‘Seeing Eye’ assists area blind community

From about 7 weeks to 18 months old, canines live with foster families, who train them for a program where they can become guide dogs for blind

Heidi the German shepherd made her presence known immediately.

The 9-week-old puppy boldly barked at the older dogs which towered over her while happily wagging her tiny tail. She rolled on the ground and nipped her litter mate, Helga.

And while Heidi might behave like the typical puppy, there’s nothing typical about the mission that she and her “puppy raiser” Grace Fries have embarked on.

Heidi is among the 16 dogs being raised by 14 families in PawsAbilities, the Luzerne County 4-H Seeing Eye Puppy Club. PawsAbilities is a partnership between local 4-H affiliates and The Seeing Eye, which is based in Morristown, N.J. Since 1929, The Seeing Eye has provided guide dogs for the blind.

Lisa Radcliff of The Seeing Eye said the puppies in the program are bred in a state-of-the-art facility in Chester, N.J. The dogs include German shepherds, Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers and Labrador-golden crosses, bred with the temperament needed to help a blind person on a daily basis, she said.

When the puppies are about 7 or 8 weeks old, Radcliff delivers them to foster families who care for the dogs until they are about 18 months old, Radcliff said. During those months, the puppy raisers are asked to take their dogs to as many social functions as possible and to teach them basic obedience.

“We ask them to give them a lot of love and a lot of exposure,” Radcliff said.

When the dogs reach about 18 months old, they are returned to The Seeing Eye so they can begin their training. Radcliff jokes that she’s not popular with the puppy raisers when it’s time for the dogs to leave.

“They call me Cruella De Vil when I take them,” she said, referring to the villain in “101 Dalmatians.”

If the dog passes this four-month training, it is matched with a blind person and the two train together under the supervision of a sighted instructor, according to The Seeing Eye Web site. This training could last up to 27 days.

Sometimes the dog doesn’t make the cut. The dog might not be compatible with a person, or The Seeing Eye decides during training that the dog isn’t a good match for the type of work it will need to do. In that case, puppy raisers are given a first opportunity to adopt the dogs as pets.

The Welter family of Dallas raised two dogs that didn’t qualify to be Seeing Eye dogs after training. Those two now reside with the Welters and work as certified therapy dogs. Another dog raised by the Welters is a guide dog in Canada. Christy Welter has high hopes for Euro, a 14-month-old well-behaved and mild-mannered German shepherd who sat attentively at his raiser’s side while younger dogs played around him.

Although Carle Welter understands that Euro will serve an important purpose for a blind person, it doesn’t make it any easier for her.

“It’s hard to say goodbye. You start crying a month beforehand. It makes it easier knowing that these dogs will be with their person 24 hours a day. It makes the blind person more independent. A lot of them say it’s so much better than a cane. You can’t hug and cuddle a cane.”

It was the good that these dogs can do that brought Andrea and Sean O’Neill to the meeting. The couple from Wapwallopen were eager to learn more about becoming puppy raisers. They have a 2-year-old black Labrador retriever at home, and had to put down an 11-year-old black Lab this summer.

“We just really love dogs. Raising them is the fun part,” Andrea O’Neill said.

While she is concerned that her family – which includes two young children – might get too attached to a Seeing Eye puppy, she worries just as much for their four-legged family member, Ripken, who is missing his friend who died earlier this year.

“I think it would be hard, but they’re going to do something that’s very good,” she said.

Margie Metzger, leader of the group, said deciding to raise a Seeing Eye puppy is not a decision that people should take lightly. She said her family debated for about four months before deciding to raise its first puppy. “It was a family decision, so we really raise them as a family.”

Those who do decide to raise a puppy receive an 8-pound bag of food for the dog, along with a collar and leash, Metzger said. The Seeing Eye pays for all veterinary bills and also supplies raisers with a stipend for food. Metzger said the organization tries to make the experience affordable for all.

The club also provides support for the puppy raisers. Members meet two times a month and review basic obedience and commands specific to the work the dogs are being raised to perform.

Some of the meetings involve outings – where the dogs and people go out into the community. The club has gone to Knobels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, Ricketts Glen State Park, the Wyoming Valley Mall in Wilkes-Barre Township and has even taken a ride on public buses. Next month, the club will go to the Wilkes-Barre Movies 14 to see “Marley & Me.” The theater is paying for the cost of the club to attend, Metzger said.

“The purpose of the outings is to expose the dogs to as many situations as possible that they might encounter. That way the dogs will not be afraid,” she said. “The more you can expose the dogs to, the better.”

Metzger said she took one of the four dogs the family has raised to Washington, D.C., where the dog rode the subway and toured museums. Another dog flew on a plane to Florida.

Metzger became involved in the club about four years ago when her daughters used the experience for their senior project in high school. The girls now serve as officers in the club -- Stephanie is president and Kelly is treasurer. Another teen, Alisha Yacinovich, is the club secretary.

Stephanie, 17, said it’s hard when the dogs leave for training, but she thinks it will be especially hard when it’s Debbie’s time to go because of the strong bond they’ve developed. “She’ll be 18 months old in January. I’m really worried because she should be leaving next month. She is the best dog ever.”

The Metzgers are on puppy No. 4, and Margie Metzger is confident that there will be a No. 5 and a No. 6. “We just love this club.”

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information about PawsAbilities, call Margie Metzger at 822-7324 or email her at msmetzger@verizon.net.

The club has a Web site, which includes photos of the puppies currently being raised: www.papaws.org. Information about The Seeing Eye can be found at www.seeingeye.org.

If you’d like to help, but aren’t in a position to raise a puppy, the club accepts donations to defray the costs.