Dog lovers raise guide dogs for blind
by Rachanee Srisavasdi

Puppy love has struck Saddleback Valley. Several local families volunteer their time and energy to raise guide dogs in training. It's not easy. Family members must keep the puppies close day in and day out -- to familiarize the dogs with the public. Then after a year, the families send the pups off to guide dog school. The Howards in Lake Forest are raising their fifth puppy -- a Labrador named Lassen. The family of four picked him up from John Wayne Airport earlier this month. "He's the cutest one we've had yet," Pam Howard says. "It's not hard to love him." Lassen goes everywhere -- to school with the kids, the grocery store, even to Sunday service at Abiding Savior Church. At night he snuggles close to the Howard children, Susan and Amanda. The puppies are definite attention-getters. University of California, Irvine student Victoria Burns of Rancho Santa Margarita says other students always pet Tricia, her 8-month-old German shepherd when she's on campus. "Besides helping the blind, it's a great way to have to meet people," says Burns, who has raised eight puppies. Mary Jo Egus of Trabuco Canyon takes 5-month-old Hatfield with her to teach at Serra Catholic School in Rancho. "Students love to play with him, but more than that, he reminds the kids of the blind people's needs," Egus says. Families say their efforts pay off when they give the puppies to their permanent owners. Saying goodbye, though is hard. "you cry, you give them a big hug, then you say, make me proud," Egus says. Then she adds, you wait for the next puppy to train.