Guide Dogs has float in Rose Parade

	Marin Tribune   Dec. 30, 2001
	Michael Hingson was led to safety from the 78th floor of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 by his guide dog Roselle. They will be featured on the Guide Dogs for the Blind float at the Tournament of Roses Parade Tuesday in Pasadena. Photo: IJ File Photo

By Jennifer Upshaw

Dozens of puppy-trainers, instructors, graduates and volunteers who work with San Rafael-based Guide Dogs for the Blind are in Pasadena today, fussing over a 9½- foot yellow Labrador retriever.

The giant dog is not in training to serve the blind, but is acting on behalf of the group as a larger-than-life spokesman as it serves as the centerpiece of the group's Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade float.

The honor of participating in the decades-long New Year's Day tradition is a first for the organization, whose staff thought it would be a kick to try to get into the exclusive event to commemorate its 60th anniversary, said Morry Angell, spokesperson for Guide Dogs for the Blind.

"We thought, 'What if we could get into the mother of all parades?' " she said. "It would be a special thing, a one-time shot (for the 60th anniversary). We thought, 'Let the world see us.' We applied and we got in."

The arduous application process includes submitting preliminary sketches of the float and meeting with parade representatives.

Their entry was accepted.

Construction soon began on the 50-foot-long, 18-foot-wide and 17-foot-high float, built by a Portland-based float designer.

It features the giant yellow lab in a garden-like setting that surrounds the dog in red roses, purple and white irises, yellow daffodils. The big dog, standing in a courtyard with flagstone steps, towers above a basket full of puppies.

The float must be covered in 100-percent natural materials, so volunteers and staff are scrambling to affix organic products that add color to the float.

Everything from onion seed for the courtyard to bamboo sticks for the dogs' eyelashes must be glued on by Tuesday. Yesterday, a wild rice mix was used to create the illusion of granite for the courtyard. About 48 hours before the big day, crews will begin attaching the live flowers to the float.

Featured on the float with several graduates and puppy-raisers is Michael Hingson, the New York businessman whose guide dog, Roselle, led him out of the World Trade Center to safety on Sept. 11.

Former Oregon state Sen. Ken Jernstedt, a former World War II pilot who lost his vision after serving in the war, also will participate. Guide Dogs was founded in 1942 to assist veterans blinded in World War II.

Jernstedt's presence is especially meaningful, Angell said, because he helped pass legislation in Oregon that allowed guide dogs access to buildings across the state.

Rusty Perez, 32, a high school teacher who graduated from the program with a black Labrador retriever named Relish, said the group's participation in the parade is a chance to draw attention to the program.

"I think it is just another opportunity for people to learn about the freedom guide dogs provide for blind people," he said.

Puppy raisers - volunteers who raise the dog from 6 to 8 weeks old, keep the dogs for a year and socialize them before they begin their training - also made the trip.

Mary Jo and Pete Egus, just two of nearly 1,000 puppy raisers in eight western states, traveled to Pasadena from Coto de Caza, in Orange County to help.

"You have to have a lot of patience," said Mary Jo Egus, who, along with her husband, is raising the family's 10th guide dog, Nessa. "It is an awesome experience. It is the kind of thing a young person should have to do before they become a parent, because you are up in the middle of the night."