Four times a day, Leslie takes her black Lab for a walk outside her home in the northwest suburbs. “Get busy,” she commands.
“The way I pick up after my dog, first of all, feel for her movement,” said Leslie, who asked me not to use her last name. “I can tell she’s moving around in circles, or sniffing, through the leash.”
Cleaning up after her dog requires the same sensitivity Leslie uses to navigate the world.
“You can definitely feel though the leash, the back and forth vibration, and when they stop spinning, you can tell through the leash the dog is staying in one place,” she said. “I trail down the leash and feel her back. If the back is in a C-shape, then she’s pooping. If her back is like a hill, she’s peeing.
“What I can do when my dog is going poop, feel back down toward her tail, plant one of my feet close to the tail, then use that as a marker. When she’s done, I have something tactile to help me go back to the place where she went.”
How do blind people pick up after dogs?
“The way I pick up after my dog, first of all, feel for her movement,” said Leslie, who asked me not to use her last name. “I can tell she’s moving around in circles, or sniffing, through the leash.”
Cleaning up after her dog requires the same sensitivity Leslie uses to navigate the world.
“You can definitely feel though the leash, the back and forth vibration, and when they stop spinning, you can tell through the leash the dog is staying in one place,” she said. “I trail down the leash and feel her back. If the back is in a C-shape, then she’s pooping. If her back is like a hill, she’s peeing.
“What I can do when my dog is going poop, feel back down toward her tail, plant one of my feet close to the tail, then use that as a marker. When she’s done, I have something tactile to help me go back to the place where she went.”
How do blind people pick up after dogs?
