[NAGDU] FW: [Njagdu] To Prove Their Chops, Guide Dogs Hit Streets of Midtown Manhattan

[Miranda]

Hi,
After reading thiscarticle shortly after it was published, I reached out to The Seeing Eye and learned that Ozma, one of the dogs featured in this article, is my dog Ollie’s sister. I had previously inquired of her littermates and family information, so Ozma’s name looked all-too-familiar. I am now in contact with her handler, as one of her family members reached out to me on social media after I commented about the relationship between our dogs.


Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 21, 2018, at 2:50 PM, Tracy Carcione via NAGDU <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> From the Ne York Times a couple weeks ago.
> 
> Tracy
> 
> 
> 
> To Prove Their Chops, Guide Dogs Hit Streets of Midtown Manhattan
> 
> A school for Seeing Eye dogs uses the chaos of New York City as its ultimate
> test when matching young dogs with their blind masters.
> 
> The New York Times
> 
> By Corey Kilgannon Nov. 6, 2018
> 
> Innes, a youthful German shepherd, was trying to make his way across a
> frenetic Manhattan intersection near Central Park and found himself facing
> down
> 
> all sorts of projectiles - yellow cabs, bike messengers, pedicabs - as a
> deafening truck horn blasted and the traffic light changed against him.
> 
> 
> 
> But Innes was not negotiating this chaotic scene while out for an afternoon
> stroll. He was safeguarding his new master, Kathy Faul, 73, a blind woman
> from
> 
> Swarthmore, Pa.
> 
> 
> 
> Both were relative strangers to New York City, but they had ventured into
> Manhattan expressly for moments like this, to experience its particular
> brand
> 
> of street-level chaos, as the culmination of a thorough course of training
> by 
> 
> the Seeing Eye,
> 
> a guide dog school in Morristown, N.J. Founded in 1929, it is the nation's
> oldest training school for dogs and one of the largest of its kind. It even
> 
> holds the trademark for the phrase "seeing eye."
> 
> 
> 
> The school's training is done in a suburban setting far calmer than Midtown
> Manhattan, an hour's drive away. But for its ultimate challenge, and to
> assess
> 
> a dog's focus, trainers take the student-dog pairs into Manhattan as
> something of a proving ground.
> 
> 
> 
> Ozma, a guide dog, and her new master, Val Gee, 26, from Dayton, Ohio,
> navigated Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. They were assisted by an instructor,
> Kristen
> 
> Oplinger, left.CreditDave Sanders for The New York Times
> 
> 
> 
> "There's no more intense place than New York City to train the dogs - it's
> the craziest environment they've ever been in," said Brian O'Neal, a Seeing
> 
> Eye trainer. "At the end of the training, the idea is, 'O.K., they know the
> basics. Now can they handle the grind of the city?' "
> 
> 
> 
> "I'm half scared, half so excited," said Ms. Faul, gripping the stiff
> leather handle strapped to Innes. "But I figure, like the song says, if I
> can make
> 
> it here, I can make it anywhere."
> 
> 
> 
> Making it here involves navigating obstacles and potential hazards, from
> potholes to work zones to throngs of distracted pedestrians - not to mention
> the
> 
> traffic madness Ms. Faul was now experiencing, which included a close
> encounter between Innes and a horse and buggy.
> 
> 
> 
> To their credit, Ms. Faul and Innes remained calm. She nudged Innes back on
> course, so he could lead her to the curb safely.
> 
> 
> 
> They had begun the route in a rooftop parking lot above the Port Authority
> Bus Terminal, the starting point of a loop plotted specifically "to get them
> 
> the best distractions," said Ms. Faul's trainer, Kristen DeMarco.
> 
> 
> 
> After squeezing into a packed elevator, they were soon slipping through
> subway turnstiles and being led by their dogs through crowds of commuters.
> They
> 
> braved a packed stairway to the train platform, while being jostled by
> crowds.
> 
> 
> 
> The dogs remained calm on the subway platform, despite the clatter of
> passing trains and the blare of announcements.
> 
> 
> 
> "She keeps her focus really well," Ms. Gee said, patting Ozma, a retriever
> mix.
> 
> 
> 
> For Ms. Gee, a psychotherapist from Dayton, Ohio, this was only her second
> time in New York City, after visiting as a 19-year-old when being paired
> with
> 
> her first guide dog, which she recently retired.
> 
> 
> 
> "This is quite different from Dayton," said Ms. Gee who, with her
> instructor, Kristen Oplinger, boarded an uptown C train and sat next to a
> sleeping passenger,
> 
> while Ozma curled up under the seat.
> 
> 
> 
> At Columbus Circle, they headed up the escalator to the street. The first
> test was neither traffic- nor pedestrian-related, but rather a tiny dog that
> 
> was being walked nearby and intrigued Innes.
> 
> 
> 
> It would be the first of many tests of the dogs' concentration. There would
> also be countless new smells, from well-visited fire hydrants to aromatic
> street
> 
> vendors.
> 
> 
> 
> The sidewalks themselves were obstacle courses, with open basement doors
> creating gaping shaftways. There were gridlocked intersections, fluttering
