There are many examples of guide dogs guiding owners safely on slippery roads. It has been said that white cane transport does not provide such a good solution for the visually impaired in this case either.

Guide dog on the ice

“Two days ago, we were driving on terrible ice with Körte. I have a perfect, confident, very agile puppy, but my boots were slipping quite a bit on the ice. I figured that running full- footed would make it much less slippery, so we started running on the ice. Two old ladies came up to us, one of them asked me in surprise if I knew that everything was clear ice and very slippery. I told her of course I knew, that’s why we were running with my dog. I’m sure everyone was surprised at us, but we drove safely” – said Mihály Dombai from Leányfalu.

Amper and Astoria are waiting during a break in training

Dóra Sápi, who lives in Százhalombatta, told us, “On slippery ground, I prefer to change into a penguin and toddle. Fiji immediately switches gears, senses that I have become unstable and slows me down. If he knows, he also avoids frozen puddles and frozen snow patches, so penguining only comes up on the unavoidable stretches. Several people confirm that puppies also drive confidently in snowy situations. With a white cane, it is probably not always clear where the hoof is, whether you are walking on a pavement or a roadway in a snowdrift. Even in icy, snowy weather, I feel much safer with a Fiji than with a stick, because I’m less likely to run into ice than with a stick, thanks to the detour, and of course because I have someone to lean on mentally.”

“Felhő took me smoothly on the ice,or avoided it. There was such a thing as avoid ice and avoided. And Iram is on my radar every time I move, really, so he even watches how other people help me if he doesn’t happen to be driving” – said Antónia Kállai, who lives in the capital.

Ágota Lukács from Tiszajenő says that her first two guide dogs had to get used to the fact that the owner is more sensitive on ice at the beginning of each winter. “Vacak had no problems with this, and I had never had to deal with Olivér on very icy roads. Of course, I’ve fallen past my best dog, but it’s not because of him, it’s because of my balance, my shoes, my steps, but they’ve often kept me from slipping. So it’s definitely better with them than with a white cane, mainly because they avoid the ice whenever possible. Very importantly, they are just as slippery on ice, in blokeshoes! It is very important for them to have a slippery sole as well as a grippy fingernail” – says Ágota.

Sáfrány Írisz has not yet been on mirror ice with Dolly, because there was no sleet in Győr, but they have been in snow. “I’ll never forget the first big snowfall Dolly and I experienced. I came home from work and all my colleagues told me that it was snowing, it was already quite high. We stepped out the door and Dolly was driving as confidently as ever, even though I felt nothing but snow under my feet. I kept saying to her: how do you know which way to go when you can’t see anything from the road or pavement? But Dolly kept walking. Then I let her run in the nearby park, but she didn’t go too far, because she saw that I wasn’t going too safely without her, so she stayed by my side and tried to look after me, “herding” me. Since then, there have been several big snows in Győr, but Dolly was just as confident in the snow as usual. And recently she had to lead me through a narrow passage, which was not easy because there was a pole and a big block of ice that she didn’t want to lead me through it and she didn’t lead me through it. Usually, if you can, you can avoid the ice, the frozen puddles” – said Írisz.

Our students also put their best foot forward

It rained like lead in Budapest on Wednesday, with roads and pavements resembling ice rinks. Our trainees slipped a lot, but the blind guides helped them to stay on their feet.

We practiced in the 11th district’s Bull Park, and photos and videos prove that it is really safe to walk on slippery pavements with guide dogs.

“Ufó stopped on the edge of the pavement, signalled to step off, I slipped, but the dog held me beautifully” – said Nyíriné Kovács Mária, who praised and rewarded the skillful guide dog many times. Ufó confidently and bravely guided his trainer, who would have stumbled and stumbled without him, as many pedestrians do.

Nyíriné Kovács Mária and Ufó

While Mária was giving an interview to our foundation, a lady fell on the slippery pavement, we interrupted the conversation, Mária quickly ran over. She helped her up and called an ambulance because she had hurt herself badly. We hope that she was not hurt and will recover quickly.

Our trainer Farkas Darinka with Astoria and Amper

One of the fun moments of the day was when Mária commented that she had invented a new sport, “sliding in a harness” because our dogs lead in a harness and in extreme cases you can use this sliding technique to get them to move a bit, but only for play, so don’t get me wrong, we won’t be introducing it into the curriculum. Watch the video on our YouTube channel.

A new sport is born, “sliding in the harness”

Our instructors spend a long time practising with our blind students to prepare them for almost any situation. “It may come as a surprise, but on this sleeting rainy day, the dogs were not even tired, we trainers were more tired from being outside in the biting cold for hours” – said Mária.