Training puppies to be Seeing Eye guide dogs

Vital Stats

Lauren H

Bellefonte, PA

  • people helped20
  • People Doing It50

The Problem

I train guide dogs so blind people can have greater independence. Guide dogs allow a blind person to get around much easier than a cane. They also allow the person to have a friend. I live in a college community, and blind people have trouble going places because of the busy highways and the amounts of people. Supplying guide dogs to these people allow them to move around easier and live their lives without the restrictions of having a disability.

Plan of Action

Six years ago, I created a club in my county that links the local 4-H progam to the Seeing Eye program. Members of my club receive a new puppy every sixteen months. We train the puppies for a year and a half, and then send the dogs to New Jersey to be matched with a blind person. The club now has around forty members, and we have trained about thirty puppies to become guide dogs. I also speak to the community about accepting guide dogs in-training into their organizations. Socialization is very important to the training of a Seeing Eye puppy and it takes an entire community to raise a pup. After several years of speaking to many local clubs and organizations, my community is now very receptive to guide dogs in-trianing.
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