[nagdu] [Wagdu] Man's best friend helps at local school: Guide dogs serve as companions and leaders

[Steven Johnson]

Man's best friend helps at local school
Guide dogs serve as companions and leaders
Updated: Thursday, 06 Oct 2011, 7:08 PM EDT
Published : Thursday, 06 Oct 2011, 4:07 PM EDT

Gina Quattrocchi 
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Each morning she takes the bus to work. Every
afternoon, he lives close enough to walk to his volunteer job. Both make the
daily commute to Glen Acres Elementary in Lafayette. But they are not alone.

Debbie Morgan spends her mornings working as a Teacher's Assistant, helping
children in two first-grade classrooms at Glen Acres Elementary.

"I help them with their reading. I help them with their spelling words, with
their math," said Morgan.

Bob Hrdy spends afternoons as a volunteer at Glen Acres. Since retiring from
Alcoa, he's spent the last couple years at the school his children once
attended. Answering phones, letting people in the front door, and has taken
on the role of web master, keeping the school's website up to date.

"It makes you feel like you're wanted and I feel like I can make a
difference. I'm able to help some kids maybe learn one thing one day or if I
can help the teachers do their job and help our kids learn," said Bob Hrdy.

Both Hrdy and Morgan can do their jobs, because their guide dogs are doing
their jobs. Hrdy and Morgan are blind, and rely on Ada and Alex for
assistance. Morgan's yellow lab, Ada, is four-years-old. Morgan has been
blind her whole life and has two artificial eyes. She depends on Ada to get
around, and is right at Morgan's side all day.

"She's a good, calm, gentle dog. She loves the children. Oh my goodness,
sometimes when they've been really well-behaved, we take the harness off and
they get to pet Ada and they love it. And Ada loves it. And sometimes they
can even sit on the floor and read with her and she really likes that," said
Morgan.

Hrdy lost night vision when he was 14. He has a genetic eye disease, and his
eyes have slowly gotten worse. He decided he would need a guide dog to get
around safely.

"If you closed your right eye and with your left eye looked through a straw,
that's kind of what I see," said Bob Hrdy.

Hrdy said he hopes he and Alex can teach students a little more about people
with disabilities. Morgan said helping the children is the best job she's
ever had.

"The Lafayette School Corporation has given me more opportunities for
employment than any place else and I'm very, very thankful for that," said
Morgan.

"It's a great source of freedom for visually handicapped people, the dogs,
and the chance to come up here and help and work. It's been a great
experience. And like I said before, I just feel like I'm part of the family.
It feels like a family up here," said Hrdy. 

Both Ada and Alex were trained at Leader Dogs for the Blind in Michigan.

Ada is Morgan's fifth guide dog. Alex is Hrdy's first dog.