Seeing-eye dogs aid vision-impaired

Dog helps student complete daily tasks, navigate campus

By Sarah Szczepanski
Assistant Features Editor

Purdue student Ally Matt can get around campus better now that she has an extra set of eyes.

She said it is easier to find building entrances, cross the street and walk to her classes thanks to her seeing-eye dog, Cooper.

Last year this yellow lab was one of 161 dogs to graduate from Pilots Dog Incorporated, a dog training school in Ohio, according to Ray Byers, the director of training.

Cooper underwent extensive training to learn all sorts of commands to help Matt, a sophomore in the School of Liberal Arts who has an eyesight problem, travel around.

The dog’s commands include forward, right, left, in, out, up and down.

When leaving a building, Matt said she just has to say, "Cooper, turn right" and the dog will go out the correct door whether is it the entrance or the exit.

If Matt were to encounter an escalator, the dog would know which is the correct one to go to, whether it is up or down.

The dog has also figured out about ice. "He slows down," said Matt. "He is good at finding whether the curbs have been plowed. I’ll say, "find the curb" and he will walk to one. He definitely helps with curbs, ice and crowds of people."

Some of the commands can evoke similar reactions from the dog and that can pose a problem, according to Matt. The commands for finding curbs and stairs mean the same thing to Cooper.

"Basically it means, "stop" to the dog," Matt said.

She said sometimes because she does not know whether Cooper is stopped at a curb or at stairs, she might continue to try to step up on nothing after she has stepped over the curb.

But aside from this, Matt said Cooper’s assistance is a large asset to have on campus.

She has had this asset since last August.

In order to receive Cooper, Matt had to stay at the training facility for a month because it was the first time she owned a guide dog.

The first three days she accompanied a trainer, learning the commands and seeing how walking with the dog feels.

This experience helped the trainers match Matt with Cooper. "They look at your walking speed to see what dog would be good for you."

After being paired with Cooper, Matt said she spent 24 hours a day with the dog.

"You couldn’t help getting to know your dog," Matt said.

She said that although she learned a lot, it is strange to think the dogs have had more training at that point.

When they are just weeks old, the dogs designated to be guide dogs already have training jackets on and are ready to begin socialization training, which is the first step, according to Hence Williams, a junior in the School of Liberal Arts who trained a guide dog while in high school in Portland, Ore.

"Guide dogs are very relaxed," he said. "They don’t get spooked like other dogs. The dogs are leaders; they are not afraid to try to go to a new place."

There are lots of techniques to learn during socialization training. The dog can’t play with other dogs or be let off the leash, and it can’t eat from a person’s hand, said Williams.

He remembered one time he made the dog he trained wait 15 minutes to eat after the food was in front of the dog.

The training had to be thorough, and the dog, which eventually ended up sniffing drugs for the police in California, was not allowed to get away with anything.

"You go through just about everything," said Williams. "The dog can’t do what he wants to do."

Williams said a large amount of time was spent exposing the dog to different situations. "You have to introduce the dog to everything," he said. "I took the dog everywhere — to the mall, restaurants and class."

One situation that was a challenge for Williams to train was the stairs. "You don’t think about it but there are all types of stairs. You just have to go up and down, up and down a hundred times. The dog can’t ever hesitate"

When the seeing-eye-harness is on, the dog is not supposed to be fed, petted, or whistled at.

"It’s like putting on a suit and tie; there is a certain attitude that goes along with it, said Williams. "When you take it off the dog changes like that. He’ll run around. It’s like the dog gets out of the bath; it’s like "bar time."

Although he spent a lot of time with the dog, Williams said it was not as hard to let go of it as he initially thought it would be.

"I knew the dog was going to do something good," he said.

Seeing-eye dogs aid vision-impaired

Musicians jam at Boiler Room

Site gets food orders, avoids busy signals

FEATURES DESK PHONE:
(765) 743-1111 ext. 256

Features editor:
Megan Finnerty

To send a letter to the editor, please email opinions@purdueexponent.org