Meet Eve, the first guide dog to be fully trained in Singapore. Guide dogs are assistance dogs for people who are blind or vision impaired. Eve is part of social agency Guide Dogs Singapore’s plan to shorten a new client's wait time for a dog - from a minimum of two years to a minimum of 6 months instead.
Training the dogs in a local environment, rather than bringing them in from international guide dog schools, helps them to be better acclimatised to the hustle and bustle of Singapore neighbourhoods, says Christina Teng, the first and only guide dog mobility instructor here. Matching a dog to a visually impaired handler and training the pair together will then be easier, she adds.
CNA Insider followed Eve’s training from Day 1, to see her go from being distracted by the common mynah, to calmly taking her handler aboard trains and buses. It is a months-long process to train a dog to become a trusted aide - and public acceptance of guide dogs is an important factor in the success of the programme.
00:00 Eve arrives in Singapore
01:30 Why a guide dog should pee on command
03:21 How Eve overcomes distractions
04:11 How are guide dogs selected?
04:48 What if Eve doesn’t pass her training?
07:53 Eve’s final test - leading her blindfolded trainer
09:35 Eve meets her visually impaired handler, Thomas Chan
11:35 Learning to get from Ang Mo Kio to Sembawang by train
13:01 Eve must disobey her handler sometimes
15:36 Eve and Thomas try travelling on their own
18:15 Why having a guide dog helps Thomas
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