Shortage of guide dogs for the blind in Latvia / Article

Guide dogs are a relatively recent phenomenon in Latvia. After careful selection and training, the first service dog in Latvia, Teodors, was ready for work 13 years ago. An association is now named in his honor, where companion dogs are still trained. Demand far exceeds supply, and the possibilities to train a larger number of special assistants are limited, as there is no state funding, and donations have to be made, but the process is time-consuming and not cheap, says trainer Zaiga Kļaviņa:

“A puppy like this costs us 27.5 thousand. This amount includes two years of work. We can buy, for example, ten puppies, but after two years, maybe only one of them will be useful, but all these dogs are maintained, fed, trained, treated. There is training, which lasts about a year. There are also transportation costs, trainers’ salaries…”

The list doesn’t end there, the costs also include veterinary care, which is getting more expensive every year, all utilities, and a host of other expenses, while there are only five qualified service dog trainers.

When the dog is ready for work, the most suitable owner is chosen for it.

“These are people who have been waiting in line for many years, but since there are very few dogs available, they are given to those people who are really active and able to keep the dogs busy enough, be with them, and put the learned working skills to good use,” explains Līga Ķikute, a board member of the service dog association “Teodors”.

The insufficient number of service dogs means that most people with visual impairments will have to wait in line for a long time.

Therefore, a situation in Scandinavia, for example, where a person can be helped by several dogs over the course of their lifetime, and is not allowed to wait longer than six months for the next one, seems almost like an unattainable dream.

Dog trainer Zaiga Kļaviņa tells the story of an older man in Finland:

“This is a man who has his tenth dog in a row. His tenth! It seems crazy, why would a man at 85 have a dog! But no. That’s independence. He’ll walk, even if it’s hard. Maybe he lives in his own house in the middle of the forest, like the Finns do, but he’ll walk by himself, not with his wife holding his hand. He’ll walk around his hectare or whatever he has. Or he’ll walk, barely, barely, those 300 meters to his mailbox, but he’ll do it himself!”

A service dog is also a kind of fitness trainer, as the owner is forced to take it out at least three times a day. And changing dogs is not a luxury, but a necessity.

It’s not an inventory that never gets old. Līga Ķikute talks about her service dog Rīga:

“What does it mean that the dog is getting old? It means that one fine day I will have to limit my independence. I will end up in a kind of isolation. For example, the dog will no longer be able to lead me qualitatively, I will no longer be able to get where I need to go, because his legs will hurt from old age, for example. He already hurts, and we already have medicine in the morning and medicine in the evening so that the dog can live with his old age ailments.”

The older service dogs are now entering retirement, but in order to help train new ones, everyone is invited to support the Teodors association with donations.

This month, Rimi grocery stores are also running a charity campaign – if you buy a certain type of dog food, part of the amount will be allocated to dog training.

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