The Dog Journal

STUDENT TRAINS GUIDE DOG AT HIGH SCHOOL - “It takes a lot of maturity and compassion to do what Annika’s doing…A lot of people her age wouldn’t spend their time training a guide dog, but she is.”

Annika Jasek-Rysdahl, a student at Pitman High School in California, is training a Black Labrador puppy named Chevelle to become a guide dog. Jasek-Rysdahl went through an evaluation process before she could become a trainer. She is a member of the Stanislaus County Guide Dog organization. After obtaining permission from school officials, she is also able to bring Chevelle to school for training. Here’s more from The Modesto Bee:

“You have to go to meetings for at least three months, then puppy-sit five days, and get a house inspection,” she said. “The inspection is there to make sure you have a safe house, back yard, and no aggressive animals.”

The final step was acquiring permission from the school to bring Chevelle. Annika says every one of her teachers and the school principal were extremely supportive and even excited. She says she’d urge anyone interested to look into guide dog training.

“It is an amazing program,” she said.

Annika now is part of the Stanislaus Guide Dog Club. She has built a strong friendship with Chevelle, but she’s not the only one. Pitman High students and teachers alike have taken a deep liking to the beautiful black dog in his spiffy vest.

“Of course, he doesn’t mind the attention. All of my friends love him and always ask where he is when I don’t take him to school with me,” she said. “Even my teachers look forward to seeing his face and wagging tail walk into class.”

MARINES AND SAILORS HELP BUILD PUPPY DEVELOPMENT CENTER - “[H]aving the Marines and sailors donate this labor means the organization can put the money it would have spent on these projects toward its mission: providing guide dogs to people who can’t see.”

A group of Marines and sailors from Camp Pendleton in California are helping an organization called Guide Dogs of the Desert. They are providing free labor for the construction of a Puppy Development Center, where dogs will be trained to become guide dogs for the blind. Read more from The Press-Enterprise:

The men and women were helping out at Guide Dogs of the Desert. They were landscaping, moving heavy stuff, cleaning up and helping construct the new Puppy Development Center.

The project was organized by Chaplain Dennis Wheeler from Aircraft Group 39. Wheeler and his wife raise dogs for Guide Dogs of the Desert. He said he knows what work needs to be done at the organization’s facility and, he has service members who want to do something for the community.

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Puppies will be brought to the center when they are six weeks old and will stay for about six weeks. Trina Began, director of canine development, said the center will be used for socializing Guide Dogs’ puppies when they are weaned before they go to their foster homes.

Thanks to the men and women of Camp Pendleton, many puppies will be nurtured and trained in a great new facility. Click here for the full story and here to learn more about Guide Dogs of the Desert. (Photos by Stan Lim)

TEACHER BRINGS GUIDE DOG-IN-TRAINING TO CLASS - “…Griffin will sit under the desk of one student or another, usually the quieter ones, and most often those having a bad day. Before long she sees the student lean down and pet Griffin, relax and even start talking about what is bothering him or her.”

A high school teacher in Ogden, Utah is training a Labrador Retriever named Griffin to become a guide dog.  During the day, Griffin sits in the classroom while his owner teaches the class.  His presence ended up having a positive effect on the students. Read more from the Standard-Examiner:

Lyon gave her students very specific rules about Griffin the first week of school, and she has been impressed with how well they have handled things.

“They know he has to be sitting before they can pet him. They can’t play fetch, he can’t lick you, and he can’t shake,” Lyon said.

Some students questioned bringing in a dog, and it opened up a great dialogue about how important it is for guide dogs in training to learn very specific rules.

She also enjoys the conversation with the students that has developed because Griffin is around.

“It’s an automatic dialogue, because they talk about how they have a dog or how their grandma has a dog,” Lyon said…

Lyon doesn’t receive pay for training the dog. Guide dog service training facilities are in San Rafael, Calif., and Boring, Ore., where the dogs are bred and kept for at least eight weeks. The dogs can be picked up at that time or someone from the Guide Dog Club will deliver it.

A club member picked up Griffin for Lyon when he was 11 weeks old. He has nearly doubled his size since that time. The club pays for the veterinary fees, the leash and the collar, but everything else is the owner’s responsibility.

Lyon will have the dog until early next fall.

It’s great that the trainer’s students have a chance to learn about the importance of guide dogs and their work.  Best of luck to Griffin in his training. Click here for the full story (Photo by Nicholas Draney)

JAPANESE GUIDE DOG LEARNS ENGLISH TO HELP NEW CANADIAN OWNER -“…it is better to train the dog to respond to English commands because it’s her native language and the one she will naturally use first if something happens to her.”

A guide dog in Japan is learning English to help a Canadian woman named Lorelei Harada, who is living in Japan.  Harada suffers from  a serious eye condition which may lead to blindness.  However, because Harada’s native language is English, her new guide dog must learn English to recieve commands.  Read more from the Japan Times:

Canadian Lorelei Harada, a long-term resident of Japan with a progressive eye disease, will receive a guide dog from the Chubu Guide Dogs Association of Japan that has been trained to understand English.

Harada, 37, came to stay at the association’s training center in Nagoya to undergo joint training with the dog, which had to be quickly trained to respond to her native language instead of Japanese. Preparations are under way for the dog and the English teacher to live together as the dog adapts to receiving instructions in English.

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The guide dog chosen for Harada was a 2-year-old male Labrador retriever. The dog had received about a year of training at the center but had to relearn all the commands in English to help Harada.

This dog is filling a very specific need and now the owner’s life will be changed for the better. Also, the dog will be bilingual!  Click here for the full story (the article doesn’t provide the name or gender of the dog, unfortunately).