[Cagdu] FW: CNN: Guide dogs trained to handle plane emergencies

[tina thomas]

Subject: CNN: Guide dogs trained to handle plane emergencies




Click the link to view the page containing pictures and video. 

HYPERLINK
"http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/03/12/dogs.on.a.plane/"http://www.
cnn.-com/2009/-LIVING/wayoflife-/03/12/dogs.-on.a.plane/

 Guide dogs trained to handle plane emergencies
By Jim Spellman
CNN

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- Guide dogs for the blind go everywhere with their
human partners, but when their destination is a plane ride away, it's not
always
so easy.

To make the skies a little friendlier, and safer, a pack of guide dogs in
training gathered at a United Airlines training facility to take a simulated
flight
-- a flight with a surprise ending.

"The main purpose was to get our dogs used to boarding and deplaning and to
getting into a seat and curling up into the space allowed for them," says
Danny
Henderson, who volunteers raising puppies to become guide dogs for the
blind.

Henderson volunteers with Have Paws Will Travel, the group that organized
the trip to the Denver training facility.

At her side is Gilligan, a 10-month-old yellow Labrador retriever puppy.
Henderson takes Gilligan everywhere with her: shopping, sporting events,
even to
church. All the while she is preparing the pup to work as a guide dog by
exposing him to all of the experiences a guide dog will have.

If Gilligan does well, he will be matched with a blind partner and the pair
will go through four to five months of more extensive training on the
California
campus of Guide Dogs for the Blind, a non-profit that supplies blind people
with guide dogs free of charge.

Inside the United Airlines facility sits a real fuselage from a Boeing 767
jet. About 20 dogs and their handlers file in, the dogs nestling under the
seats.
Gilligan is curious at first but quickly loses interest in his new
environment and rests his head on the floor with a sigh.

A few aisles up sits Annette Bossert and her year-old dog Ludlow. He
nervously looks from side to side between Bossert's legs, not too sure
what's going
on.

"He's what we call a 'soft dog' in that he is very sensitive to certain
environments,-" says Bossert. "He might react a little bit more than some
dogs, showing
a little bit of fear, a little bit of anxiety."

If a dog is too easily spooked it might be "career changed," and instead of
moving on to work with a blind person they will be adopted, often by the
volunteer
handler.

The doors of the fuselage close and the familiar rumble of an airplane
taxiing begins. The dogs stay in place, seemingly disinterested in the mock
flight.

And then out go the lights!
Video
Watch the dogs in action aboard the plane »

"Brace! Brace!" shouts a flight attendant. The plane is crash landing. The
alarm blares, the cabin jolts from side to side.

"Get out! Leave everything!"

Everyone must evacuate the plane as quickly as possible, dogs included. One
by one, the
dogs
lead their handlers to safety. Amazingly, not a single dog panics, or even
barks.

"I noticed a lot of the dogs probably did better than the people. They were
very relaxed, business as usual," says Danny Henderson with a laugh while
Gilligan
stands obediently at her side. "He's been doing great. He's a very smart
dog, he's learned very quickly. I think he'll do great."

And how did Ludlow, the sensitive "soft dog," do?

"He did great," says Bossert. "This is awesome. I may not have a chance to
fly with him so for him to just see the cabin environment and know he has to
go into a confined space and be calm is good for him."

According to Guide Dogs for the Blind, about 10,000 blind people in the
United States use guide dogs, and many of them are frequent fliers.

"The first time they fly they are like: 'This is a little odd,' " says
Aerial Gilbert, who is blind and flies with her German shepherd Splash
several times
a month. She thinks the training will help the pups become better guide
dogs.

"Things they learn as a puppy are no big deal. It's harder when they get
older."

At the helm of the mock 767 is Capt. Robert Mackay. He's in charge of
training for United Airlines and still
flies
regularly. He watches the exercise carefully. He says the odds of a plane
crash with a guide dog and human partner on board are rare, but preparing
for
the unexpected is the name of the game.

"Having dogs on board the airplane and blind people on the airplane
represent a special challenge for us," he says. "This is all about the 'what
if,' risk
management, being ready in the unlikely event that this would occur."

All About
Dogs
•
Air Travel

Find this article at:
HYPERLINK
"http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/03/12/dogs.on.a.plane"http://www.c
nn.-com/2009/-LIVING/wayoflife-/03/12/dogs.-on.a.plane

C 2008 Cable News Network



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