Guiding Eyes continues on with mission despite pandemic
Guiding Eyes is continuing on with their mission despite the pandemic.
Guiding Eyes can’t be stopped in their mission to breed and train guide dogs to help the blind and visually impaired across the country, even if there is a pandemic currently ongoing.
In October a bunch of guide dogs and trainers took a road trip to as far west as Colorado, making stops in Chicago and Ohio as well to drop off dogs with their foster families. In a normal year, they would be flown and meet their foster families at or near a local airport, but since that was out of the question in 2020, an RV made a good substitute.
Beginning the trip were the yellow Labradors Ambrie, Bea, Flyer, Pippi, and Ursa (as in the constellation Ursa Major) and the black Labs Bando, Jolee, and Odyssey, who ranged from two to four years old.
Pippi was the smart one who earned the “teacher’s pet” designation, while the class clown of Jolee, and Bando is the most experienced, as an active-duty service dog returning after a yearlong training stay at the Guiding Eyes main campus, which is located in Yorktown Heights, New York, about an hour north of New York City.
Not all of the team were technically guide dogs, as Flyer is part of a program in Chicago called Operation Cuddle Up as a comfort dog, and Bando has already graduated. The rest of the six dogs went with their Regional Guide Dog Mobility Instructors for home training with their matched student, which they will complete by the end of the year.
Senior Guide Dog Mobility Instructor Woody Curry provided updates on the team’s travel through the country on the Guiding Eyes website, which even got some coverage from People Magazine.
Despite driving through torrential rain for most of the trip, all the dogs were dropped off successfully, while five new dogs were picked up on the way back home for their In For Training tests and a retired guide dog coming in for an evaluation before being adopted as a pet.
And speaking of pets, not all puppies or dogs who go through Puppy College turn out to be suitable guide dog material, and some of these dogs become companion animals (pets) thanks to the new Guiding Eyes for the Blind Youth Program, which was launched in September and is designed to promote self-confidence in children dealing with blindness or visual impairment, and to prepare them for living with and caring for a guide dog in the future, should that become necessary.
The parent or guardian of the child will be considered the primary caregiver, and thus be responsible for keeping up the rigorous Guiding Eyes standards in food, shelter, vet care, etc.
“We are excited to offer families of children with vision loss the opportunity to experience what it is like to live with a guide dog,” Guiding Eyes Vice President of Training Programs Kathy Zubrycki said in a press release.
Since animals participating in this program are provided free of charge for the humans (just like actual guide dogs are), this experience kind of serves as a practice run, and because they are pets, they do not qualify for any special treatment like they would if they were service animals.
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