By Candace Kelley
Correspondent
The streets become classrooms for these seeing eye dogs Vick and puppy Abe. Abe’s red bandanna means he’s in training — a major undertaking for the dog and the trainer. Since 1929, The Seeing Eye has been giving sight to the blind and visually impaired.
“This bond is probably greater than any human bond,” said instructor Kristin Lake.
Lake has spent six years making sure these dogs graduate from the school. She then helps match the dog with an owner.
“We make a match based on personality, where they live and their handling style. We look at all areas when they get their match,” she said. “When they get their dogs, we have them first just play with them.”
A lot of the training takes place on a separate training ground and in the middle of downtown Morristown.
Even with an order to go, the dogs disobey if they have to.
“The dog would stop or not listen to the command. That’s intelligent disobedience,” Lake said.
And they learn everything from how to go to the bathroom on schedule, to how to go through metal detectors. The dogs of choice: Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers or a mix of the two. And because some have allergies, they have even trained poodles. But not every dog is cut out for the work. Forty-five percent of the dogs bred by the school don’t make the cut.
““They learn how to walk through stores escalators, elevators. A lot of the dogs are not cut out for the work either medically, behaviorally or because of the work,” Lake explained.
The Seeing Eye spends $60,000 to pair a person with one of these guide dogs. This means fundraising is exceptionally important.
And so are collaborations with companies and organizations like the scouts.
“There is a program called Pennies for Puppies. We have a lot of Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts tha participate and we show them the program, we would send a guide to their meeting and then encourage them to have fundraisers,” said Michelle Barlak, senior associate of public relations for The Seeing Eye.
The Seeing Eye also relies on puppy walkers or puppy raisers. These volunteers take the puppy home at eight weeks, teach it the basics like obedience and return it when it is about 14 months old. Being a part of the process is something that Lake says is exceptionally rewarding.
“You can’t put a price on changing someone’s life,” she said.
A first time visitor pays $150 for a seeing eye dog and once they receive the trained dog, they own it.