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SUSTAINABILITY
Training guide dogs for the blind costs upwards of EUR 15,000 per dog and
the drop-out rate for the dogs over the course of the training program can
be as high as 30 percent. KONE helps makes a difference with an escalator.
HELPING
THEIR MASTERS
MOVE SAFELY
TEXT:
PAUL MCDONAGH
PHOTO:
JIM CRAIGMYLE/CORBIS
K
ONE’s foundation
in
France has supported the
work of the ‘École des
chiens guides d’Ile-de-
France’ – a school for guide
dogs in the Paris region, by
providing financial support for train-
ing dogs to use escalators; part of the
essential training for a dog to aid the
mobility of visually impaired people.
The school was established in 1984,
and since then the dogs and their train-
ers have had to face the better part
of an hour’s journey to a shopping
center to practice with escalators. Not
only was this stressful for the dogs,
it also meant that training sessions
were limited to Sundays as this was
the only time the shopping center
was closed to the public.
In the spring of 2009, KONE sup-
plied an escalator to the center at a
discounted price and provided direct
financial assistance to train the dogs.
Having their own escalator has in-
creased the school’s training capacity
from 15 to about 50 dogs a year.
According to
Mme Louisette Yzer-
man
, vice president of the school, the
dogs find escalators a bit daunting and
thus have to be trained to use one.
“There are two areas where dogs need
training with escalators. The first is get-
ting onto one. Dogs do not like get-
ting onto something moving, and the
noise and vibration also disturb them.
The second area is making sure the
dogs do not guide their companions
underneath escalators or staircases in
shopping malls and other public ar-
eas. A dog needs a lot less headroom
than a person, and the dogs have to
be trained not to pass beneath escala-
tors and stairs at a point where there is
insufficient height for a person to pass
safely as well.”
Escalator training lasts fifteen min-
utes twice a day and at the end of a
week, the dogs can use one; by the
end of a month, they are ready to go to
shopping centers and use escalators in
a public place without any problems.
•
• From 2-12 months, a puppy lives with
a host family and learns how to adapt
to various environments
• After 12 months, the dog goes to a
training center; schooling takes 6-8
months to complete
DID YOU KNOW?
?
• When a dog is given to its service
partner, it responds to 50 common-
use commands
• At the age of 9 or 10 years, the dog
usually ‘retires’ and can live
with the
owner or a host family
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