Raising Calm, Confident Seeing Eye Dogs

About 10 years ago, Michelle Sminkey and her teenage daughters were walking through a local mall and came across a group of people with puppies. “Of course, we had to stop,” she said. The members of Paws Abilities Seeing Eye Puppy Club were at the mall that day socializing the puppies.

Michelle and her daughters were intrigued. They began attending club meetings. Club members foster puppies, many of which go on to become Seeing Eye dogs.

Six months after joining the club, the Sminkeys received Hayden, their first Seeing Eye puppy. Now, 10 plus years later, Michelle is the Luzerne County club leader and she and her daughters are raising puppies number 10 and 11.

Michelle explained that the puppies are all bred at The Seeing Eye in Chester, New Jersey, a state-of-the-art breeding facility. “The Seeing Eye is the oldest guide dog school in the world and only dogs bred or trained at The Seeing Eye are able to be called ‘Seeing Eye Dogs,’ others are simply called guide dogs. Approximately 500 puppies are born at The Seeing Eye each year.” work that is needed to be a good guide dog. Using geneticists and DNA research, The Seeing Eye strives to breed the healthiest and most reliable guide dogs possible.

Co-founder Morris Frank and Buddy, the first Seeing Eye dog, arrived in New York City in 1928 and impressed onlookers by demonstrating Buddy’s ability to navigate a complicated and dangerous street crossing. Since that iconic moment in guide dog history, Seeing Eye dogs have proven their value and intelligence many times over.

There are more than 30 puppy raising clubs in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. Before the puppies are placed with a raiser at 7 to 8 weeks, they are exposed to sounds such as music, sirens, thunderstorms and babies. They experience floor surfaces, vacuum cleaners and small stairs. Volunteers and staff play with them, touch their feet and wear

Seeing Eye breeds Labrador retrievers, Golden retrievers and German Shepherds. They also cross the labs and goldens. In Seeing Eye’s 90 plus years, it has determined that these breeds are the best combination of size, intelligence, stamina and eagerness for the funny hats and glasses when interacting with the pups.

“We are responsible for teaching basic obedience, house manners and socialization. We attend puppy club meetings with other puppy raisers and start some of the basic commands they will use once they return to The Seeing Eye for their formal training. During the year they are with us, we expose the pups to as many sights, sounds and circumstances as we are able. We take them to the mall, the movies, restaurants and stores. Some of us bring them to work, church and school. Our goal is to raise calm, confident dogs that are comfortable in all sorts of situations.”

When the pup pies are approx 15-16 months old, they return to The Seeing Eye to start their for mal training.

During their first month, their hips, eyes, heart, and hearing are checked to make sure they are healthy. They are spayed or neutered, unless they are being considered for breeding. They get time to acclimate and settle into the kennel, and spend lots of time playing with their new kennel mates. After that month, they are assigned an instructor, they are introduced to the harness and begin formal training. They train in harness for approximately four months, some a little longer. During this time, they are evaluated for into matching dogs to their partner: their size, their temperament, the speed and length of their gait.

Considerations include would they be matched with a college student, living on a busy campus, or someone who works in an office setting? Are they comfortable in big cities, traveling daily on subways and trains, or are they better suited for someone who lives spend three to four weeks at the Seeing Eye campus in Morristown living in dorm-style rooms with their new dogs. They learn to care for their new partner, get to know one another, and train alongside their dogs. They travel off-campus into town and into New York City or Philadelphia, crossing busy streets and riding trains and subways. They visit banks, grocery stores and restaurants. They are taught to stop for obstacles, curbs and steps. They look both ways when approaching streets and listen for vehicles even if they can't see them. The Seeing Eye even trains with electric cars to make sure the dogs are familiar with them. They are also taught to look for items overhead, low branches and signs.

Before they graduate with their new partner, the puppy raisers are invited to a graduation of sorts, called a "Town Walk.” It is truly an amazing experience to see the tiny puppy you raised, guiding in harness, making decisions and becoming a guide dog.

Barbara Rogers and her family, in Bear Creek, have been raising puppies for “a while now.” She was on her seventh pup, Rupert, when Happenings spoke to her. She takes her foster pups into the community regularly for socialization and teaches the puppies in her care some basic commands but gives them back around 14 to 16 months for formal training for their higher purpose.

Charter School. “I am fortunate that the school I work in, and my previous school, Wyoming Seminary, both embraced the Puppy Raising program and allowed me to bring the pups to work with me.” As club leader, in addition to organizing club meetings and outings, her job is to support the families in the raising of their puppy. The club also has an area coordinator who is available to answer any specific questions or concerns.

The club meets in Kingston, on the second and fourth Wednesday of each month. “Once you come to a few meetings and decide you would like to try puppy raising, you will fill out an application and provide references. Our area coordinator will meet with you, perform a home check and you will be put on a waitlist. The length of time until your first puppy arrives depends on the litters that are born, and what kind of pup you would like, such as the breed, male or female and color of coat. Initially a one-year commitment, many families go on to raise five, 10, or even 20 puppies. If one is interested but unable to commit to raising a puppy full-time, he or she could sign on to be a puppy sitter.”

Michelle said, “We need all kinds of families. Families with children and those that are retired. Families with other animals such as dogs, cats and horses; those that live on busy streets and those that live in the country. The most important thing to keep in mind is that our training is somewhat different than it would be with a pet dog. Our pups are not taught to heel, they are not allowed on furniture, nor are they given any table food. They must be taught not to beg or bark, they learn to rest quietly under a desk or table.They cannot chase birds or squirrels.”

Calm, confident pups that are not easily distracted or startled are best for the job. The dogs must also be able to exhibit ‘intelligent disobedience.’ This means they need to be able to make the decision to disobey a command in an unsafe circumstance or in an effort to make a better decision.

Not every puppy that goes through the program becomes a guide dog. Some are selected for the breeding program. Sometimes there are medical reasons a pup is not able to go on to guide. Other times, the dog's temperament is better suited for another line of work. Some dogs go on to drug or explosive detection, or police and Homeland Security work, Michelle explained. “If the puppy you raised is released from the program, you will get the opportunity to adopt him/her back.”

The dogs learn from a very young age that when their vest or harness is on, it is work time. When it comes off, they run and play; they wrestle, play fetch and chew toys.

No dog is ever forced to work. Some guide for eight to 10 years and are then retired. Others decide they are done after only a few years. The grad uate may decide to keep them or sometimes they retire with family members. If they are unable to keep them, they are returned to the Seeing Eye for adoption. There is a wait list of more than two years to adopt a dog from The Seeing Eye. Students pay $150 for their first dogs and $50 for each subsequent dog. Military veterans pay $1.These amounts have remained unchanged since 1929. The Seeing Eye is a 501(c)3 non profit, supported by contribu tions from individuals, corpora tions, foundations and gifts. They receive no government or insurance funding.

The most asked question we get as puppy raisers is "How do you say goodbye and give them back?” Barbara Rogers said it’s sad to say good-bye to a puppy you’ve loved and raised for almost a year and a half. “Yes, it's hard, Michelle said, but seeing the amazing things these dogs go on to do, it makes it all worth

For me, hearing from graduates about their partnerships, how these dogs change their lives, makes it all worth it. Plus, you'll get a brand new puppy to love, snuggle and start all over again.”

Visit seeingeye.org to learn more. Michelle can be reached at luzerne.tse.pups@gmail.com H –Christine Fanning