Michele Pouliot was a professional dog guide instructor with the largest US dog guide school serving the blind for more than 40 years.
Michele this week spoke to Stella Glorie on Vision Australia Radio’s Talking Vision about her career and experiences over more than four decades.
Michele joined Guide Dogs For The Blind in 1974 after reading about the school in a magazine.
“I decided to flip my hobby and my profession. Dog training had become a bit of a hobby for me with my dog and I just decided I wanted to do something in dog training as a professional,” Michele said
“I got a job at a kennel and was training pet dogs and read an article in a magazine about Guide Dogs For The Blind. It was this wonderful article talking about the work people do across the country at different schools training dogs to help blind people,” she said.
Among Michele’s experiences was being Guide Dogs For The Blind’s Director of Research and Development.
“I wanted to do more improvement of techniques and how we handle our dogs and how we teach our clients. There were new techniques being introduced into the world of dog training that guide dogs school weren’t interested in.
“People in the dog training world in general were discovering new ways to train dogs and I was fascinated by it and wanted to see if I could bring some of it to guide dog work.”
Also on this week’s Talking Vision is Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) Research Fellow Dr Sarah Liu on the survey MUARC and Vision Australia are running on pedestrian safety.
You can listen to this week’s Talking Vision here or on the player below: