Blaine Hill/The Hub@TTU
Tanner Warmoth contributed to this article.
A media and communication graduate student has started a Lubbock chapter of Lone Star Guide Dog Raisers, an organization that allows volunteers to train guide dogs for Guide Dogs for the Blind . The club is the only program of its kind in West Texas.
Kaitlyn Beckert got involved when she was a senior at Texas Christian University. After graduation, she took her trainee puppy, Domino, with her to Houston.
Now in Lubbock, Beckert is training a different guide dog puppy, Fanta. About 5 months old, the trainee pup goes everywhere with Beckert, including shopping malls, grocery stores, work, vacation and even public transit. Fanta was specially bred to do her job by volunteers breeders for Guide Dogs for the Blind.
She said the point of taking the guide dog puppies everywhere is so they can become familiar with different environments at an early age.
The volunteer members of Lone Star Guide Dogs train the guide dog puppies until they are around 13 or 15 months old, Beckert said. She said the volunteers are responsible for teaching preliminary guide dog skills, such as basic obedience and house manners. They also train them to be thinking animals, meaning that they should be able to make decisions.
“We’re just a helping hand in their journey to becoming a guide dog,” she said.
After their time with their volunteer raisers, the puppies go to formal guide dog training. After passing a final test, the dogs are matched with a visually impaired person, Beckert said.
“It’s a very bittersweet process,” Beckert said. “I mean, these dogs are basically by our side every second of every day for like a year. So, saying goodbye is really tough. But we have to tell ourselves that theses dogs aren’t ours to begin with and they have a greater purpose in life.”
Receiving a guide dog was a life-changing event for John Vickers, an undeclared freshman at Tech. He received his dog Marcella from Guide Dogs for The Blind when he was 16.
Vickers said when guide dogs graduate from training, they are worth about $150,000. But the nonprofit organization does not charge the visually impaired person for anything, not even their flight to pick up the dog.
“It all comes from nice, generous people who have the time to help out,” Vickers said.
Marcella, who goes everywhere with Vickers, knows about 70 different commands. Before he received Marcella, Vickers primarily used a cane or a human guide to get around safely. Vickers said there are times when it is difficult to use a cane, and that having a guide dog makes it easier to get around.
Vickers and Marcella have travelled to Walt Disney World and the Bahamas and have even gone on a cruise. Marcella goes just about anywhere, and she flies for free.
Added Vickers: “There is a huge difference between using a cane and the dog.”
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