By Amara Martinez
Bailey is not a normal Goldendoodle. He has the very important job of guiding junior Shelby Jones around La Cueva High School and in her everyday life.
Before Bailey joined the La Cueva community, students received an advisory lesson about how to be cautious and follow the rules when it comes to a service dog.
“I think here at the school people have been pretty good,” Jones said. “There’s been a couple of people here and there. And they’ve all been super understanding. But so far, I haven’t had to yell at anybody for petting him.”
Off campus it has been a different story: “For the most part people are respectful. But you know there's always a little kid who runs up and pets him. And then it's actually interesting how many parents point out the dog to their kids. And they're like, ‘Oh, look at the cute puppy.’”
Jones decided to get a guide dog because “for me, it had a lot to do with a social aspect. Because you know, going around with a white cane people didn't know how to interact with me and they didn't talk to me versus going around with a dog. It's like people are so much more willing to just come up and talk to me.”
Bailey has also helped with Jones’ confidence. “Like, I feel so much better going around independently with the dog than I did with the cane,” she said. “He’s helping me with just mobility. Since I can’t see, it's very helpful, especially getting through crowds. He can weave me in and out of people a lot faster than I could do with just my cane. And he can also help because he can find things for me. So I can tell him to find a door and he can go find it and do different things like that.”
Bailey is 14 months old, and Jones started training him at six months. “We started training basics, like immediate stuff when he came home at eight weeks,” Jones said. “But he didn’t start doing real service dog work until he was about seven or eight months old. So at this point, he has been in training for about seven months, and it’ll probably be another six or more months before I consider him fully trained.”
The biggest challenge Jones has faced is people: “Usually people are great but sometimes they’re not. And then also since he's a dog, he does make mistakes and sometimes it's kind of awkward and embarrassing when he does make a mistake, like running into people. I have to take the time and work it.”
During a January advisory class, students watched a video from SourceAmerica, an advocacy group for people with disabilities, on how to act around service dogs. Because a dog is trained to do a specific job that requires constant focus, the group says, avoid trying to get the dog’s attention or block its path, and don’t pet it or provide it treats without the owner’s permission.