[Cagdu] FW: [Seeingeye-l] article Morris Township company that trains seeingeye dogs celebrates anniversary

[tina thomas]

Morris Township company that trains seeing eye dogs celebrates anniversary
by
Tanya Drobness
/The Star-Ledger
Sunday August 23, 2009, 9:50 AM
MORRIS TOWNSHIP -- At 29, a genetic eye disease left Ray Kornman with such
severe
tunnel vision it was as if he was looking at the world through a straw. A
cane gave
him only limited security.
Then, a few years later, he visited The Seeing Eye in Morris Township. He
clasped
his thin fingers around a leather harness, slung over a yellow Lab, and for
the first
time he said he walked without fear.
Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger
Ralph Malatesta, a trainer with The Seeing Eye, works Pluto, a young German
shepherd,
through the early stages of his training in downtown Morristown.
"It was like I had grown wings," Kornman recalled. "I was feeling freedom,
and moving
so swiftly and safely, and confidently."
Last week, Kornman joined Trisha Ebel of Secaucus whose Golden Retriever
Rainey also
helped restore her confidence, Vincent Chaney of Old Bridge, whose dog,
Shaeffer,
saved him from a speeding taxi in New York City, and some 200 other
graduates of
The Seeing Eye, the world's oldest guide dog school for the blind and
visually impaired
in the United States and Canada.
They gathered on the organization's campus to celebrate the group's 80th
anniversary.
Every year, nearly 300 students attend The Seeing Eye to learn how to bond
with a
guide dog. Over its 80 years, the organization has served about 8,000
people, said
Teresa Davenport, the organization's director of communications. About 500
puppies
are born each year at the school's Breeding Station in Chester Township.
It costs tens of thousands of dollars to match just one person with a dog,
yet the
school relies solely on donations, Davenport said.
The school sits on Morris Township's rolling green hills, and students are
frequently
seen walking with their dogs and with instructors in nearby Morristown.
During the
three-day reunion, the graduates attended banquets, workshops and toured
Morristown.
On Thursday, Mike May stood in front of the statue of the organization's
co-founder
Morris Frank with his Lab-golden cross, Miguel. May, who traveled from
Sacramento,
Calif. for the reunion, invented a GPS device designed for the blind and
visually
impaired.
"I came here with my wife, and she couldn't find the statue at first. I had
to tell
her, "Honey, it's straight ahead,' " he laughed.
"It's been a huge part of my mobility equation. I am out and about because
of (The
Seeing Eye)," May said.
Frank started The Seeing Eye in 1929, after he was inspired by a 1927
article by
well-known dog breeder and philanthropist Dorothy Harrison Eustis about
guide dogs
assisting blind World War I veterans. Frank moved to Morris County from
Nashville,
Tenn. in 1931.
"It was the beginning of the Great Depression, and here we are, 80 years
later, and
The Seeing Eye is still going strong," said Pete Lang, former Seeing Eye
instruction
and training manager.
"It is the leading guide dog school in the world," said Marion Gwizdala,
president
of the Tampa, Fla.-based National Association of Guide Dog Users. He said
the school
has for years set a standard for dog guide schools. There are about a dozen
in the
nation, and 72 worldwide accredited by the International Dog Guide
Federation.
The secret of The Seeing Eye's success is its ability to successfully bond a
person
with a dog. The two must communicate constantly, even their personalities
must blend.
"His purpose in life is to be with me," said Kornman, moments after giving a
command
to his black Lab, Mojo. "Good boy, left," he says softly to the dog. Mojo
gently
tugs Kornman toward a flight of stairs. Mojo stops before the first step --
the signal
that stairs loom. "The fear is gone because I know no matter what happens,
I'm going
to be okay," he said.
Kornman, the organization's outreach specialist, travels often and therefore
needs
a dog that can handle crowds and loves airplanes. Mojo fits perfectly under
a plane
seat.
Without the dog, Kornman's guidance would come from a cane, an option he
said he
was glad to be rid of.
"When I wasn't using a cane, people didn't know if I was stupid, if I was
rude, or
drunk," Kornman said. Now, he walks with a strut in his quick step. A guide
dog avoids
all obstacles and moving vehicles, and walks around puddles. Mojo stops at
every
door, and turns to face it so Kornman can find the doorknob.
"I am truly living a life today I never imagined with vision loss," Kornman
said.
Many of the graduates who returned to The Seeing Eye campus this past
weekend echoed
those feelings.
"The greatest feeling is when you put that harness on for the first time,
and you
are out on the street and you are in the middle of Morristown traffic, in
the middle
of all those cars," said Alan Conway of Quebec, Canada. "It feels like
flying."

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