OCR Text |
Show o 4-H'ers i-Jvr--to Service ltlmlmtmlmKtmmmtm&mlmmmlmmmmmtm L L L ltmmmmiimfmlmmmmm p k By JENNIFER PETERSON Staff Writer Andrew Ballard begins his day like most other 1 1 -year-olds he wakes up, gets dressed, eats ikfast, feeds his dogs and heads Vchool. But after school he's not quite the same. Like other kids his age, Ballard goes home and does his homework, but then he takes his dog to the mall, grocery store, hobby shop or restaurants. I That's right-his dog, Oden. Ballard and his family are one of 17 Davis County volunteer families who train puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc. a non-profit organization which provides trained guide dogs as well as training for the blind men and women who use the dogs. Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc., which is located in San Rafael, Calif., was established in 1942 primarily to serve blind veterans. Shortly after its incorporation, the school expanded its service to include in-clude all blind persons who are physically and temperamentally suited to use the dogs. In 1989, the 10-club, 60-dog Utah branch of the program got an enormous boost when the Legislature passed a bill which gave Courtney Curran, now 16 and the County Ambassador for the Utah State 4-H Guide Dog Program, said training the dogs was not initially his idea. In fact, after seeing the dogs at a mall demonstration six years ago it was Curran 's mother who asked if he was interested. Since Guide Dogs usually finds its volunteers through 4-H, the Counter kids signed up for their local 4-H club, attended dog training train-ing and socialization sessions and were made fully aware of what would be expected of them once their puppies arrived. Individuals who apply to become puppy trainers receive a house visit from Koroulis and a puppy. Koroulis evaluates the family and the home to decide whether or not they are fit for the program. "I usually take the most rambunctious ram-bunctious dog in the club just so people will know what they're getting get-ting into. It's nothing to have a $50 or $60 pair of shoes chewed up. We've replaced the siding on our house, dryer vents-all kinds of stuff," Koroulis said. In fact, Libby's first puppy, Cheyenne, ate a footstool and several newspapers before understanding property destruction was not one of a guide dog's duties. The American Kennel Club-registered Club-registered puppies, German shepherds, shep-herds, golden retrievers or Labrador retrievers (yellow, chocolate or black), are bred at the California school. When the puppies are about 12 weeks old, they are delivered to volunteers throughout the country. "When the puppies first come here they aren't leash trained, they aren't housebroken, they don't even know their names," Koroulis explained. ex-plained. As the puppies are unloaded from the trucks and assigned to vol- I 7 :,a fT ' ' I: , - v I ,jj HA:X "f I x I M S jf A- - h( ,t, f Air 1 " I I they learn the danger of cars so that if their blind partner tries to cross the street when a car is coming, the dog will disobey," Bums explained. ex-plained. The dogs are given free to blind individuals who must also go through a training session. Guide Dogs not only provides the dogs, but also a required in-residence training program, transportation to and from the school, dog handling equipment and follow-up service. While the dogs remain owned by the national organization in case of abuse or other problems which can arise, dogs are seldom taken from their partners. "They say the value of one of these dogs once they are trained is between $10,000 and $15,000, but to a blind person they are priceless," said Koroulis. Giving the dogs back is one of the most challenging parts of the program for the young trainers. "It's like giving up a member of your family. My dog goes to work with me sometimes, I take her shopping, I take her when I take the kids to school, she goes everywhere with me. It's real tough. Even my husband, who's not a dog person, knows he better be around when we return the dogs because I am an absolute ab-solute basket case," Koroulis explained. ex-plained. The Counter kids said they cried at last year's puppy send-off even though they did not yet have a dog. "But it's worth it. If your dog goes on to be a guide dog and gives someone the freedom and independence in-dependence they deserve, it's worth it," Koroulis said. Only about 50 percent of the puppies become guide dogs. The rest are then offered back to the , family who trained them. If, for some reason, the family cannot take ' the dog back, there is a waiting list for individuals who seek excellently trained family dogs. '7 usually take the most rambunctious dog in the club...Itrs nothing to have a $50 or $60 pair of shoes chewed up. We've replaced the siding on our house, dryer vents all kinds of stuff." i M. Koroulis "It's also worth seeing the 4-Hers 4-Hers grow. Some of the kids come in and won't even make a peep, but later they can stand in front of a room full of people and tell them about their dog," Koroulis said. The Davis County club will hold a "Sneakers and Paws Run Walk" at the Layton Hills Mall on April 4th. Proceeds will help pay for puppy trainers transportation to California for guide dog graduation. Registration for the race will be held from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. The $10 fee for the one-mile walk or three-mile three-mile run includes a T-shirt and a chance at one of 250 to 300 door prizes. Registrants need not have a dog to participate. I - w j JA V-V Andrew Ballard, Aimee Koroulis, Ricki Chambers and Libby Counter walk through Five Points Ala 1 1 during one of the club's recent evening socialization sessions. the harness, so there's a lot of poking pok-ing and prodding that goes on. The dogs have to be able to stand there patiently and just tolerate that," Koroulis explained. The green and white jackets the puppies wear to simulate the harness they will later wear also helps them grow accustomed to having people and things touch them. "I've had people tell me they thought the dogs looked so sad in their harnesses, but they