Friendly Kaohsiung The City Government Tries to Establish "Guide Dog Autonomy"市府擬法令推動導盲犬 打造友善的城市
The visually impaired should feel safe while walking on the street with their guide dogs. People with visual disabilities crave to walk freely in the street. The City Government promotes an obstacle-free (friendly environment) in order to present Kaohsiung as being one of the guide dog friendly cities in the world.
There are approximately 2,000 visually impaired people living in Kaohsiung, and this would mean that there are around 20 guide dogs necessary to serve them. According to the International Guide Dog Association, there should be one guide dog per 100 people. However, the visually impaired people don't at present have any trained guide dogs to guide them in the city of Kaohsiung.
According to the Taiwan Guide Dog Association, there are only eight guide dogs currently available throughout the whole of the island. On top of that, they are all in the northern part of Taiwan. We are facing the challenges of the lack of professional guide dogs and trainers as well as the laws to take all their needs into accounts.
On August 7th last year, Mayor Hsieh signed a declaration together with the Taiwan Guide Dog Association on behalf of the Guide Dogs Friendly Environment. It reads as follows:
1.Respect the rights of the blind and partially- sighted people to use guide dogs.
2.Recognize that Kaohsiung City Government is a guide dog friendly environment.
3.Encourage citizens to promote a guide dog friendly environment.
Since this declaration, the whole city government has been the necessary steps taking to transform the city into be a friendly environment for blind and partially-sighted people.
What is the impact of guide dogs on the blind and the visually impaired? Mr. Minci Ke, the first guide dog user on the island, remarked that after he used the guide dog, he was able to walk three times faster than when he used a stick. Using guide dogs can increase the safety of the blind and the visually impaired because they make decisions or take a detour to avoid obstacles according to the conditions of roads. In addition, the guide dog is capable of remembering the routine path of his master after establishing a sense of understanding between each other. Guoruei Jhang, the second guide dog user in the nation, reveals that his guide dog knows where he is heading by what he is wearing; the guide dog guides his master to the ballpark or to school.
The most frequently seen guide dogs are Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds and Standard Poodle. The Guide Dog Association points out that in order to train a dog, it has to place the guide dog within a host family two months after its birth in order that it may become familiar with people and the surroundings. After one to one and half years, guide dogs will be sent to the training center so that they may receive professional training from a professional trainer then, six to ten months later, they will find a suitable owner when the trainer and the user will co-train the guide dog for a further one to two months. Iif everything works out fine, the guide dog will be able to then serve its master.
A trained guide dog should always remain calm and gentle. In other foreign countries, while guide dogs are working, they never bark and get angry even if they have had their tails stepped on, or have been maliciously attacked. The City Government encourage the school to educate students to take care of and respect the dogs while they are on duty so as not to disturb them. They are therefore going to legislate a law to protect them.
一位視障者靠導盲犬的引導，自在的走在大街上。很多視障者嚮往「自在行」的生活。高雄市政府為幫助視障朋友，正大力推動導盲犬無障礙空間，要讓高雄市成為國際級的「導盲犬友善都市」之一。
目前高雄市大約有二千多位視障者，如果依照世界導盲犬聯盟以一比一百比例的估算，高雄市至少應有二十多隻導盲犬協助視障者。可是，至今本市的視障者並沒有人擁有任何訓練有素的導盲犬協助其生活。
事實上，以台灣導盲犬協會的資料顯示，全台地區「現役」的導盲犬只有八隻，而且集中在北台灣。不只導盲犬數量不足，訓練導盲犬的專業人才、相關法令，也付之闕如。
去年八月七日，謝長廷市長與台灣導盲犬協會簽署「導盲犬無障礙宣言」：，一、尊重視障者的行路權及使用導盲犬的權利；二、高雄市政府歡迎導盲犬及使用者進入；三、請市民一齊加入「導盲犬無障礙行動」。從那時起，市政府相關機關紛紛採取具體行動，要將高雄市打造成一個尊重視障者行路權的友善城市。
導盲犬對視障者的幫助到底有多大？國內第一位以導盲犬帶路的視障者柯明期先生說，使用導盲犬之後，他行進的速度是使用手杖的一倍至三倍快，安全性也較自己行走高，因為只靠手杖時，對於懸在半空中的障礙物或者突發的交通狀況比較難走避，導盲犬則可協助判斷路況，帶其繞開障礙物，走起路來也較安心，而且導盲犬和他培養默契之後，就記住他慣常行走的路線。國內第二位使用導盲犬的張國瑞還透露，他的導盲犬甚至能夠從他穿什麼衣服判斷他是去上課，或是去打球，出門之後就知道該往學校或球場走。
目前常見的導盲犬是拉不拉多犬、黃金獵犬、德國狼犬和較大型的貴賓犬。導盲犬協會指出，訓練一隻導盲犬，要從幼犬出生後二個月即送到「寄養家庭」學習與人類一起生活，也適應人類生活環境，直到一歲或一歲半左右才送到訓練中心，由訓練師為其展開專業導盲訓練，大約六個月到十個月後可開始與視障者進行配對，之後再由指導人員與視障者共同訓練一至二個月，如適應良好才能真正為視障者導盲。
經過訓練的導盲犬，隨時保持穩定，個性也溫和，以國外的例子，牠們「工作」時即使被踩到尾巴、甚至被路人惡意攻擊，也不會吠叫或被激怒。這也是市政府之所以要進學校教導學生愛護、尊重、不隨意打擾導盲犬、並立法保障導盲犬的重要原因。