Today’s Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants will be presented in Spanish, with subtitles in Arabic, Aulacese (Vietnamese), Chinese, English, French, German, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Persian, Portuguese, Russian, Thai and Spanish.

Welcome, virtuous viewers, to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Today on Part 2 of our program we’ll further examine a guide dog school in Madrid, Spain operated by the ONCE Guide Dog Foundation. The Spanish National Organization for the Blind, or ONCE, was started over 70 years ago to offer aid and social services to blind and otherwise visually impaired Spaniards.

The Foundation, which began in 1990, currently has a staff of 60 and trains approximately 100 guide dogs a year. Mr. Eloy Aranda, a guide dog instructor at the school, is giving us a tour of its facilities.

Right now we are inside one of the many sections of the school; we are in the dog kennel. The kennel here is one of the main areas. We have to say that the kennels are one of the centers that require the most staff and attention. We would like to highlight that we try to give the dogs dignified living conditions and the best treatment possible, attending to, above all, the specific needs of every dog.

In every two kennels there’s an outlet to a concrete yard, so each internal kennel has a capacity for four dogs. So, we can say that up to eight dogs gather in each outdoor yard. Based on our philosophy of respect for the dog, of respect for their habitat and their way of communication and their language, being able to observe the dogs relating to their own kind is fundamental.

We believe that dogs are animals that live in groups, and as such we must observe them. Many times we learn things from them, a lot of things, observing them among their own species, because when they deal with us they have a tendency to cover certain skills, certain ways of being. That’s exactly why we like to respect their environment, we like to respect their space.

The facilities are quite extensive, so they can be very calm and relaxed. Another feature that the kennel has is that it has radiant heating wires. The wires go below (the floor) and the dogs won’t be cold.

Although the normal temperature at which a dog feels comfortable is between eight or 10 degrees (Celsius), we want the dog to get used to the temperature at which they are going to later coexist with humans like, 20 or 22 degrees (Celsius). In this way the dog gets used to it and has less of a change to their fur coat if there is a change from a cold site to a warmer place.

The Foundation’s dedicated staff works round the clock to ensure the guide dogs’ welfare and safety.

There are personnel here 24 hours a day, precisely so as to avoid dogs having anxiety; they are calm and well cared for. Then, staff is here from seven in the morning to 10:00 pm, and then there is one shift at night, which is in charge from 10 pm to seven am when the main shift begins, so the dogs are monitored 24 hours a day. We believe that by giving more attention to the dogs, the dogs in exchange will give you much more.

How about play time outside? These guide dogs-to-be have plenty of opportunities to experience sunshine and fresh air.

Here we have each wing that consists of 10 kennels and is intended for training. In each interior park there’s four dogs, but every two internal kennels has access to an outdoor park, so that the dogs when they are in here, they are not locked in a kennel, they are doing exercise. Besides this, we have earthen-ground parks too.

There are triangular parks in between every block and it makes better use of the land, since it is a more natural environment for the dog, and above all, it prevents their toes from chapping. The firm cement is not convenient for them to be standing on for too many hours; it’s too static; they can get their paws chapped.

Here on the ground, they can exercise much more, they can run and with this wide open space. They can have the feeling of freedom. We never tie up the dogs, they are always loose; no leashes and no collars.

Oh, very good.

In the morning, before leaving to work in Madrid we let them go run and do exercise, because later when we arrive to the work areas, our mission is that during the 40 or 45 minutes that we have for the dog, the dog demonstrates fewer signs of excitability, so all that excess energy, especially physical, has already worked out through the exercise that they do early in the morning, and when they arrive to Madrid, we don’t need five or 10 minutes of work for them to be able to have the kind of concentration that the work requires.

Guide dogs must deal with many distractions when leading their human companions. How are they prepared for this demanding task? Eloy Aranda shows how the dogs are made to feel comfortable working in a variety of settings.

Now what we’re going to do, basically, is to teach what an obstacle path is like, what the movement is and sorting out the fixed solid obstacles, okay? Initially we, as a general rule, in all work, whether the job is to find an outer curb, an interior curb, to find a staircase, to walk downstairs or to walk upstairs, be it an escalator or normal stairs, there is one concept we are most interested in: to teach the dog to move in a straight line.

