By Avery Martin
Contributor
Justice enjoying his time at the “Involvement and Resource Fair” on Sep. 4.
For an individual who is blind or partially sighted, a guide dog can bring independence and new opportunities.
Guiding Eyes for the Blind raises puppies to become guide dogs, and now students are getting the chance to help.
The university chapter of the Guiding Eyes for the Blind puppy-raising club has recently started holding meetings.
The club aims to raise guide dogs and fundraise for the foundation.
The club president, English major Ella Bernegger, a sophomore, is also the club’s founder. Her mother was a handler of a narcotic detection dog who once trained with Guiding Eyes, and Bernegger was inspired to assist the group in raising a puppy.
“I got in contact with the coordinator from Guiding Eyes, and I got this whole process set up starting in January. I finally got it to Southern this semester,” Bernegger said.
Bernegger is raising Justice, a puppy who she hopes will eventually become a guide dog for someone who has a visual impairment.
“He is a 6-month-old yellow Labrador retriever. He’s super friendly. He loves people; he loves dogs. Super quick learner. He knew everything that he knows already by 4 months old,” Bernegger said.
Of the club members, Bernegger is the only one currently raising a puppy.
However, this is not the only way to get involved.
Nursing major Sydney Crockett, a sophomore, is the vice president of the club and helps Bernegger with raising Justice.
“I’m training to be his sitter right now. Anyone in the club or anyone involved can train to watch Justice,” Crockett said.
In less than a year, Bernegger and Crockett will send Justice off for further training and placement.
“You have them until they are around 13 to 16 months. From there, they go take their big test up at Guiding Eyes at their location at Yorktown Heights, New York. They will run a series of tests with him, and they will determine if he’s good to continue in the Guiding Eye program,” Bernegger said.
Dogs who do not pass behavioral tests either become their raisers’ family pets or are trained to be working dogs in fields like bomb-sniffing, narcotics detection, or emotional support.
The club aspires to raise awareness for all service dogs while providing an outlet for members to do community service.
“We decided to make a club out of it at Southern because we thought a lot of people would be interested,” Bernegger said.
There is also the added benefit of getting to spend time with Justice and other service dogs.
“I decided to join because personally I have family members who work with the Guiding Eyes foundation. Also, I love community service,” social work major Grace Huber, a sophomore who is the co-chair of fundraising, said.
The club plans to expand to more dog raisers and sitters on campus in the coming months and grow their fundraising efforts.
Justice as a puppy.
VOL.64- ISSUE 1
