Southeastern Guide Dogs

It was a beautiful sunny morning and I, naturally, gravitated toward the beautiful black lab.  Later on when we were in the park, his handler said to me, “he’s a service dog, I’m visually impaired”.  At that very moment, my interest in this beauty shifted to admiration.  Robbie’s life had completely changed when she was diagnosed with Usher’s Syndrome.  A disease which in her case, causes her to gradually lose her vision and hearing.  She wasn’t sure she wanted a service dog.  She had dogs throughout her life, but at this point in the game, she wasn’t sure she could handle the long term commitment and responsibility…then she met Spike and everything changed.  “Bonding was instant”, says Robbie “trust was a bit harder”.  Nonetheless, she knew to go with the flow of whatever led her to Southeastern Guide Dogs, a school based out of Palmetto, Florida that trains and provides the visually impaired with guide dogs.  “I couldn’t believe it when I received the call notifying me that I had been selected, they provided the guide dog, equipment, single-room lodging, all meals, outings, instruction for 26 days and post-graduation support completely free of cost”.   If that’s not impressive enough, Southeastern Guide Dogs is a non-profit organization fully supported by private donations.  Most of the staff at the school are volunteers that truly believe in the cause.

Match-making is a detailed, thoughtful process that begins with a representative actually conducting a home visit.  They look at the area where the person lives taking into account whether it’s a rural or urban location.  Lifestyle of the person is also a consideration, so that an active or sedentary person may be placed with the appropriate dog.  Additionally, trainers assess the person’s pace, pull and pressure in order to match them up with a dog that will be fitting.  According to Jennifer Bement, Public Relations Specialist at Southeastern Guide Dogs, trainers make perfect match-ups about 85% of the times on the first attempt, with only 10-15% of the times where a change in dog is required.