When we return, we’ll have more from the ONCE Guide Dog Foundation school in Madrid, Spain. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

I like this dog a lot. She knows how to make decisions and to be agreeable. I like her a lot. Now I would like to start thinking about the person that she will be paired up with.

Welcome back to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants as we continue our tour of the ONCE Guide Dog Foundation school in Madrid, Spain. Eloy Aranda, guide dog instructor at the school, now explains more about one of the most challenging skills a guide dog must learn.

It is the most difficult thing to teach a dog to walk in a straight line, whatever the situation is. Why? Because there are a multiple number of stimuli which are going to inhibit movement in a straight line.

The dog will have to keep going in a straight line, moving with his user at least until one of two things happens: one, that the user stops at a point and decides to turn right, left or go back and straight, or two, he gets to a point in the environment in which the environment itself blocks the path, and then he has to ask the dog what is the next path to follow.

That is the concept we call “straight line.” On that straight line is where we start to work with the curbs, obstacles, obstructions in the pavement, and the traffic.

Yesterday in Part 1 of our program we met Runa. How is her training progressing?

Runa’s lessons are being carried out in the street with real obstacles that an apprentice dog needs.

When you walk through the streets with a walking stick it’s completely different. An animal sees, right? It’s not the same with a walking stick, which is just a stick. It doesn’t see anyone.

They are at a bus shelter. The guide dog must locate the bus, which is not always stationed in the same place. The animal is trained to go right up to the door of the bus.

In the subway, each station is different. Therefore it is the person who must guide the dog using his or her sense of hearing and touch. The dog distinguishes doors and spaces between cars, and going up stairs.

Very good, very good.

It’s a case of teamwork.

Okay, then month after month we would be building up this work on the street. Of course on the street there are many more stimuli, there is noise, there is traffic, there are smells, dogs, bikes, and there are people that distract dogs when they are working. Then we have to teach the dog to discriminate, teach them that all those things are not of interest, depending on what we want to project.

At times it’s best for guide dogs to rely on their own judgment. Mr. Aranda next describes such situations.

Finally, at the end of the training we are looking for the dog to develop a concept that for us is paramount; that is, intelligent disobedience. Intelligent disobedience is a response from the dog to respect the environment instead of the person’s decision. It is clear that a user who is blind or barely sighted may make a mistake in giving a spacial command to the dog in the environment, and the dog will have to first obey the conditions of the environment over obedience to the person.

Here we go, let’s continue… I will make her go to the obstacles and we will see if she is able to discriminate between what I ask her and what is around her. This is what we were talking about before, intelligent disobedience.

Runa’s instruction continues. One of the gauges used to measure learning progress is the intelligent disobedience test. Here the dog is to ignore a command to move forward when an unexpected car appears.

Very good, very good.

What’s the hallmark of a guide dog that can lead his or her human companion in an appropriate manner?

We look for a dog that is confident, especially we must have control over the speed he goes, the pace he goes and the tension. It is most important that the tension between the body of the dog and our hand is not too loose, but the dog wants to pull, the dog has to pull because he knows, he is conscious, he has to guide me. Now we are going to let her go on her own initiative, without telling her anything else.

We’d like to express our sincere thanks to Mr. Eloy Aranda for giving us an in-depth tour of the ONCE Guide Dog Foundation school. The Foundation’s hard-working staff and guide dogs are truly special and wonderful. We wish the Foundation all the best in reaching more of Spain’s blind and visually impaired citizens in years to come. For more details on the ONCE Guide Dog Foundation, please visit

Thank you for joining us on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Up next is Enlightening Entertainment after Noteworthy News. May Divine Providence always guide you.

Fowl Play, a documentary by Mercy for Animals, shows the lives of hens in egg production facilities. You’ll discover that it is an existence that no being should ever have to endure, even for a second.

How can you not take an active role to stop this? This has to stop! It’s not okay, any rational human being that saw this would agree this is not okay.

We invite you to watch “Fowl Play – An Award-Winning Documentary by Mercy for Animals,” this Tuesday, January 12 on Stop Animal Cruelty.