Students at St. Anne’s School recently learned of the services provided by the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind. Carmen Greico (right), who has been blind since childhood, was accompanied by Casey her dog. Debbie Nicolay is a puppy guide who prepares potential guide dogs for their rigorous training. She showed the students Ruby, her eleventh puppy in training, who is ready for the next step of real training. On Tuesday, October 26, St. Anne’s School were fortunate to have Debby Nicolay and Carmen speak about the Guide Dog Foundation, a program that pairs a guide dog with a visually impaired individual. The dogs go through a series of training phases before being assigned. In order to receive a guide dog, the visually impaired must fill out an extensive application including job, hobbies, where they travel and where they live. The application must also include personal references stating that this particular person is capable of owning and caring for a guide dog. The perfect dog is then matched with the person who the foundation thinks will best suit that particular person’s needs.

Debby, a puppy walker, talked about her role in the Guide Dog Foundation. Debby will take a puppy into her own home at the age of seven weeks. However, the puppies are trained differently from a normal puppy; they are specially trained to be guide dogs. The puppies are trained to eat all of their meals in a cage, and they are taught to obey many different commands. Some commands are verbal and some are hand motions. The puppies also wear yellow vests so they will be identified as guide dogs in training. Debby has housed 11 different puppies in the early stages of their guide dog training. She said that she plays many games with them, and that is how she teaches some of the commands. For example, Debby will hide and then call for the dog. This game teaches the dogs the command of “come.” One game that she can not play with the puppies is fetch. If they learn how to play fetch, then the dogs will fetch items and be distracted while with their visually impaired masters.

Students were fortunate to have two very special guests come with Debby and Carmen - Ruby, the guide dog in training, and Casey, the guidedog. Ruby has been living with Debby since she was seven weeks old. Debby also explained that after a certain amount of time, usually one year, the dogs go to the foundation center in Smithtown where they will complete the final stages of their training. After arriving in Smithtown, the dogs will go through a series of tests. The dogs have to be tested to see how well they react in a big crowd, and if noise bothers them. If noise bothers them they can not become a guide dog. If they pass the tests then they can move ahead in their guide dog training. The training that the dogs go through lasts from four to six months. About 65 percent of the smartest and calmest dogs that enter the program complete the training and go on to become guide dogs. The dogs that do not make it are recommended to the ATF. These dogs become the security dogs that we see at the airport, search and rescue dogs with the fire department, dogs that sniff out drugs and arsenal and other areas of public service.

The guide dogs are trained to do many acts of service for their masters. The dogs are trained to stay on a straight path and avoid obstacles for the safety of their master. The dogs are also trained to go to the curb and stop at street corners. The dog carefully watches the traffic while their master listens. If the dog is given the command to go ahead and walk, but it knows there is a car coming, they can obediently disobey their masters for their master’s safety. The dogs are also trained to know the difference between left and right and inside and outside. In an emergency, the dog will stay by its master; it will never leave him/her, and if the dog is ever lost, it will be safely returned to its master because they are tattooed with Guide Dog Foundation and their phone number.

Guide dogs are told to listen to their master’s voice and to ignore others. If someone else tells a guide dog what to do the owner tells the dog to ignore the command. However, if the master is new to a place and is with someone they know and that can see, the master will tell the dog to follow that person. The dogs go everywhere with their masters. For example, Casey, who is Carmen’s guide dog goes to the school where Carmen works with her every day. Guide dogs by law are allowed to go everywhere with their masters.

In addition to learning about the Guide Dog Foundation and what it is like to have a guide dog, we also learned what it is like to be blind from Carmen. Carmen has been completely blind in both eyes since age four. Sometimes hearing gets stronger and better-tuned as vision decreases. The most common types of guide dogs are Labrador retrievers and Golden retrievers. German shepherds at one time were used as guide dogs, but they were too possessive of their masters. For those who have allergies, a Labrador retriever, standard poodle mix, a Labradoodle, is available.

Brandon Bell in class 3-2 and school nurse Ann Hannes were influential in bringing this program to students. If you would like more information, e-mail Debby at: DN.dogvile@verizon.net or Carmen at CMG.notes@verizon.net .