The Red and Black

Issue date: 10/13/08 Section: News

Media Credit: BLAKE LIPTHRATT Webster is one of the dogs being trained to guide. Students make a year commitment to teach pups. [Click to enlarge]

Training a guide dog on campus is no walk in the park.

Moira Gillis, a puppy walker for the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, has been training Maggie, a purebred guide dog, since she was a puppy.

"I became interested in [the program] because I saw other girls on campus walking the dogs around," Gillis, a senior from Richmond Hills, said.

The organization requires a one-year commitment when someone signs up to be a puppy walker.

"The number one goal is to socialize the dog," Sarah Hooper, the Athens area Guide Dog Foundation coordinator, said. "We tailor [the training] to what people are comfortable with. At the bare minimum they need to be socialized outside every day."

Hooper, a junior from Woodstock, has been raising her fifth guide dog, 10-month-old Reiger, for the past eight months. She became involved in the program in high school when she raised a guide dog for her Girl Scout Gold Awards project.

Since part of the guide dog training includes taking the puppy everywhere, Hooper encourages the Athens-area puppy walkers to explain the program to their professors at the beginning of the semester.

"[I] talk to the class on the first day about what it's like to be a dog walker," Gillis said. "I give a presentation and answer the basic questions that everybody asks, because I get asked questions everywhere I go."

As the Athens area coordinator, Hooper holds monthly meetings with area puppy-walkers. The meetings cover basic training and obedience.

Gillis teaches her dog basic obedience, placing focus on "down," "sit," "stay," "come" and "heel."

Since the dogs must return to the foundation after 12 months, the walker must be willing to give up the dog, Hooper said.

"I put boundaries in place where I don't get attached and [Maggie] doesn't get attached," Gillis said. "She is a little less attached than other dogs in the group that spend all of their time with their owners."

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools