[nagdu] Ben in the news

Tue Feb 10 21:44:56 UTC 2009

Tracy,

Awesome!  I've really enjoyed reading your posts on the list about Ben and
his growth through the team building process.  

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Tracy Carcione
Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2009 8:06 AM
To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nagdu] Ben in the news

I'm pasting below an article that came out this morning in one of my
county's newspapers.  It's mostly about puppy-raising, but Ben and I are
in it, as an end product example.
It's not bad.  Not perfect, but not as far wrong as many I've seen.

I'd paste a link, but I don't know how.  It's at northjersey.com, but more
than that I can't say.
Tracy

Seeing Eye project seeks those with love to spare
Sunday, Februa

The volunteer job sounds warm and fuzzy enough: be a pup's foster owner
for a while.
ELIZABETH LARA/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Tracy Carcione of Teaneck and her Seeing Eye dog, Ben, making their way
home. They've been

inseparable for two years.

But for Seeing Eye of Morristown and its clients, it's serious work they
depend on: raising

dogs that help North Jersey's visually impaired maintain expanded
lives.

Seeing Eye is looking for people willing to take in puppies for 15 to 19
months. Afterward,

the dogs - German shepherds, golden retrievers and Labrador
retrievers - are returned for training. In the relationship, human and dog
share a formal

program and, of course, the intangibles.

"We enjoy it tremendously," said Roger Woodhour of Woodcliff Lake, who,
along with wife

Sheila, is fostering Edison, a German shepherd. "When you see the
benefits the dogs give to a blind person and how it allows them to go
anywhere they want

with dignity, it really is a great feeling."

The puppy placement program began in 1942 and now has 800 dogs placed with
foster families,

including 16 families in Passaic County and 25 in Bergen County.

The pups begin foster care at seven weeks, and for 14 months, caregivers
must housebreak the

dog, socialize it, and keep up with veterinary checkups. They
also must attend monthly group meetings, held in each county, for support
and puppy

socialization.

The non-profit Seeing Eye organization covers veterinary costs and
provides a quarterly

stipend of about $70 for food, grooming and toys.

Doreen Smith of Wayne, a co-leader for the Passaic County puppy group,
said members also

take field trips to socialize the pups.

"You have to be committed to following through with working with the dog,
going to meetings

and at the same time, having fun with the dog," said Smith,
who has fostered eight dogs over 16 years.

Established in 1929, The Seeing Eye of Morristown is the oldest existing
guide-dog school in

the world; currently, there are about 15 others like it. Its
90-acre campus encompasses a dorm for clients in training, administrative
building,

veterinary clinic and four kennels. Seeing Eye breeds its own dogs
at a complex in Chester; to ensure a wholesome environment, all employees
there wear

surgical scrubs.

Puppy graduation

Once a dog is old enough to start four-month training, a coordinator takes
it away. For many

foster parents, letting go is tough.

"It's usually sad for families to see the dog go, but they know they are
helping someone in

return," said Peggy Gibbon, Seeing Eye's puppy placement manager.

Dogs dropped from training for medical reasons can be adopted.

Foster families are invited to watch their former charges at graduation,
which includes

showing their stuff on Morristown's busy streets.

"Families are often stunned by what their little puppy can do, and we get
a lot of tears,"

said Gibbon.

Meanwhile, visually impaired clients undergo similar training in
Morristown, learning to

interpret sounds and traffic without a dog.

After initial training, a student is introduced to a dog fit to his or her
size, agility and

speed. The pair works for up to a month, using basic control
commands of "sit," "down," "rest," and "come," and guide commands such as
"right," "left,"

"forward" and "back."

The program fee, unchanged since 1934, is $150 and $50 for each subsequent
visit. That

covers the dog, equipment, instruction, room and board, as well as
transportation and follow-up services. The program runs year-round.
First-time students stay

for 26 days. Others returning for a replacement dog go through
a refresher course of 19 days.

Ray Kornman, an outreach specialist for Seeing Eye, has been through the
program twice.

Kornman who lost his sight to retinitis pigmentosa, was recently
paired with Morris, a golden retriever.

"The dog has allowed me to move a lot freer, a lot faster, and with a lot
more confidence,"

said Kornman. "It's just humanizing me to the general public
that don't know about blindness and vision loss and I was one of those
people, too, before I

lost my sight. It's a great conversation starter and an ice
breaker in a social situation."

James A Kutsch, president of Seeing Eye, lost his vision at age 16 to an
at-home chemistry

accident and has relied on dogs through "all the major milestones"
of a full family life. But although such services for the visually
impaired have advanced

over time, he suggests the public strive to provide another:
"Rethink their attitude."

He said that even pondering blindness by closing your eyes to get a feel
for it, "You don't

experience what somebody, who is trained and used to various
ways of adapting their life to dealing with blindness, faces over a long
term."

On the streets

Tracy Carcione of Teaneck and Ben headed for work one recent day.
Approaching a bus stop.

Ben took the first steps across a street, and Tracy confidently
followed. It was another normal day of hustle and bustle for everyone,
including Carcione,

who is blind, and Ben, a Labrador retriever getting her to her
job as a programmer for New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan.

After a ride to the Port Authority bus terminal, Ben led Tracy downstairs
through the crowds

and out into the loud city. They walked 10 blocks east, winding
through pedestrians and skirting traffic.

"Ben is a great city dog," said Carcione, 47. "The harder things get, the
better he does."

They've been together for two years. Carcione has used Seeing Eye dogs
since college and

said of her last choice, "They had to pick a dog for me who could
deal with Manhattan and be happy."

Besides traveling into the city each workday, Carcione also goes out and
about with Ben,

heading to the gym or a diner for coffee.

"The most important thing for people to keep in mind is that blind people
are like everybody

else," she said. "We have jobs, we have families. We are not
sitting at home in the dark feeling sorry for ourselves."

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