is using a cane or has a guide dog. Please move out of the way so we can pass. Please do not just be quiet. Your hello and letting us know you are there is very helpful. Never try to jump over our cane 🦯 if you miss and accidentally break the cane, that can be detrimental to those of us who rely on it for mobility and independence.

5. Please never grab or pull anyone especially if we are blind. When this happens it takes our ability to effectively use our cane and can put us in harms way, not to mention the grabbing could also cause injury. We visually cannot see your intentions and being grabbed or touched by strangers is not appreciated. Just use your voice, that is truly most helpful.

“Having a disability doesn’t change who I am it changes my interactions with the world!” Gina Martin

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Photo description
A lady is walking along a sidewalk using her white cane.

08/21/2025

Great article!

It is totally okay to use the words see, look and watch when talking to someone who is blind. These are not uncomfortable words for the majority of us who are blind. We do see, look and watch only differently.

You look at a garden and see a beautiful pink rose. You smile as you admire how pretty it looks.

Please let me share with you how I see that same rose using no vision.

I go right up to the flower and gently feel the soft and many velvet like, petals. At the same time I breathe in and smell the sweet floral scent. While I am there smelling I continue to gently feel the stem and thorns while listening to the bumblebees buzzing from flower to flower around me.
I do not see the pretty pink flower the same way as you but I see it equally beautiful but different.

I use touch to identify objects instead of my eyesight. When I know what something is, as I touch it I in turn, am seeing that object. If I touch something and do not know what it is. I learn what it is, what it does and I feel it and understand what it is. The next time I see (touch) that item I will know exactly what it is.

When I am looking for my lipstick in my purse I move my hand around inside my purse until I feel the lipstick. When I apply my lipstick I do not look in the mirror as I can not see my image clearly. I roll up the lipstick and gently feel it with my fingers so I know I have not rolled it too high to break. I then hold the lipstick and with my middle finger I guide the lipstick to my lip feeling my lip first. I then apply the lipstick and can feel it is even by pressing my lips together and moving my jaw to feel a even glide of gloss over my lips.

I watch T.V. Shows and movies just like you only I turn on a feature called audio description built into the settings already on Telus Optic T.V. And Netflix. What is audio description? It is a feature in which you can turn on in settings and a narrator describes what is visually happening on the screen. So I watch the same shows and movies as you, only I watch it a bit differently.

So it is totally ok to say the words see, look or watch us to or in-front of us. If someone tells you these words make them uncomfortable, then you know to be mindful when around that person. Every person who is blind or legally blind is a unique individual. All of you who have sight are also unique individuals. We are all people just our body or brain work different for some of us.

Gina Martin

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Photo description
Gina is leaning over to touch and smell the roses.

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