REWARDS-LED TRAINING REGIME BEHIND LONG WAITS FOR UK GUIDE DOGS, SAYS CAMPAIGNER

Blind people are waiting more than a year for guide dogs due to misjudged animal-welfare rules, according to a former Guide Dogs UK employee.

The number of guide dog owners in the UK has declined from more than 5,000 in 2017 to 3,695 in 2022, despite demand remaining stable, according to an open letter written to the heads of Guide Dogs UK.

The letter is calling for the charity, which is the largest trainer of dogs in the country, to reconsider a training programme implemented in 2017, which it blames for the decline in the number of guide dogs.

Its author is Alan Brooks, who has won two major awards for his work with guide dogs over 50 years, including setting up training programmes in Europe and leadership roles at Guide Dogs UK.

Warning that the falling numbers of dogs represent “a loss of independent mobility” for blind people, he wrote that the Standard Training for Effective Partnerships (Step) dog training regime was implemented in 2017, the same year numbers started falling.

“The new programme isn’t working. Basically, the system is a non-punishment system, so you’re not even allowed to say no to a dog in a firm voice if it does something wrong – as a result dogs aren’t getting through the training programme and the population of guide dog owners has dropped by 25%,” he said, adding that he believes a rewards-based system works only for certain personalities of dog.

He said that many knowledgable training staff and puppy-walking volunteers he had spoken to thought Step was “ineffective and their efforts are wasted”, leading them to become “demotivated and demoralised”.

Noting that there are differing views on training dogs, Guide Dogs UK defended its methods as “based on the highest level of dog welfare and prioritise the wellbeing and safety of the guide dog and its owner”.

A spokesperson said: “This welfare-centric, rewards-led approach is now the favoured international standard and highly regarded by experts both in the UK and around the world, including the RSPCA, Dogs Trust, International Guide Dog Federation [IGDF] and Assistance Dogs International [ADI].

“We are proud to use ethical, evidence-based practices which maintain the highest level of dog welfare. We make no apologies for eliminating physical punishment or techniques which are proven to cause fear and stress to dogs. Our firm and unwavering view is that society has progressed and that we must move with the times.”

The charity has blamed some of the delays on the Covid pandemic, which paused breeding, training and socialising. As well as fewer dogs, the number of those making it through the process dropped from 65% to less than 50% – the lowest in decades – and the average waiting time for a guide dog increased to 18 months.

Guide Dogs UK said success rates were recovering, with 61% of dogs qualifying to become guide dogs for the first quarter of 2023 compared with about 70% before the pandemic.

While there is much gratitude for the work that Guide Dogs UK does, frustration with its current service is shared by many in the blind community, including David Adams, the chair of the European Guide Dog Federation, who shares Brooks’s concerns about the training programme. Sarah Leadbetter, the national campaigns officer at National Federation of the Blind of the UK, thinks the charity needs to communicate better with its volunteers and train more of them.

Leadbetter has experienced the long waits for guide dogs herself: she had to wait 14 months for her second dog during the pandemic, and was initially matched with one she found unsuitable as it was too small and she did not feel it had been trained properly.

“It was a bit of a mess,” she said, adding that she didn’t feel things were “done in the same sort of way it would have been done before Covid”.

She believes guide dogs are vital for blind people, adding: “If I hadn’t had two guide dogs I wouldn’t have done the things I’ve done, all the campaigning [for visually impaired people].”