Guide Dog Teams doing the Camino Ingles, perro guía

[violingi]

Hello everyone and thank you administrators for hosting this lovely group!

I am a former violinist who became a guide dog trainer and guide dog team coach a number of years ago. My colleague and I like to take guide dog teams on week long adventures, to Paris, to Prague, on a sailboat and so on.

This fall we ( Independence Dogs Austria) are planning a big week for 12 Spanish and Austrian/ German guide dog teams and 6-7 sighted assistants. A few of us are trying to plan it all, oh my... logistics is not my particular forte.
But it is all very exciting. We will be walking from A Coruña to Santiago de Compostela nad looking forward to it immensely. Our chosen monthis September. We plan on doing about 15 km per day, we hope to stop by some schools and introduce ourselves to the kids. Do you have ideas of affordable private Albergue at approximately these intervals?

The more input, the merrier I look forward to reading what you think!

Kind regards- ingrid

 

[Tassie Kaz]

Finding places to stay that can/will accept teams of dogs could be challenging but I wish you all the best with your venture!
Happy trails.

 

[MinaKamina]

Finding places to stay that can/will accept teams of dogs could be challenging but I wish you all the best with your venture!
Happy trails.

Please educate yourself.

Guide dogs and their owner / user have legal rights in Spain (and elsewhere):

the right of the guide dog user to access, stay and roam in the company of a guide dog in any space, place, establishment or public or public transport, regardless of its public or private ownership.

https://perrosguia.once.es/legislacion/derecho-de-acceso-1

 

[davejsy]

Please educate yourself.

I think most people would have thought the same ,- finding somewhere to take people and 12 dogs on what is generally not a dog friendly route is not going to be easy.

It is commendable that there is legislation for the admittance of guide/sight dogs in basically anywhere, but the above scenario would certainly be a test of this on the Camino.

It's an amazing thing to be doing though and I hope it is a great success for all involved

 

[woody66]

Hi Ingrid!
If you guys walk A Coruna to Santiago it's not long enough for you to qualify foe a Compostela! (i think the dogs can be issued on also; but others will give you a definitive answer)

Ferrol is the starting point if you want that and you need 2 stamps a day on your Credential (this proves you walked all the way)

Have you made any inquiries to any accommodation yet to check out their willingness to accept 6 or 7 dogs?
I have walked a couple of Caminos (i have end stage RP with some residual vision in one eye); on the first i left my G/dog at home, because i was unsure how he would cope with the heat , distance and terrain
On that first walk i inquired about my dog and the feedback was varied about the willingness to take a dog!
Check out the Gronze website it is in Spanish but Google Chrome browser will translate

Camino Inglés | Camino de Santiago | Gronze.com

El Camino Inglés corresponde a la ruta de peregrinación utilizada en la Edad Media por devotos ingleses, irlandeses y de otros países del norte de Europa, que llegaban en barco al puerto de A Coruña y, en menor medida, a otros situados en las rías de Ferrol, Ares y Betanzos. Hoy, tras la...

www.gronze.com

It lists accommodation along the Camino route with links to the them websites and phone numbers. It also has booking.com listings for hotels hostal and some albergues you can contact about the dogs

Like you guys i work my boy in urban environments and we walk 10km plus most days; but the Camino terrain throws up some challenge's i know my boy couldn't handle; i discovered that on my walk without him.

Obviously you are more organized with more support i wish you all well.
Buen Camino
Woody

 

[J Willhaus]

As hospitaleros, we were told that guide dogs/service dogs were always welcome. Companion dogs and pets were not. I think if you can find a place with beds for all your people, their animals will be accepted under the law. The difficulty is going to be finding enough beds for 18 or 19 people together at that time of year. September can be a busy month so be sure to make reservations in advance for this large of a group.

 

[henrythedog]

Ingrid, whilst I wish you the best luck in the world, I would strongly recommend a physical reconnaissance of the route with a dog before committing. I don’t doubt that the dog and handler teams would be fine, my concern is ‘Spain’.

The general Spanish attitude to dogs in hospitality establishments has changed remarkably in the past 20 years; but they’re still nowhere near as welcome as they are in some Northern European countries.

Where I live, if you go in the pub without a dog, someone will lend you one. Not so in Spain, the legal position notwithstanding.

 

[woody66]

Please educate yourself.

The law and reality are two different things and worlds apart when you walk in the shoes you find the truth!
I have worked a G/dog for twenty years; one dog is hard enough the challenge to find somewhere for six or seven is even harder.
I was physically stopped entering a supermarket three weeks ago; security guard put his hand flat on my chest stopped me dead and said no dogs!
I called him an a**hole and pushed him aside at which point a staff member asked what the problem was i explained.
She told the guard; he didn't know G/dogs were allowed anywhere i am!
Guide dogs were founded in 1931 and they haven't learned that!

 

[dougfitz]

This fall we ( Independence Dogs Austria) are planning a big week for 12 Spanish and Austrian/ German guide dog teams and 6-7 sighted assistants.

Please clarify what a guide dog team is? Do you mean a person and their guide dog? If that is so you are looking for accommodation for 18-19 people and 12 dogs. If that is the case, while I can understand the perhaps unnecessary suggestion that someone 'educate themself' about the rights of those with guide dogs, I would also suggest finding accommodation for a group this size will difficult, and may not always be possible in just one place in the towns along the CI. If you are prepared to split the group over a number of different establishments, you will have more flexibility.

I did a very quick look at Gronze, and along the route from A Coruna it would be more difficult to find places to stay at your preferred walking distances getting to Hospital de Bruma. I have walked from Ferrol, and I think it would be easier to craft a 15 km/day pattern on that route.

But I suspect that if you have been undertaking such adventures, you would have met similar challenges before.

 

[woody66]

Team is dog and owner!

 

[woody66]

Ingrid, whilst I wish you the best luck in the world, I would strongly recommend a physical reconnaissance of the route with a dog before committing.

I second that opinion!!!

 

[Tassie Kaz]

Please educate yourself.

Guide dogs and their owner / user have legal rights in Spain (and elsewhere):

the right of the guide dog user to access, stay and roam in the company of a guide dog in any space, place, establishment or public or public transport, regardless of its public or private ownership.

https://perrosguia.once.es/legislacion/derecho-de-acceso-1

@MinaKamina, I am well aware of, and support, the legal rights of guide dog users & their animals. My comment was based on the  practicalities of accommodating a  group of people & dogs...as posters after your comment have also noted. Not all albergues would be able to offer accommodation based on the size of the establishment or it's location ie in the centre of town with no outdoor space available or at the appropriate distance required (each 15km). And before you leap on me again about the dogs not sleeping outside etc, I mean from a toileting perspective & the like.
I agree with other posters, a 'reccy' perhaps with at least one guide dog user & their animal, would be a good idea prior to trying to organise a group. Ingrid has already stated logistics are not her forte, so all the more reason.
As stated above, I wish Ingrid & her venture all the very best!