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Our mission

Since 07/08/2000, Helen Keller – School of Guide Dogs has had the mission of giving a new meaning to the lives of thousands of visually impaired people.

Guide-dog

A guide dog is a type of assistance dog. It is an animal trained to guide blind people or people with severe visual impairment, to help them travel to their activities, whether professional, leisure or personal routines.

Smart and Trained

When driving the visually impaired, the dog must have the ability to discern possible dangers due to obstacles or others, which requires intelligent dogs with rigorous training for guide dog work.

Resocialization

Socialization is the first stage of Training, when the Guide Dog reaches around 2 to 3 months of age, goes to the home of a volunteer family, gets used to the routine and tests its skills.

HISTORY

On July 8, 2000, in the city of Florianópolis – SC, Dr. Augusto Luiz Gonzaga and a group of friends founded the Helen Keller Guide Dog School – ECG-HK. Without references in Brazil, using his professional contacts, he sought support abroad, where Mr. Ian Cox, member of the International Federation of Guide Dogs in New Zealand, believed in and facilitated Brazilians going abroad, seeking necessary training. With this initiative, guide dogs from New Zealand, Australia and the USA began to circulate throughout Brazil.

On the initiative of Mr. João Nirto Diel, due to the difficulties encountered, from March 8, 2008, ECG-HK was transferred to Balneário Camboriú – SC. Having already established and legalized its operation in Balneário Camboriú, the new responsible members prepared a project that defined the general objective of ECG-HK: “to provide a guide dog training and training center with a physical, material and human resources infrastructure in conditions of meet its purposes.”

Making it happen:

With the participation of countless volunteers and partners, overcoming the most diverse obstacles, important progress has been made:

• Professional trainer and instructor degree abroad, in partnership with the Australian school Seeing Eyes Dogs.
• From 2008 onwards, ECG-HK began the process of training guide dogs in Brazil. Forming the first three duos in 2010.
• From 2013 to 2015, ECG-HK was also responsible for providing knowledge for the creation of the Federal Guide Dog Program, together with the Instituto Federal Catarinense Campus Camboriú.
• On July 8, 2016, ECG-HK opened its much-desired Training Center, with the structure and conditions to expand the activities carried out.
• In November 2017, ECG-HK was recognized as a member of the International Federation of Guide Dogs – IGDF, being the first in Latin America to obtain this certification.

The Helen Keller Guide Dog School, in order to maintain its activities, continues to search for partners, volunteers, projects and awareness to carry out its mission.

ORGANIZATIONAL SCOPE

The Helen Keller Guide Dog School, now with new physical facilities equipped with an excellent infrastructure, for the solidity of its existence, has been directing its administration in a way capable of providing an efficient response to its decisions.As a priority it has prepared its Strategic Planning 2016-2021 , aiming to provide strategic guidance, directing the organization to achieve its main strategic objectives, where the Mission, Vision and enumeration of the school’s values ​​were defined.

ECG-HK’s mission aims to guide its organizational actions and decisions, described as follows:

The Vision of ECG-HK sees its future to be achieved, everything that requires significant changes to face the challenges, in a common ideal of all involved, to achieve progress and the objectives to be achieved, as we can identify below:

These are the fundamental principles and/or commitments that will guide all members of ECG-HK in a common sense of direction and will serve as a reference for day-to-day behavior, that is, a common ideal, signaling what is pursued as standard of behavior for the entire team in the pursuit of excellence that can be achieved by everyone.

ECG-HK values:

Follow the standards established by the International Federation of Guide Dogs; Ethic; Work with transparency, responsibility and competence; Value and disseminate its story; Social and environmental responsibility; and, Customer and partner satisfaction. The Quality Policy’s function is to clarify the objectives, what its intentions are and the organization’s global guidelines regarding quality, with clarification of the quality principles that will guide the school’s programs and actions and the direction both for the internal public (employees) and external public (customers, suppliers, partners, community, among other stakeholders).

Catalyze its actions in a proactive and sustainable way, with continuous investment in people, technology and processes to guarantee its institutional perpetuity with economic and socio-environmental harmony.