> pigeons
> 
> and jackhammers loud enough to interfere with dog-owner communication.
> 
> 
> 
> Columbus Circle was flooded with lunchtime crowds. The first challenge was
> the traffic rotary. The dogs stopped at the curb, as they were trained, and
> 
> both Ms. Faul and Ms. Gee listened to the flow of traffic, to detect if the
> cars had stopped for the light. Then each gave her dog a forward command and
> 
> proceeded to cross.
> 
> 
> 
> The dogs receive four months of training at the Seeing Eye, learning to
> guide around obstacles and obey commands, as well as street-crossing skills,
> including
> 
> how to watch for traffic and keep their handlers safe from vehicles that
> might be turning or running lights.
> 
> 
> 
> Officials with the Seeing Eye said they pair roughly 260 dogs each year with
> blind people living in the United States and Canada. Most live in some urban
> 
> environment - largely because of public transportation, walkability and
> other services - and a handful live in New York City.
> 
> 
> 
> Dogs who do not prefer an urban setting can be paired with owners who tend
> not to be city-goers. Owners train alongside their dogs while boarding at
> the
> 
> school for several weeks. Their stay culminates with the trip to Manhattan.
> 
> 
> 
> While not exactly a test, Manhattan's conditions present the dogs with
> intense conditions that can help reveal training aspects to work on.
> 
> 
> 
> "It's a training experience that offers more than anywhere else we can take
> them," said Dave Johnson, director of instruction and training at the Seeing
> 
> Eye. "Almost anything can happen in one day in New York - it's a culmination
> of sensory overload, even for humans."
> 
> 
> 
> The dogs partnered with Ms. Faul and Ms. Gee were handling it all pretty
> well. They wove through pedestrians like a slalom course. Like harried New
> Yorkers,
> 
> the dogs seemed stymied by slow-walking tourists. They nudged up to them and
> waited for a narrow opening to lead their owners past.
> 
> 
> 
> "She's so smooth about it," said Ms. Gee, who began losing her vision in
> early childhood because of a genetic disorder.
> 
> 
> 
> Ms. Faul said she was happy with Innes's confidence.
> 
> 
> 
> "You need to have that gumption," said Ms. Faul, a retired computer
> programmer who lost her sight in a car accident while in college. "When I
> felt him
> 
> go through those people, I knew he was a New Yorker."
> 
> 
> 
> Ahead was a hot dog cart whose vendor was playing Middle Eastern music. Ms.
> Gee avoided the cart but hit her head on a plastic sign that was hanging off
> 
> it. She circled Ozma back to remind him to see obstacles at eye level.
> 
> 
> 
> Guiding Eyes For the Blind, in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., in Westchester
> County, and the 
> 
> Guide Dog Foundation in Smithtown, N.Y., on Long Island, also train dogs in
> Manhattan.
> 
> 
> 
> Many other schools train dogs in urban environments. But New York stands
> apart, said Marion Gwizdala, president of the National Association of Guide
> Dog
> 
> Users. "Most cities," he said, "don't have the hustle and bustle of Midtown
> Manhattan."
> 
> 
> 
> Even for dogs and owners who do not visit cities, urban training can help
> prepare them for chaotic situations, such as shopping malls or carnivals, he
> 
> added.
> 
> 
> 
> As Ms. Faul and Ms. Gee headed along Seventh Avenue, the dogs guided them
> around 
> 
> scaffolding supports that partially blocked sidewalk
> 
> s and around a work zone. The dogs looped around a Coca-Cola truck blocking
> a crosswalk and later avoided a yellow cab that swooped around a corner
> toward
> 
> them.
> 
> 
> 
> There were moments for instruction, too, as when Innes suddenly made a sharp
> right - toward the open door of a perfume store. The dogs would soon get
> used
> 
> to such distractions, Ms. DeMarco said. For now, Ms. Faul pulled him back on
> course.
> 
> 
> 
> As visual as Times Square is, with its billboards and swarm of activity, Ms.
> Faul said that its aural energy was also impressive.
> 
> 
> 
> "I feel like I'm in a carnival city," she said. "All the noise, all the
> beeps, all the people, the different languages you hear. The noise echoes
> off the
> 
> buildings. It's like being at Mardi Gras. Crowds of people everywhere."
> 
> 
> 
> They walked by the TKTS booth selling theater tickets and headed past
> Broadway theaters. Ms. Gee praised the way Ozma ignored the blaring sirens
> and kept
> 
> her away from creeping tour buses and rumbling dump trucks.
> 
> 
> 
> "She seems to focus even better in the chaos," she said, adding that there
> was only one problem.
> 
> 
> 
> "She's going to be disappointed when we go home."
> 
> 
> 
> Follow Corey Kilgannon on Twitter: 
> 
> @coreykilgannon
> 
> 
> 
> A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 6, 2018, on Page A23 of
> the New York edition with the headline: To Prove Their Chops, Guide Dogs Hit
> 
> Streets of Midtown. 
> 
> https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/nyregion/guide-dogs-blind.html
> 
> <Untitled attachment 00377.txt>
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