Guide Dogs Need Puppy Trainers in our Area 
Duran is Happily Being Trained to Serve the Blind     

                                                        (photo by Bob Walter)

     Barb Muzzey and Duran, an eleven-month-old, yellow Labrador retriever, whom she is training daily to become a certified guide dog for a blind person. Duran watches the photographer and camera with interest, but no fear.

Love Does Help the World go Around...

    by Bob Walter
     October 16, 2006

     With a warm muzzle, soft, loving, brown eyes and willingness to please, Duran greets me. At his young age Duran is already a great representative of Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB). The group is looking for willing guide dog "puppy raisers" in Pierce County. Currently there are none in the Eatonville area, and no prospects, even though a helpful, experienced mentor lives nearby.
      Barb Muzzey, an assistant kindergarten teacher  at Eatonville Elementary, lives on Clear Lake with her husband, Bruce, their dogs, Duran and Murphy, and orange tabby cat, Charlie. Barb is the volunteer leader of local guide dog puppy raisers, with nearly fifteen years' experience. She mentors individuals and families who take on the important role of raising a puppy to become the eyes of a blind person. 
      Barb is also an officer with the Homeowner's Association on Clear Lake, proving once again that busy people are often the ones who make a great, and often profound, difference in the lives of others in the community.
       It's an immensely rewarding, if bittersweet job. The bittersweet part? Having to part with this lovable, eager-to-learn, young companion, after months of intensive rearing. His or her next stop is guide dog school. It must be like parenting, only the dog develops and leaves the nest much more quickly.
      The specialized training of the dogs in their many skills is, of course, done by professionals during the dog's "teen" months, but the experiences and training the puppy raiser gives them during their critical, formative months are just as important. They make all the difference between a normal, non-working, couch-potato dog and the amazing guide dog.
      Barb explains that raising a guide dog puppy is not easy. The pup goes with you everywhere, which helps prepare them for  all kinds of human circumstances - traffic, noisy malls, restaurants, even ball games. The puppy's presence is constant, and you must always be concerned for his safety. Duran, her eleven-month-old yellow Labrador retriever, is her eleventh guide dog trainee.
      He is certainly great company - extremely friendly, looks you straight in the eye, and seems happy  just rolling and stretching on the deck or the living room carpet, ears flopping and making funny puppy faces.

Duran Resting...

                                                            (photo by Bob Walter)

Duran holds his" down-stay" faithfully for the camera. One day he may be the eyes for a non-sighted person.

      Duran is always on the leash when outside the house, which he doesn't mind,  since he's used to it. Like all good guide dog puppies, Duran shows no timidity, and though, like any young dog, he may act a little goofy at times, you feel you're spending time with an animal who is very confident and self-assured, someone good to have around in a crisis, or just as a comfortable companion when at home.
    Murphy, a thirteen-year-old black Lab, was Barb's second guide dog puppy. His GDB puppy name was Acme. Like many of the pups selected, he never became a guide - in Murphy's case, because of hip dysplasia. However, he has been a wonderful companion dog all these years.
      Only two of Barb's first ten puppies made it to being full-fledged guide dogs. Both Hughes and Dusty are working as guide dogs in New Mexico. The rest were dropped from the program for various reasons, "Usually, it's medical," says Barb. The dogs who, for whatever reasons, don't become guides become family companions. 
      The puppy raiser can be anyone from nine years of age on up. Every family member must sign the dotted line, agreeing to play a supportive role in the puppy's rearing, and follow all the guidelines about living, working and communicating with the pup.

Puppy Raisers' Club...

      The puppy raiser prospect (and family) must first have a house check, and a current pet check.  A secure, outside run is essential, so if they don't have one, they'll need to build one. But it's a good investment in safety, for any and all future dogs, and not really that difficult of a project. The dog crate - a tool all dog trainers agree is a wonderful resource for any dog guardian - becomes a house staple.
    Once you've passed the screening, you become part of a local pup raisers' club, where you learn, over a period of about four months, how to be a guide dog puppy raiser. Many, but not all, of the local clubs are also 4-H dog clubs. Then comes the moment when you are given an eight-week-old recruit, to prepare for adulthood as a guide dog.
    You are given a manual to go by, and a $250 allotment for such costs as veterinary fees. You'll care for the pup for a year or more, with lots of support from Barb. "The fun part is the graduation, [from the dog's advanced training] where you go onstage to present the new guide dog to his or her grateful, new, human companion," says Barb. There's rarely a dry eye in the place. 
    Guide Dogs for the Blind has two training campuses - one in San Rafael, California, where their breeding program is also conducted, and a northern campus in Boring, Oregon. Barb pointed out that Lisa Roth, DVM, of All Creatures Veterinary Clinic in Eatonville raised guide dog pups when she was a child in California.
    Duran and Murphy are two great examples of why deciding to raise a guide dog puppy may be the most rewarding decision you ever make. If you want to learn more about this fantastic program please contact Michele Cawley, Ph.D, Puppy Raising Advisor, Guide Dogs for the Blind at mcawley@guidedogs.com or 509.968.9248 in Boring, Oregon.

      (Publisher's Note: After the untimely death of my sister, Dona Rulien Jones, in 1981 from complications resulting from breast cancer treatment, my mother, Ruby Haynes Rulien, became blind.  Dona was barely thirty-five and left two very young children. Mother, an extremely creative woman, just about lost her will to go on with life. But she decided to fight back and enrolled in the guide dog program at San Rafael. 
      The program lasts a month. During that time mother made many friends in her class and earned her great gift - Dolly, a black Lab guide. The training between dog and person is intense, and sometimes mother thought she just wouldn't get it. But eventually it all clicked and Dolly became mother's closest friend.
       When Dolly and mother came home to Eatonville, the world changed for the blind woman in her prime. Dolly brought a light and reason to live into mother's life. For eight years Dolly was her constant companion and her "eyes." Dolly brought hope to mother, became the canine friend of garden club members across the state, and touched the lives of children at school programs and adults at various meetings. Dolly was the star at these events, but she didn't know it. Her entire life was dedicated to helping mother and just being her faithful, intelligent and loving best partner.
       Dolly had to be euthanized ten months before mother died in August 1998. When mother was dying one of her strongest requests was to have Dolly's ashes buried with hers. Thus, Dolly is the only dog in the Eatonville Cemetery with her name engraved on a headstone. Dolly and her "colleagues" deserve the very best, even after they have left us.
       If you, or anyone you know, wants to make a heartfelt contribution to the blind, please consider helping train more dogs who can make the difference between life, and just existing, for thousands of good people who have lost their sight for various reasons. You will make a wonderful contribution to both dog and person, and I can guarantee you will never be disappointed. Dixie A. Walter.)