A story about how I, who have never owned a dog, might have saved a working dog in a pinch

"Nana-chan, stand up. Stand up, please."

That voice was heard on the evening pedestrian deck (an elevated walkway) where many people were coming and going.
On our way back from visiting my parents' house with my sister, we were heading toward the station when we encountered a woman standing at the edge of the walkway with a dog sitting down.

It was a visually impaired person with a white cane and a guide dog.
When we asked, she said she was in trouble because the guide dog had sat down for no apparent reason, and she asked us to guide her to the station.
The yellow tactile paving that leads from the station to the commercial facility was on the opposite side of the walkway from where she was.
When I asked, "Would you like to go to the tactile paving?", she explained that the flow of people had become one-way toward the commercial facility (she wanted to go in the opposite direction to the station), and she had been pushed out earlier.

Even while we were having that conversation, a large number of people were constantly passing by.

The visually impaired woman managed to get Nana-chan (the female guide dog) to stand up, and my sister offered her arm to the woman, guiding her toward the station. My sister and the woman were in front, with Nana-chan and me half a step behind.
However, Nana-chan would immediately sit down again.
I felt an urge to pat her back, but I remembered hearing that you shouldn't pet a guide dog, so I held back.

"I wonder if Nana-chan would walk better if we were on the tactile paving," the woman said, so we decided to have Nana-chan stand up again and move toward the tactile paving.

I forgot to mention, but my sister is a bubbly, attention-seeking person, to the point where even family members find it embarrassing. She showed that side of herself here too,
"Coming through!" "Excuse me!"she called out, parting the crowd.

The tactile paving was completely covered by the flow of people heading toward the commercial facility. But thanks to my sister's bubbly personality, people naturally moved out of our way.

Good job, sister.

Nana-chan was walking well, too.
Even though four or five well-built men in suits were coming toward us from the front, I saw them quickly split up and look back at us as they passed.

Looking back...?

I didn't sense any malice, but I wondered if they were looking at us with curiosity.

Just as the ticket gate came into view, there was a tremendous sound of footsteps from behind.
A woman with glasses, her hair disheveled, ran up and called out,"Excuse me!"so I braced myself. Was this person looking at us with curiosity too?

"The dog, she's done a poop."

Huh???

What is this person saying?
I was right next to Nana-chan, though.

When I looked in the direction she was pointing, I could see several black droppings about 10 meters behind us.

W-whoa!! *sweat*

I called out to my sister and the woman (and Nana-chan) who had gone ahead, and fueled by a mysterious sense of duty that I at least had to do something, I rushed to the scene with the woman in glasses who had told me about it.

Oh, I wonder if I have a plastic shopping bag on me today.

As I was rummaging through my bag, the woman in glasses handed me a plastic bag.

Okay, what now?
I have never owned a dog or a cat.
When I volunteered to rake fallen leaves, if there were cigarette butts, I would pick them up through a bag and turn it inside out to collect them, so that method should work, right?

There were four pieces of dark, 'karinto'-like poop, both big and small. Okay.

By the time I had collected everything, my sister, the woman, and Nana-chan had caught up.

The woman took an aluminum Ziploc-like bag out of her backpack. It was likely for waste.
When I tried to hand over the plastic bag containing the (karinto), Nana-chan came up to the bag as if to say, 'Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.'
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
I really wanted to pet her here too, but I had to resist, I had to resist.

When we thanked the woman in glasses who had told us, she said,
“I have a dog too, so I couldn't help but notice.”

I am, of course, not directly involved, but I thought that there might be quite a few people who aren't looking with curious eyes, but are watching over them wondering if there is anything they can do to help. If the timing had been different, this person might have been the one guiding them.

After seeing the woman and Nana-chan off to the ticket gate, my sister and I stopped by a cafe a little way back down the corridor. My sister treated me to a chocolate drink.

It's strange that the tactile paving is only on one side to begin with, I have to send an email to the railway company's customer service office tomorrow, my sister said.

It wasn't just that the tactile paving was hidden by other people walking on it. The flow of people had formed so naturally that it was difficult to even move in the opposite direction.
If there had been one more strip of tactile paving, the flow could have been separated.
I also promised that I would say something to the railway company.

“Also,” my sister said.
“Maybe the reason the dog was sitting down at first was because of the poop.”
“Usually they would seem restless or growl, but she was so calm, wasn't she.”

I wish Nana-chan could have spoken. I don't know much about guide dogs, but I thought as I sipped my chocolate drink that it must be a very tough working environment.

I sent an email to the railway company's inquiry corner a few days later, but unfortunately, I received no reply. (2203 characters)

[Afterword]
I honestly hesitated about whether I should write this story.
It might be dishonorable to the working dog.
I'm sorry for writing it (the dog's name is a pseudonym).
It became a trigger for me to take an interest in tactile paving and guide dogs.

Postscript: The reason the dog was sitting down
Since I'm not a dog, I don't know for sure, but at first (my sister and I) thought maybe it sat down because there were no tactile paving blocks there.
When I asked the owner (a visually impaired woman), she explained that tactile paving is strictly for visually impaired people. She said the dog usually walks even in places without tactile paving.
So, I later thought it might have been because it needed to poop (though other reasons like the crowd or the unfamiliar location are certainly possible).

I'm participating!
Anyone can participate!

The thumbnail image was borrowed from Juri Takai.
See you later!

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