Loved and needed

By Mary Wade Burnside
Times West Virginian

LUMBERPORT February 15, 2009 03:18 am

— When Brenda Gray picked up a boxer puppy a year ago to raise to be a guide dog, she was greeted by Fairmont resident Scott Summers and his trusty service companion, a Doberman pinscher named Winston.
Gray, of Lumberport, looked at the energetic fawn puppy and then at the older, trained Winston and said, “I’m supposed to turn this into this?”
A year later, the boxer puppy Gray named Lexis will be returning to Pilot Dogs Inc. in Columbus, Ohio, for six months of training that could result in her being placed as a guide dog for a visually impaired person.
She will be joined by her littermate, a brindle boxer named Owen, who has been raised by Diana Linn-Cook of Fairmont.
The canines and their foster parents have grown close in the past year, because the puppy-raising experience requires them to be socialized by going out into the world as much as possible with their humans — to work, to stores, on trips and visits with friends and family.
So while the good-bye will be difficult, “I am really proud of what he’s going to do,” Linn-Cook said of Owen. “Raising a puppy makes you proud. It’s kind of like raising a kid. They go to graduation and they get a job. So even though I am sad, I am proud of what he’s going to do.”
What he will do, hopes Ray Byers, director of training at Pilot Dogs Inc., is help a visually impaired person lead a more independent life.
“Half the dogs that go through right now are going to make the training,” Byers said. “I wish it was higher, but that seems to be the magic number right now.”
Each year, the school, one of 10 in the country certified to train guide dogs, works with about 160 teams — a dog and a visually impaired person. Seven breeds serve as guide dogs — Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers, German shepherds, boxers, Dobermans, standard poodles and Vizslas.
Dogs usually need to reach about the age of 12 to 14 months before their guide dog training begins. That’s where the puppy raisers come in.
Gray and Linn-Cook got on board when Byers and Summers visited their office where they work for the government. Byers and Summers gave a demonstration and asked for puppy-raising volunteers. Gray and Linn-Cook waited until Pilot Dogs Inc. had boxers for them to raise.
“I’ve been wanting to do something to help people, to donate my time some way or some how, but it’s so hard to do it and get the ball rolling,” Linn-Cook said. “I thought it was an excellent opportunity. I have raised dogs before, and I thought I did fairly well at it.”
Finally, last February, Linn-Cook and Gray were notified that the school had two boxer puppies, born Jan. 1, 2008, that they could take on. Gray got a fawn girl that she named Lexis; Linn-Cook took a brindle boy that she decided resembled former West Virginia University fullback Owen Schmitt, her puppy’s namesake.
Linn-Cook even has a photo of the two Owens, taken when Schmitt made an appearance at Meadowbrook Mall in Bridgeport. The fact that the canine Owen was being raised as a guide dog earned him entrance to many a venue that otherwise would have been off-limits to a member of his species.
“I called (the mall) the day before to see if it was OK,” Linn-Cook said. “They gave me permission and we were way back in line, and they came and brought us to the front of the line.”
A good sport, Schmitt hoisted the WVU jersey-clad puppy and smiled.
“He was an amazing guy, and he was really nice about it,” Linn-Cook said.
While the photograph was being taken, Linn-Cook addressed the puppy by name to reassure him.
“I wondered how many people thought I was a lunatic, thinking I was talking to Owen Schmitt and saying, ‘Good boy, Owen,’” Linn-Cook laughed.
Canine Owen also recently went to the movies with Linn-Cook, although the flick was “Bride Wars” and not the more dog-friendly “Marley and Me.” He has been to Gabriel Bros. and Lowe’s, her office cafeteria, picnics, graduation parties and to Marilla Park in Morgantown, where Linn-Cook likes to take him for walks.
He also has accompanied Linn-Cook to her office twice a week for the past few months, and she has made it a point to walk him in downtown areas near traffic so he will become accustomed to being around cars.
“The only thing we haven’t done is go into a food business,” Linn-Cook said. “Nobody has turned me down, but we do have to get permission because he’s not an actual service dog. But I haven’t bothered asking any food businesses because I didn’t want it to be an issue with another customer thinking it’s unsanitary.”
Lexis also has gone to the office with Gray, but not as often because her position does not lend itself to having a dog at work as much as Linn-Cook’s.
“I have more visitors, and I can’t concentrate on my work,” Gray said.
Puppy raisers get guidelines to follow, such as to crate train the dogs and not let them up on furniture. The women also took the pair to obedience training, as required by Pilot Dogs Inc. That and the veterinary care are paid for by Pilot Dogs Inc.
“We ask that they pay for the food,” Byers said, “but other than that, we pay for the vet and obedience training. And if they want a letter they can use on their income tax, we can give them one. We are a 501(c)3 organization.”
Some of the puppy raisers take the school up on their offer to pay the vet care, while others consider it part of the donation they want to make to Pilot Dogs Inc.
“Some of them don’t want us to do anything,” Byers said. “They are very kind.”
The school depends completely on donations and does not charge the people matched up with the dogs. Most of the puppies are raised in Ohio and the neighboring states of Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Indiana and West Virginia.
“We don’t want them to get too far,” Byers said. “It’s hard to keep track of what’s going on. We’ve had a couple that were raised in Tennessee.”
One day last week, Owen and Lexis were reunited for a romp in Gray’s yard for the first time in a few months. The two ran in huge circles around Gray’s yard, occasionally tripping over one another and nipping at each other.
Owen seemed a bit calmer than Lexis, at least in part because he had spent the day with Linn-Cook at work while Lexis had been crated and needed to run off some steam.
“We walk, or I’ll go outside with her and toss a tennis ball so she can wear off some of that energy,” Gray said. “Or we’ll play inside. She’s happiest when she is working and not sitting around relaxing or not lying on the carpet.”
In fact, the puppies’ trait demonstrating that they prefer to be out and about and interacting with humans helps to ease the sadness the women have been feeling as the time approaches to take the dogs back to Columbus.
“In the mornings, now that I take Owen to work with me, he wants to go with me every day,” Linn-Cook said. “As soon as I start getting dressed, he’ll sit up nice and proud, like he is saying, ‘Take me with you.’ It breaks my heart because I know he wants to go with me every single day.
“He wants to spend 24 hours with me. Whenever he is paired up with a sightless person, he will be able to spend 24 hours with them, and that makes him happy. That will be good for him, in addition to helping out someone who needs him so much.”
But there is some sadness mixed in with the pride the women feel for how far along the dogs have come in a year.
“I knew what I signed up for,” Gray said. “We went on a long trip this weekend in the car, and I looked at her and thought, ‘The next trip is a good-bye.’”
Both women will consider being puppy raisers in the future, but not immediately, although Byers noted that he has more boxers awaiting foster homes.
“It would be a couple of years before I do it again,” Gray said.
Linn-Cook wants to wait to see if Owen makes it as a guide dog. If he does not, the breeder gets first choice to take him back. If the breeder does not, Linn-Cook would be happy to have her buddy back with her for good.
But, she noted, as much as she loves him, she hopes his future includes guiding around a sightless person.
“It’s that bittersweet feeling,” Linn-Cook said. “I’ve said to a lot of people, ‘I love him and I want him, but someone else will love him and need him.’”
Anyone interested in becoming a puppy raiser can call Byers at (614) 221-6367.
E-mail Mary Wade Burnside at mwburnside@timeswv.com.

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