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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal>To Prove Their Chops, Guide Dogs Hit Streets of Midtown Manhattan<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The New York Times<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>By Corey Kilgannon Nov. 6, 2018<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Innes, a youthful German shepherd, was trying to make his way across a frenetic Manhattan intersection near Central Park and found himself facing down<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>all sorts of projectiles — yellow cabs, bike messengers, pedicabs — as a deafening truck horn blasted and the traffic light changed against him.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Swarthmore, Pa.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Both were relative strangers to New York City, but they had ventured into Manhattan expressly for moments like this, to experience its particular brand<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>of street-level chaos, as the culmination of a thorough course of training by <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>the Seeing Eye,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>holds the trademark for the phrase “seeing eye.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>a dog’s focus, trainers take the student-dog pairs into Manhattan as something of a proving ground.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Oplinger, left.CreditDave Sanders for The New York Times<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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?’ ”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>it here, I can make it anywhere.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Making it here involves navigating obstacles and potential hazards, from potholes to work zones to throngs of distracted pedestrians — not to mention the<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>traffic madness Ms. Faul was now experiencing, which included a close encounter between Innes and a horse and buggy.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>To their credit, Ms. Faul and Innes remained calm. She nudged Innes back on course, so he could lead her to the curb safely.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>the best distractions,” said Ms. Faul’s trainer, Kristen DeMarco.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>After squeezing into a packed elevator, they were soon slipping through subway turnstiles and being led by their dogs through crowds of commuters. They<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>braved a packed stairway to the train platform, while being jostled by crowds.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The dogs remained calm on the subway platform, despite the clatter of passing trains and the blare of announcements.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“She keeps her focus really well,” Ms. Gee said, patting Ozma, a retriever mix.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>her first guide dog, which she recently retired.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“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,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>while Ozma curled up under the seat.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>was being walked nearby and intrigued Innes.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>vendors.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The sidewalks themselves were obstacle courses, with open basement doors creating gaping shaftways. There were gridlocked intersections, fluttering pigeons<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>and jackhammers loud enough to interfere with dog-owner communication.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>proceeded to cross.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>how to watch for traffic and keep their handlers safe from vehicles that might be turning or running lights.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>environment — largely because of public transportation, walkability and other services — and a handful live in New York City.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>school for several weeks. Their stay culminates with the trip to Manhattan.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>While not exactly a test, Manhattan’s conditions present the dogs with intense conditions that can help reveal training aspects to work on.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Eye. “Almost anything can happen in one day in New York — it’s a culmination of sensory overload, even for humans.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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,<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>the dogs seemed stymied by slow-walking tourists. They nudged up to them and waited for a narrow opening to lead their owners past.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“She’s so smooth about it,” said Ms. Gee, who began losing her vision in early childhood because of a genetic disorder.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Ms. Faul said she was happy with Innes’s confidence.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>go through those people, I knew he was a New Yorker.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>it. She circled Ozma back to remind him to see obstacles at eye level.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Guiding Eyes For the Blind, in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., in Westchester County, and the <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Guide Dog Foundation in Smithtown, N.Y., on Long Island, also train dogs in Manhattan.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Many other schools train dogs in urban environments. But New York stands apart, said Marion Gwizdala, president of the National Association of Guide Dog<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Users. “Most cities,” he said, “don’t have the hustle and bustle of Midtown Manhattan.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>added.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>As Ms. Faul and Ms. Gee headed along Seventh Avenue, the dogs guided them around <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>scaffolding supports that partially blocked sidewalk<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>them.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>to such distractions, Ms. DeMarco said. For now, Ms. Faul pulled him back on course.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>As visual as Times Square is, with its billboards and swarm of activity, Ms. Faul said that its aural energy was also impressive.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>buildings. It’s like being at Mardi Gras. Crowds of people everywhere.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>her away from creeping tour buses and rumbling dump trucks.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“She seems to focus even better in the chaos,” she said, adding that there was only one problem.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>“She’s going to be disappointed when we go home.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Follow Corey Kilgannon on Twitter: <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>@coreykilgannon<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>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<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Streets of Midtown. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/nyregion/guide-dogs-blind.html<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>