The document outlines five essential characteristics of a good guide dog, which include a calm temperament, trainability, intelligence, good health, and appropriate size. These traits enable guide dogs to assist visually impaired individuals effectively in various environments. Margaret Ann Dimond, an assistant professor and supporter of leader dogs for the blind, emphasizes that not every dog can qualify as a guide due to these specific requirements.

1. FIVE
CHARACTERISTIC
S OF A GOOD
GUIDE DOG
M A R G A R E T A N N D I M O N D

2. INTRODUCTION
• An assistant professor at Michigan State University, Margaret Ann Dimond
teaches courses on leadership and regularly speaks at leadership conferences.
Margaret Ann Dimond also supports Leader Dogs for the Blind, an organization
that serves deaf and blind individuals and their guide dogs. Not every dog can
become a guide for people with impaired sight and those who do must possess
the following characteristics.
1. Calm temperament. Guide dogs accompany their handles everywhere, from
city streets and grocery stores to airports and subway terminals. In order to
properly perform their job, they must remain calm at all times and remain
focused despite outside distractions and unfamiliar noises or smells. Any form of
aggression is also never permitted.
2. Trainable. A guide dog may perform any number of tasks for their handler,
such as fetching items or leading them through busy streets. Dogs that catch on
quickly to new tasks fair better as guides than those who make consistent
mistakes.

3. GUIDE DOG
• 3. Intelligence. The ability to problem-solve is the key difference between
intelligence and trainability. A trainer cannot prepare a dog for every
possible situation, so the dog must possess the intelligence to make
reasonable decisions. Additionally, these dogs must exhibit intelligent
disobedience: the ability to disobey a command that may put the handler in
danger, such as crossing in front of an oncoming car.
4. Healthy. Dogs with poor health or abnormalities like hip dysplasia do
not make good guides. Guide dogs may work long hours if their handler
holds a full-time job, does a lot of traveling, or requires their assistance for
everyday tasks throughout the day.
5. Appropriate size. The dog must be big enough to fit in a harness with a
ridged handle for the handler to signal the dog, but small enough to
accommodate in public areas.