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Oregon Festival of American Music & UO School of Music present
The Darol Anger
Mike Marshall Duo
Friday, October 12th - 7:30 pm
Beall Concert Hall, UO School of Music
Tickets at OFAM: 687-6526
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Masterclass at OFAM (104 W. Broadway) (5)
Saturday, Oct 13th, 10:30 am - $10.00
Getting help from
human’s best friend
■ Members of “Four on the
Floor” dedicate their time
to giving people eyes
By Anne Le Chevallier
Oregon Daily Emerald
Castle, a four-month old pup
py, could have spent his
days stealing socks and chas
ing tennis balls. At most, he
would have been house-trained. But
Castle’s pedigree and green jacket dis
tinguish his elite status. The 30
pound Labrador retriever is a puppy
in training to be a guide dog.
Castle has one year to learn obe
dience, good manners and social
skills. Like a foreign student, he
must adapt to a new language and
culture.
After a year with his temporary
owner Kristina Leipzig, Castle will
attend formal training at Guide
Dogs for the Blind’s campus in Bor
ing. If Castle does not have the right
temperament, level of confidence,
health or social skills, he will fail.
About half of the original pupils
graduate, while the rest return to
their adoptive owners.
If Castle passes training, he will
become part of a “working team.”
As a guide dog, he will walk his
blind partner around obstacles
such as telephone poles, mail boxes
and street barricades. Practicing
“intelligent disobedience,” Castle
will disobey orders that could
cause his partner harm. For exam
ple, he will refuse his partner’s
command to walk into traffic.
For now, Castle’s commitments
are minimal. Leipzig, a junior biol
ogy and chemistry major, takes her
puppy to weekly meetings and out
ings with the puppy-raising sup
port group, Four on the Floor. The
local group visits diverse environ
ments such as buses, trains, water
parks and outdoor markets togeth
er to socialize the puppies and ex
pose them to different sights,
sounds and smells. On Oct. 31, the
group plans to go trick-or-treating at
Gateway Mall.
Members of the group want to
expose their pets to everyday life.
To do this, they take their puppies
to work at places like a hospice, a
community college and a science
lab. The puppies are prepared men
tally for their careers by living and
traveling with their owners, said
Carol Stinson, the group’s co
leader.
“If they had been raised in a ken
nel and suddenly put in Portland or
San Francisco, they would freak
out " she said.
Heidi von Ravensberg, one of the
College of Education’s outreach li
aisons, has used guide dogs for 20
years to help her navigate and trav
el. She considers Curry, her guide
dog since 1997, her best friend.
The University graduate said that
activities people consider mun
dane, such as climbing stairs or tak
ing an elevator, could scare guide
dogs and scar them for life. Von
Ravensberg said she appreciates the
time, love and care that the owners
donate to their temporary pets.
“What they do is so important,”
she said.
The Americans with Disabilities
Act ensures that working teams
have access everywhere the public
is allowed. However, puppies in
training do not have these privi
(guide dogs)
leges because they are not yet as
sisting a disabled person. Even
though Castle and other puppies in
training wear green jackets to alert
the public about their careers, not
all businesses are accommodating.
When Leipzig wanted to eat at a lo
cal restaurant, the management
would not let Castle inside, she
said. Even though Leipzig ex
plained Castle’s job training, the
restaurant refused to serve them.
“It’s a shame," von Ravensberg
said. “That’s how a dog gets to
know its job.”
Stinson described blind people
as active. She said they run
marathons, hike, teach and own
businesses. At the last guide dog
graduation, she even met a blind
man who enjoys skydiving.
“The dogs allow them to move
freely around ... where they want
to go,” Stinson said.
Von Ravensberg, who is now
with her third dog, said, “I can
work faster with a guide dog. (Trav
eling) takes less of my concentra
tion.”
Stinson said she hopes more
puppies will be placed at the Uni
versity because the blind need
guide dogs familiar with school en
vironments.
“It’s important for people to
know about Guide Dogs for the
Blind, so when they encounter a
working team in a restaurant or
elsewhere there is not as much
awkwardness,” Leipzig added.
By taking their puppies with
them everywhere, Four on the Floor
members educate the public about
the need to become more safety
conscious when they see a guide
team at work. At noon on Oct. 15,
Four on the Floor members are
planning to meet at the comer of 8th
Avenue and Mill Street for a down
Sarah Cohen Emerald
town walk during peak traffic.
Von Ravensberg said the public
should be aware that petting, feed
ing or talking to guide dogs while
they’re wearing their harnesses dis
tracts them from their work. She
said Curry does not know how to
get to destinations; he follows her
directions. When he gets distracted
by people or loose dogs, von
Ravensberg said she can become
confused and disoriented.
“All of a sudden I don’t know
where I am and which way I am go
ing,” she said.
The rules for training puppies,
on the other hand, are more re
laxed. As long as people ask first,
Leipzig lets them pet Castle so he
becomes familiar with human
touch. Without sight, blind people
rely on touch and smell to know if
their dogs are healthy. Leipzig said
she believes the physical attention
will prepare Castle for distractions
as a guide dog. One day, Castle will
have to remain under control when
greeting people.
In a year, Castle will leave
Leipzig to attend formal training
with an instructor and his new,
blind partner. Although his care
and education is worth $60,000,
donations will keep him cost-free
to his partner.
If Castle passes school, Leipzig
will officially present him to his
partner. Stinson, who has raised a
guide dog, said it is “very, very
hard” to give away a puppy.
“But at graduation, you really see
why you do it and why you go
through it,” Stinson said. “You are
giving people eyes.”
For more information, see
www.guidedogs.com.
Anne Le Chevallier is a features reporter for
the Oregon Daily Emerald. She can be reaches
atannlechevallier@dailyemerald.com.
The Oregon Daily Emerald. Your Independent Student Newspaper. Serving the UO community lor over 100 years.