Puppy Prep School : Charity: Volunteers act as ‘foster parents’ of future Seeing Eye dogs. The hard part is giving them up.
Debbie Bolton takes Panther, a black German shepherd, wherever she goes. The Burbank homemaker and the strapping 6-month-old, 90-pound canine together attend PTA meetings, mingle at mixers, snack at fast-food franchises and shop at Ralphs, where Panther discreetly sniffs the meat counter. But when Bolton and Panther strolled into K mart, store personnel thought enough was enough.
“Dogs are not allowed in this store,” a clerk said.
“This is not a dog,” Bolton retorted.
As she looks back on that incident, Bolton admits that perhaps she was in error. After all, Panther is a dog. But he’s no ordinary mutt.
Panther is a Seeing Eye puppy in training. Bolton and her husband, Mike, a Lockheed security coordinator, are volunteer puppy raisers for International Guiding Eyes, one of 10 guide dog schools in the nation. The Sylmar nonprofit institute finds temporary homes for about 140 Labrador retriever, German shepherd and golden retriever puppies every year.
Puppies are turned over to their “foster parents” at about 8 weeks old, and puppy raisers keep the animals a year or more, until the animals are ready to be trained in Seeing Eye activities. In addition to providing food and a loving home, puppy raisers teach the dogs obedience, manners and social skills. Free veterinary care is provided by the school.
“We look for people who don’t necessarily have a lot of dog experience but do have the commitment to provide a lot of affection and socialization,” said Jane Brackman, the school’s executive director. “If a dog has not been exposed to social situations, we are up a creek.”
“Socialization is the crux of the program,” added puppy program coordinator Richard Van Dam. “Puppy raisers must get used to taking their dogs everywhere, which can be difficult if you don’t like attention. But this is what the puppies will eventually do as guide dogs. If they don’t get used to being out in public now, it is too late.”
Puppy raisers find creative ways to expose their dogs to a variety of challenging environments. Paul and Sue Zepezauer of Newhall take their 7-month-old Labrador, Hannah, through automatic doors, up and down stairs and on elevator rides. Hannah has even gone bowling with Paul, a retired printer.
Actress Elizabeth Burrelle raised her first puppy in Manhattan, where she lived while working on the “One Life to Live” soap opera. She and Nathan, a white Labrador, rode New York subways, buses and cabs. Now that Burrelle is back in Sherman Oaks, she goes on auditions with her current canine charges, Zoe and Kristen.
“It’s like going to the store with two children,” said Peggy Mueller, a Bell Canyon nurse. “It takes a lot of time and makes all the errands more work.” She and her husband, Bill, a chemical engineer, raise a German shepherd named Thor.
To mollify store managers who don’t usually welcome frisky young dogs in their shops, puppies wear special harnesses and sport bright yellow capes emblazoned with the words “International Seeing Puppy.” The dogs come to learn their capes and harnesses mean business. When they are in uniform, playful pups put on their best doggie behavior and become sedate and serious guide dogs.
But even while wearing their official garb, dogs manage to get into a few tight spots. On Thor’s first trip to the library, he spotted an elderly patron wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat. That was reason enough for a nonstop barking spree.
An embarrassed Mueller tried to explain to the frightened woman that it was nothing personal. Thor had simply never seen a hat before.
When they returned home, Mueller rummaged through her closet and found a big straw hat--an old vacation souvenir. She wore it all day long. It worked. Thor hasn’t barked at any wild hats lately.
Seeing Eye puppies are bred to be loving and healthy, but that doesn’t stop them from digging holes in the yard, chewing chair legs, eating plants or wetting the rug. “When we look for puppy raisers, we want people who are willing to let puppy be puppy,” Brackman said. “If that white couch and white carpet are near and dear to you, this program is not for you.”
But puppy raisers say the hardest part of their job is not the occasional “bad doggie” episodes. It is giving the dog up.
“I constantly tell myself that Thor is not my dog, that I am just a foster parent, that I am raising the dog for the blind,” Mueller said. “Still, the day that I drop him off and know he’s not coming home again, I will be a little tearful.”
Sue Zepezauer added, “It’s like raising a child. You know the child is going to grow up and move on.” However, saying goodby to Kelley, their first Seeing Eye puppy, was painful for Paul. “I got down on my hands and knees and gave her a hug,” he said. “I was about to cry.” Kelley graduated from guide dog training in July and now lives in British Columbia with Liesa Von Der Heide, her blind owner.
Zoe, a year-old black Labrador, is almost ready to be returned to the school for training, and Burrelle dreads their farewell. “Zoe is the most loving, sweet, smart dog I have known,” she said. “She is so much my buddy that it is going to be like giving up a part of me.” To keep her mind off the loss, she has taken another Seeing Eye puppy, a squirming little black Labrador named Kristen.
After being returned to the institute, dogs are closely examined for physical or behavioral problems. About 25% of the pups are turned away due to hip dysplasia, eye disease, elbow or skin problems or other ailments. An additional 15% or so are rejected because they seem aggressive or unable to concentrate. Puppy raisers may keep rejected dogs as pets, and the school maintains a waiting list of people who request dogs ousted from the program.
“These dogs have to be perfect because a person’s life depends on them. They really can’t have any quirks,” Van Dam explained. “Still, when a dog is rejected, it is very frustrating for the raisers who spent a tremendous amount of time and energy with them.”
Dogs that pass the physical exams and behavioral tests spend four to eight months in training. They maneuver their way through obstacle courses, walk along heavily trafficked boulevards and are confronted with moving vehicles. They learn to lead, turn right and left, walk straight and step up and down. They are taught to make decisions, obey commands and, when necessary, to respectfully disobey. Then they are matched with a blind student according to lifestyle, personality, walking speed and activity level. “It’s like a prearranged marriage,” Brackman said.
Blind students spend four weeks learning how to use their guide dogs, during which time they live in dorms on International Guiding Eyes’ seven-acre, parklike compound. To participate in the program, students must have at least 80% vision loss, be healthy and mobile and at least 16 years old. There is no upper age limit. The oldest student, according to President M.E. (Bud) Melvin, was 85.
The guide dog, training, dorm stay, harness and follow-up care are all provided free to the blind, but International Guiding Eyes must raise approximately $20,000 for each guide dog/blind partner team, Brackman said. Since being founded by a blind machinist in 1948, the guide dog school has helped more than 1,500 women and men receive guide dogs and training.
“The dog allows a blind person to become mobile and go into the world,” Van Dam said. “It really changes their lives.”
In one case, a blind student, Jack Bedikian of Van Nuys, was training with his guide dog at the Northridge Fashion Square under the discreetly watchful eye of instructor-trainer Steve Burkman. Suddenly the dog stopped.
Bedikian repeatedly commanded the dog to move on, but the dog refused to budge; instead it sprawled out in front of the student and began to push him backward. “The dog just locked him up,” Burkman said. Finally the student felt the floor around him--and realized the dog had saved him from hurtling down a flight of stairs.
Burkman watched “with goose bumps” as the dog then guided the student around a concrete pole and led him straight to the elevator. The two safely descended.