aren't in the harness all the time," Koroulis walk the person around obstacles such as telephone poles, mail boxes and street barricades. The dogs are also trained to disobey in some situations. "The dog needs some decisionmaking decision-making qualities and the ability to be somewhat disobedient. It has to have some judgment ability," volunteer vol-unteer puppy trainer Cass Burchett explained. Since the dogs cannot understand when the light is red or green, the blind person must use his or her hearing to determine when traffic is clear or waiting. If the individual tries to cross a street when traffic is heading their way, the dog is trained to "intelligently disobey." Sherri Burns said that to train the dogs to be wary of moving vehicles, trainers in San Rafael act as the blind partner and lead the dog into the street while a car driven by another an-other trainer heads their direction. If the dog allows the partner to walk into the street, the dog is nudged by the car. "Some dogs never recover mentally men-tally from this, but most of the time "They say the value of one of these dogs once they are trained is between $10,000 and $15,000, but to a blind person they are priceless" M. Koroulis unteers, the long year of basic training train-ing begins. Most of the training takes place on a daily basis as the kids housebreak, leash train and teach basic commands such as sit and stay to the dogs. Further training, such as harness commands, is done when the dogs return after one year to the professional trainers in California. Every Monday evening the group meets for socialization classes during dur-ing which time they take the dogs to malls, the airport, grocery stores, the post office anywhere a blind person might go. "These dogs in this program are under a lot of stress. Most dogs would be a basket case in many of the situations we put these dogs in," said Koroulis. On Tuesday evenings the group meets in Ogden, where they attend dog training class with Don Sellers, a professional dog trainer who also teaches the kids how to continue training the dogs out of class. The dogs have some special skills. For instance, they have to be able to walk through food without picking it up. "Let's face it. Dogs love food especially people food. And if you're in a movie theater or the mall and there's popcorn or other food spilled on the floor you can't have the dog stopping and wandering wander-ing around picking up all the food," Koroulis explained. In fact, Ballard's dog, Oden, can be downright sneaky when it comes to people food. Oden will not eat people food if Ballard is looking, but as soon as he leaves the room, Oden chows down. "Sometimes I'll put a piece of cheese out in the middle of the floor then get a throw can a can with pennies in it so it makes lots of noise and wait outside. I'll watch in the window and when Oden goes for the cheese, I run in the door and throw the can at him," Ballard said. But not all of the training and correcting is through voice tone corrections, leash corrections and throw cans. By playing with the dogs and touching them lovingly, the children also teach the dogs not to be "body sensitive." "When a blind person first gets a dog they aren't used to putting on 1 Colleen Burns and her puppy, Via, like other partners, part-ners, have grown very com-. com-. fort able with each other. O service dogs in training the right to go into any public place. "You'd be amazed how many O merchants are upset by us," said Marilyn Koroulis, the Davis County group leader. Many businesses involved in food service are nervous about letting let-ting the dogs into their restaurants because it may offend other customers. But, she said, most Davis County businesses are very receptive to the program. "Davis County is really good. If we go to a new place we have the kids ask first. We supply some O background information to the merchants mer-chants and they are usually pretty agreeable. Usually after that it's D smooth sailing," Koroulis explained. ex-plained. Guide Dogs for the Blind, Inc. is sponsored entirely by private contributions. con-tributions. As a result, volunteer trainers pay for the dogs' food, transportation, supplies and a minor fee for training. Libby Counter, 12, and her brother Richie, 15, discovered the program in March of last year while they were grocery shopping. "We saw the dogs in the store and decided we wanted to do it," Richie explained. Most of the young Davis County volunteers said they did not have too much trouble convincing their parents to adopt the puppies for one year. "We were going to have a dog no matter what, but we figured this was a good way to do it," Ballard explained. S If'- i J - I said. "When they're in their jackets or harnesses they learn that's business busi-ness time it's not scratch time or sniff -around time," Koroulis explained. ex-plained. Many of the dogs turn into different animals when their jackets come off. "My dog is really good in her jacket. But, boy, when that jacket comes off, she goes wild. She'll run around the yard, occasionally chase a ball and play with the kids. When the jacket's off she's allowed to be a regular dog," Koroulis said. "It's like a working thing. Everyday we get dressed up for work, but when I get home, the heels and hose come off, boy. ' ' After one year the dogs go back to California, where professional trainers pick up where the volunteers vol-unteers left off. Dogs are taken into more stressful areas such as downtown San Francisco, Union Square and the tourist-packed Fisherman's Wharf to get used to crowds. The dogs are taught to use harness commands and continued socialization skills. Contrary to popular belief, guide dogs do not know where their partners part-ners want them to go. Instead, it is up to the blind person to know how many blocks to go and when to turn right and left. The dog's job is to Richie Counter shows Di a dive-shop mannequin as shops opened their doors to the guide-dog guide-dog puppy-in-training. Trainers take the dogs anywhere a blind individual might go and try to get the dogs comfortable with various unusual sights and sounds. |