PARTNERS
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DOCUMENTS
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• Public Utility Document
• Helen Keller Social Status
• Records of the Extraordinary General Meeting 08/22/2022
• Records of the Extraordinary Meeting 03/22, of the Deliberative Council

BE A SOCIALIZER / HOST

To become a guide dog capable of guiding a blind person, the dog must go through the socialization stage.
During its first year and a half of life, the developing dog must become accustomed to different environments and situations, gradually and positively, so that in the future it is calm and focused to guarantee the safety of the pair: dog and blind person. To make this possible, the school needs volunteers who have the time and availability to teach the dog basic education, which includes basic obedience commands, such as: sit, stay, down, here, feeding on command and bathroom command. During this important period of dog socialization, socializers/hosts are guided and supported by our trained technical team.

What you need to have to be a socializer/host family:

• Be at least 18 years old or emancipated;
• Safe residence, surrounded by walls or front doors;
• Permanent residence for 1 year and 6 months, while you have the dog;
• Like dogs;
• Availability of time to introduce the world to the dog;
• Availability to teach the dog basic education;
• Availability to take the dog to all possible environments, in accordance with Law 11126/2005 and Decree 5,904/2006;
• Availability to pick up food and other items at school;
• Availability to bathe the dog at school.

The school offers:

• Food, internal and external antiparasitics, vaccines, collar, leash, vest and dog identification plate, socializing/hosting family identification, dog vaccination and antiparasitic control card, transport box, toys and veterinary assistance;
•  Contribution to ensuring the dog’s well-being includes meetings, conversations, practical exercises and observation of the dog’s behavior;
• Support for the dog and family with the technical team, in person or via video classes.
• Form how to be a socializing/welcoming family
  Form Here

BE A VOLUNTEER

The Helen Keller Guide Dog School is a social institution and all resources for the work of training assistance dogs come from community contributions. Once trained, the dogs are donated on a lending basis to support people with special needs. Therefore, your voluntary work will be of great use to HKeller, which is dedicated to serving society, promoting the inclusion and quality of life of blind, autistic and other people.

Volunteer Registration Form

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VOLUNTEER LAW
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Volunteer activities at this institution will be regulated in accordance with Law No. 9,608 of February 18, 1998.

DONATIONS

Training a guide dog can take up to two years and the final cost is approximately 100 thousand reais.
As our dogs are given free of charge to the blind community, our School really needs constant donations to continue this program which involves several costs. These donations can be made as follows:

HOW TO HAVE A GUIDE DOG

To guide a blind person, the guide dog undergoes approximately 2 years of training, which involves socialization and specific training for guiding: avoiding obstacles in the air, on the ground, finding locations, among others, to ensure safety. and free walking for the visually impaired. Subsequently, the dog and person with similar profiles (pair) are selected, in relation to workload, walking speed and personality, to carry out the adaptation/instruction of the pair, for a successful partnership.

Requirements to be a guide dog user:

• Be at least 18 years old or emancipated;
• Safe residence, with walls or doors;
• Be blind or have low vision;
• Like dogs;
• Have the financial means to keep the dog (around R$500 per month);
• Be able to pay for vaccinations, internal and external antiparasitics, urgencies and emergencies, veterinary care and other demands involving the health and well-being of the dog;
• Daily care for the dog;
• Have an independent active life and a routine;
• Take an Orientation and Mobility course.

Form How to have a Guide Dog

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MORE INFORMATION

Do you know what training a guide dog is like?

All guide dogs trained by the Helen Keller Guide Dog School come from a genetic program, where the breeding stock was selected following international standards in accordance with the International Federation of Guide Dogs, thus only puppies born in the ECG -HK participate in the guide dog training program.
Puppies born in the Helen Keller maternity ward will have diverse experiences within the training center, where from 60 days of age onwards, they are sent to socializing volunteers, who will be responsible for presenting daily activities with guidance from the Helen Keller team, until the 15 months of the puppy’s life.
Upon reaching this age, the dog returns to Helen Keller, to participate in training to become a guide dog. When trained, Helen Keller looks for a client, to form a pair according to the profile of the guide dog and the client.

How much does a guide dog cost?

Helen Keller and its partners will provide all necessary resources for the training of guide dogs. But they will be given FREE to blind people.

Can any dog ​​be a guide dog?

Helen Keller only works with dogs, born through the genetic breeding stock with the aim of maintaining characteristics necessary for working with guide dogs.

ACQUIRING A GUIDE DOG

To request a Helen Keller guide dog, access the link https://caoguia.org.br/caoguia/como-ter-um-cao-guia/

SEND YOUR QUESTION TO
contato@caoguia.org.br

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CONTACT
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