So you are now a week into the guide dog experience. You think you know what commands the dog will perform for, how it reacts in many situations, and how it is going to fit into your life. And then the night route happens.
Everything changes for a dog at night, just like it does for us. A route the team has followed successfully for months may cause the dog to react completely differently if run at night. Lighting and shadows, different traffic flows (both pedestrian and wheeled), ambient sounds, and other key markers will most likely change when the sun goes down. Dogs react to these changes in a variety of ways. One dog will speed up through the route, while another slows down. They may be more jumpy, less able to focus, or hypersensitive. You may even find something new that the dog fears.
Yet your handling can not change. It is the one anchor that the dog has when exploring this similar, but not same, environment. In many ways, the night route is the point in the class experience where the dog starts to depend on the handler for solace and the constancy that they crave.
Add to this the fact that many handlers with low-vision are uncomfortable working at night. They depend on residual sight during the day, and build up coping mechanisms that fail in the dark. The night route can be scary for the handler as well. For me, on the other hand, it’s usually just something else that needs to be done at the end of a long day.
When you encounter the night route, I recommend that you try to relax. Close your eyes if possible. Before starting the route, mentally review all the great travel the dog has enabled over the past few days. Remember how, just a few hours ago, you started to feel that you were finally becoming a team. Depend on the trust and skill that you have developed.
In short, having a guide dog means retaking the night. Throw on some reflective clothing and get out there.
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