Well, I finally had to do it-pick up the poop. I know many of you sighted people out there are just wondering how a person who can’t see finds the poop to pick it up-I have one word for you—“carefully”. Actually, here is what I gather, and don’t count me as an expert-or even knowledgeable-as I have only did it twice and believe me the first time was probably an award winning funniest videos moment. However, I heard that a couple of my classmates who are also new dog guide handlers were even funnier. So, we take the dogs out to the PARK area-a huge concrete area (so they don’t get spoiled to only go on grass). We take their harness off and put them on a long leash and they generally run around us in a circle-and when we feel/see them stop we can pretty much be sure they are doing it. We call it 1 and 2 here-and it is amazingly hilarious how it is a conversation of such ease around here-LOL! Anyway, we take our hand and place on the dogs back and if they are angled down in sort of a sit position, they are doing a 1, and if arching their back-that’s a 2. Now, when we know they are doing a 2 (here it comes the answer all of you are waiting for)-we place our foot at about the place their tail is. Then when they get up and start moving away-we keep them there-and with our poop bag we locate it by just moving our hand-covered poop bag in front of our foot we have used to mark position withand pick it up. Now, I tried to use a triple bag today-and the trainer was just laughing at me and said that would not work. All I can say at this point is “thank you, God, that I can still see enough to locate the poop visually.” So, I did it, without incident-except a lot of comments like “Carmel, we will have to find you a food that gives you smaller poops.” And “Seeing Eye would really be amazing if they could teach these amazing dog guides to pick up their own poop-with a poop bag so they don’t get into their paws of course.”
All in all, I am sure it will become just a natural thing I do-just like I used to change diapers when my big girl was a wee one. All in the name of love and duty-or dooty—LOL!
Sylvia's Guide Dog Tale 
Alexis said
I have found that TSE’s foot placement method tends not to work for me. Here’s what I do. When I see Julia arch her back in preparation to poop, I place the hand covered bag directly at the base of her tail. She poops directly into the bag so there is no mess to clean up. After she’s done, she kicks her feet to spread her scent around the area. As she’s doing this, I flip the bag inside out, and presto! Poop is contained. Hope this is helpful.
Amy Johnson said
Alexis, I have no idea how you do that! I don’t do the foot thing really. I just know exactly where my dog is standing and when she moves away I bend over and feel around with my bag-covered hand. This usually works with no problems unless it’s on rocks or on a hill or something, lol. Thankfully Vonda stands in one place when she does it. I hear that some dogs move around and that would be hard to pick up! But it really does become second nature after a while and you don’t even think about it any more. You just do it.
Alexis said
I do it just the way I described. LOL I was getting tired of picking up on the ground and feeling around for the poop. So, one day, I decided to try this method, and poof! Instant success! Perhaps this is because Julia ws used to people touching her back. I did this in training like I was told to do in order to determine what she was doing (1 or 2) so that habit carried on. When I decided to start training her to poop in the bag, it was just natural to find the base of her tail and place the bag in that location. Sightecd people who watch me do this are amazed because apparently, even they have trouble picking up their dog’s poop. An ccupational therapist from work saw this and thought it was the coolest method since sliced bread. LOL
Sylvia said
Alexis, it does sound like a very interesting method!
Leta Roberts said
Sylvia,
I’ve got a suggestion of a food that makes smaller poops – Orijen. You buy it at a pet store that carries special brands. You can probably look it up on the web and find a distributor. My friend has a very large dog and it was making HUGE poops, so I told them about it and now their dog is on it and making much smaller poops. My dog, too, eats it and the same results, much smaller poops. I used to use Call of the Wild which my dog loved and that had the same result, but my local pet store stopped carrying it. Also, when you use a food that produces less poop, it means they are retaining more of the food for nourishment, so you even end up feeding them less. Petsmart and Petco do NOT carry this food. There may be other brands that a vet can steer you to or the specialty pet market can recommend that has the same results. I just know these two brands work well. Also, I flush their poop rather than having it stay around the house or in the outside garbage can and then throw the empty poop bag in the garbage – don’t flush the bag. You’ll get used to this process and you’ll feel good you are picking up rather than leaving it for your neighbors.
sulie said
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Gina said
Wouldn’t it be nice if all dogs could do this? When I had only 1 dog, I did what Alexis did and placed the bag under poop as it was coming out. I don’t recommend it when you have 2 dogs and the other one is pulling you in a different direction. Not fun. : )