Countywide : Guidance for Future Guide Dogs

Jensen, a feisty 5-month-old black Labrador retriever, is no ordinary household pet. He is a guide dog in training.

During the next year his caretaker, 13-year-old Jessica Tjalsma, will give him obedience and other training in the hope that he will develop the skills to become the “eyes” of a blind person.

“If he makes it, it will make me feel like I’ve accomplished something,” said Jessica, who lives in Brea.

She and her family recently became involved in Paws for Independence, an Orange County 4-H Club in which youngsters raise, care for and train would-be guide dogs.

“I tell families this is a 24-hour-a-day job and that you are going to be foster parents to this puppy. It is not just a pet but part of your family,” said Wilma Cotting of Huntington Beach, leader of the community club, which meets twice a month at the Orange County Fairgrounds.

Cotting became involved in the program in 1979 when her daughter Stacy, who has since raised five dogs, joined the club. About 20 families are participating now.

The club gets the puppies from Guide Dogs for the Blind Inc. in San Rafael. The caretakers cover all expenses for the puppies during the 12 to 14 months they have them.

Cotting said the goal is to teach the puppies to be obedient and sociable. The dogs learn house manners, such as not to relieve themselves indoors or in public, not to grab food off the table and not to chew up household and personal items.

Training also includes introducing the puppies to the world outside. They are taken just about everywhere the family goes: to the market, the mall, to church, to school and to restaurants. They climb stairs and ride in elevators, cars, buses, trains and airplanes.

“We get them used to people in wheelchairs, noises such as loud cars, and water--that they can’t go play in it,” Cotting said.

In turn, the young dog trainers say, the puppies give them affection and a sense of responsibility, accomplishment and community service.

When a puppy’s basic training is finished, it is taken to San Rafael to be evaluated. About half become guide dogs and the rest become pets. If the family that raised the animal chooses not to keep it, the dog is put up for adoption.

Puppies who make the cut go into a six-month advanced program in San Rafael before being placed with a blind person.

“Part of my heart is taken away each time one leaves me,” said Ashley Bowen, 17, of Huntington Beach, who is raising her fifth puppy, Trumpet, a white male German shepherd.

“You get attached to them, but you know that you’re doing something to help someone.”