Orange County Register, Monday September 6, 2004
Volunteers spend the weekend getting guide dogs accustomed to summer pool parties.
Guide dogs lap up pool-party training
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Most seem to do swimmingly despite the many distractions, like the other dogs, for instance. By Noberto Santana Jr. The Orange County Register
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 Facing
the Challenge: Loren, a 14 month old Labrador retriever who loves to
do the dog paddle, hangs out at a pool party in Irvine on Sunday for guide
dogs, trainers and owners. |
They spend most of their time together preparing to go their separate ways. Over the course of a year, families and the guide dogs they traim spend nearly every moment together. They'll take them to work, to church, to the market, teacing the puppies to stay focused on their partners no matter the situation. And then they'll let go. "I'm still not over it," said Renee McGinnis about her first dog, Frankie, a yellow Labrador who graduated in July from the San Rafael-based Guide Dogs for the Blind. "It's like a mom letting go the the kids."
The dogs, mostly Labradors, are raised for guide work, leaving them trained and docile. The volunteers, like members of the Orange County VIP3 club, are carefully selected and meet twice a month for training and gatherings. Only about half the puppies graduate to become guide dogs. Some like Frankie, do so well that they become breeders, Others go on to simply be adopted as pets.
On Sunday, McGinnis was busily focused on her newest puppy, Bruna, and the newest lesson: pool party etiquette. Ginger was the first to arrive and, after the two puppies jumped all over each other, they were place on leashes near each other and quietly sat down. While the dog's lives seem happy and full of love, they are also full of discipline. "They're not pets; they're working dogs," said Beth Adams, who is in charge of Ginger.
Soon the back yard was packed with people, and dogs like Nina, Berlin, Bonnet, Michele and Loren were learning their way around a pool party. Loren, a huge Labrador retriever who loves to swim, made a loud thumping sound while chasing a chlorine flotation device around the pool. Nina sat comfortably in an inner tube with her trainer, Mary Jo Egus. Berlin, Bonnet, and Bruna all got their first swimming lessons. Despite their youth, the puppies were incredibly well-behaved throughout the party. As children milled about and people ate, there was no barking or begging for scraps or fighting. Most dogs just sat quietly near their handlers.
 Smooched
Pooch: Jenniger Gallaher kisses Bruna, a black Labrador, in her Irvine
pool Sunday. When Bruna is about 14 months old, the dog will go to a
training facility in San Rafael. |
Throughout the party, different people worked with the dogs, moving them through the crowd or around the pool. Whoever has the leash is in charge, and puppies follow the lead. That lesson was the toughest for retired teacher Carol Pukli of Irvine, who recently saw her pup, Pandita, graduate and become matched with a 35-year-old Sacramento mother of four. |
During the ceremony, Pandita stuck with her new owner despite Pukli's appearance. "I was proud of her, but I was jealous. Yet she was doing what she was suppose to do," she said. Less that 2 per cent of blind people use guide dogs, but the trainers believe the animals have a value that goes beyond practical purposes. "When people see the dog, they don't look down or away," Pukli said. "It just seems to make people happy."