Talk:Guide dog

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"Blind."

We should refraim from using the tearm blind as many people belive blind is no vision at all. I suggest we use the tearm visually impaired.

Brandon A visually impaired person.

[edit] copyright issues

Technically, phrases like "guide do and "seeing eye dog" are copyrighted by the schools the dogs come from (in this case, by guide dogs for the blind, inc. and the seeing eye, respectively.) The proper generic term, and thus the correct title for this article is "dog guide". Students of these schools tend to be protective of their dog's status as a "guide dog", "seeing eye dog", or in my case "leader dog". User:24.27.121.239

Good Point! The term "Guide dog" is a simple noun and is not trademarked. Most guide dog training schools/companies use this term for dogs that they train unless they have a different trademarked term that they use for the dogs. Companies as Seeing Eye, Inc and Leader Dog, Inc are examples of companies that use alternate names for their dogs. Additionally, these companies refer to dogs trained by other companies as "Dog Guides" rather than "Guide Dogs", this is probably due to the fact that so many other schools use the term "Guide Dog" in the name. The use of the term "Seeing Eye" dog could be problematic - The Seeing Eye, Inc. has trademarked that term and usage of the term is listed in their FAQ. Wikipedia has a redirect from seeing eye dog to guide dog and they may not like that very much. While I do wonder if the term may one day become a Genericized trademark that's not a fight for wikipedia to take on. Trysha 23:19, 27 July 2005 (UTC)

So...we should move it to Dog guide then? - The Great Gavini ^{I'm more of a cat person, actually} 09:03, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't think we need to. "Guide dog" itself isn't trademarked (as noted above) and it's the most common descriptive phrase for these dogs (as in the list of training schools in this article), so it certainly doesn't refer to any one in particular. Elf | Talk 19:40, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Rules for behaving around guide dogs

I have added a new section dealing with how to behave around a guide dog in public. Please ad to and revise the section as this information is long overdue. (unsigned comment added by User:Hurricane Omega).

Well, ok. But the section really needs to be cleaned up to make it encyclopaedic. The language should be more formal and less chatty (I feel like you're speaking directly to me, as the reader, and it's very distracting). Wikipedia is not a user manual, or a guide, so this section needs to be kept short and tight, and should probably be renamed as well. Exploding Boy 05:06, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

Very helpful guidelines... very poorly written though --Froth 03:48, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Valuable information, but agree with the above - not very encyclopedic and reading too much like an instruction manual. If the editor adapted it from another website, why not just add a link to it or find a suitable one with similar guidelines? The section in dispute could be reinvented as a description of how handlers treat their service dogs compared to regular pets.--ChrisJMoor 01:43, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

As useful as it is, it's really not encyclopedic and shouldn't be on here.HornetMike 02:37, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Having consulted Wikipedia policies I have removed it. See Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not for why. HornetMike 17:46, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Training Schools

I think someone should attempt to start articles about the various training schools. I don't think any of them have an article. I also think a section on etiquette should be added.

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I've started an article on Leader Dogs for the Blind. I hope someone can expand it as well as make articles for the other major training schools. Guide Dogs for the Blind is the most commonly used school in the Western U.S. anyone can access their site for information on training and etiquette. EE