How a Guide Dog Team Works Stairs and Streets

This video shows Nicole and Figaro, a blind handler and her guide dog, navigating a variety of sets of stairs as a team. It also captures the team crossing an audible street crossing. Figaro is a six-year old male black Labrador retriever guide dog from Guide Dogs for the Blind.

[@afronabdo3774]

Yellow awesome. I love the Audible pedestrian signal. I don’t trust it 100%, but 90% is enough for me.😊

[@taengkwamariesturgell4938]

I always love your guided content

[@nancydriessen594]

Thanks! I was so curious and now I know, thank you so much!!

[@SlugcatEmporium]

There's a big amphitheater in a park near me, kind of like the big "exercise" staircase you talked about. Going up or down means multiple sets of 3-5 stairs each. It's always fun for my guide to get so much praise for each bottom and top stair! 😂

[@theblindmomnextdoor]

LOL. I bet!! That sounds like a really cool outdoor theatre/show space!!

[@dinahakim7114]

Hey it’s good to have you back it’s been a hot second. Hope I get to see more videos of you in Figaro

[@theblindmomnextdoor]

Thanks’. The pandemic really kicked our family’s butt in terms of just living life day to day and finding my way back to this has been a challenge! I’m so excited to be back though!

[@megandmauiguidingpaws]

Loved it I live in the MN area and I always like knowing that there are other guide dog users in our area. I would love a video of times maybe he made a mistake. I feel like sometimes people think our guides are perfect and i know like Maui made a mistake the other day It’s cool that you are back.

[@theblindmomnextdoor]

Oh, he made mistakes even in this video lol. He got distracted by my husband once, some smells once…. They’re dogs first!

[@megandmauiguidingpaws]

@@theblindmomnextdoor Maui is my first guide dog so I am still getting used to it even though I had dogs in the past. Maui made a mistake being distracted by another dog because it looked like a dog that had attacked her twice it wasn’t that dog but I just for me I feel pressure to make sure she is perfect and that’s not fair to me and its really not fair to her they have bad days too. You were one of the videos in the past that helped me decide to get a guide dog. I appreciate your videos.

[@davidhartline9172]

Have you noticed how your guide won’t step forward until your foot is on the first step when going down stairs?

[@theblindmomnextdoor]

I can’t say I’ve noticed it! But, I wouldn’t doubt it either lol. I suspect that’s part of his training!

[@asecretcourtofcrowsandcloc4084]

Do you have any advice for getting used to Holding the harness as apposed to the railing we’re going upstairs and for making sure your dog doesn’t get too far ahead when you’re just holding leash going down

[@theblindmomnextdoor]

Hmm. I hadn’t thought of this because my guide dog works on my left so I typically still hold the railing on the right when going up stairs. When we go down, I hold his leash, not his harness, and they’ll adjust to you…. I don’t try to slow him down, he’ll self-correct and adjust if he’s going significantly faster than I am, because that would be uncomfortable for him and he’d respond to the sensation of his leash tightening. I suppose you could try a command for your guide to slow down if you have one.

[@asecretcourtofcrowsandcloc4084]

@@theblindmomnextdoor my dog works on my left as well, but we were told in training not to use both the railing and having them guide at the same time. I don’t actually have a word to slow down. I mean I say steady when she’s guiding, but that uses harness pressure as well. Maybe I’ll try to make one for when she’s just healing