Guiding guide dogs along path of service

By Chantal LAMERS
The News

Barbara del Campo grew up in the Marin County city of San Rafael just around the corner from a center that turns new-born pups like German shepherds, golden retrievers and Labrador retrievers into dogs able to lead the blind. “I use to watch the trainers in the streets, walking around with blindfolds,” said del Campo, now a Mission Viejo resident. After her children moved out and her own dogs passed away, she decided it was time to fulfill the promise she made to herself as a child – she would help raise a guide dog. Guide Dogs for the Blind has residents across the U.S. volunteer to raise dogs.  For about one year, the volunteer house-trains the puppy and develops social behavior.  The program receives no funding from the state or federal government, relying entirely on donations. del Campo dedicated a year of her life to raising a puppy that now lives in Arizona with its blind owner, Karla Guzman.  Recently graduated from the University of Arizona, Guzman, 24 has been blind since birth.

“For me it’s made all the difference in the world,” Guzman said about her experience with guide dogs.
“Before, I used a cane, It’s like day and night.   I feel more freedom now, (I’m) more independent and I can walk faster.”
del Campo made contact with a puppy-raising group in Orange County and bean attending weekly meetings.  And on Oct. 29, 1999, she got a call to pick up a mixed golden and Labrador retriever named Gildy.  “I took her everywhere,” del Campo said,  “she would lay on the floor in the movies or in restaurants.  It’s like having a child.”
Del Campo’s job was to teach the puppy how to behave in public, ride in a car, board a train and walk through a busy grocery store without being distracted.”
Gildy wore a small coat in public that read, “guide dog in training” but the questions never stopped coming when del Campo left the house.
“I would go to the grocery store to buy four items and it took an hour and a half because everyone wanted to know why the dog is with me,” she said.
When guide dogs in training are between 14 and 16 months old, they are called back to the training school where they were bor.  Only about 40 percent of dogs; make it through the final portion with profession trainers.
But, saying good-by to Gildy wasn’t easy for del Campo when she got the call.  “I cried so hard,” she said.  “Other people were there, dropping off their dogs with a hear in their eye and I was there, making horrible noises.”
“Career-change dogs” are those who don’t make it through the final step of school.  Trainers then have the option of taking the dogs in as their pets.
“I thought, she’s either going to graduate or she will come with me and be my pet,” de Campo said.
But Gildy was considered one of the top dogs, so to speak, in her class.  Gildy was used to help professional instructors learn to train guide dogs.
She graduated one year later and del Campo drove back home to San Rafael to see Gildy graduate and meet her new owner.
“Luckily, we just kind of clicked and began e-mailing each other,” said del Campo of herself and Gildy’s new owner.
She receives photographs and stories about Gildy regularly and even plans on making a trip to Arizona to visit the pup she helped raise.
“If it weren’t for people like her, guide dogs wouldn’t exist,” Guzman said of del Campo, “If it weren’t for them, the dogs wouldn’t be so well-behaved.”
Guzman and Gildy have grown attached to each other since they were united in June.  Dogs are matched with their potential owners by specific characteristics and needs, Guzman said.
“It’s a team effort, a 50-50 thing,” Guzman said,” There’s a lot of work in it.  You have to play with them, groom them and give them a lot of attention.”