It happened, literally, in the blink of an eye. Betsy Folwell was at her magazine job, squinting at her computer screen, when all of a sudden her visual field filled up with gray. The diagnosis: nonarteritic ischemic optic neuropathy. She was blind.
That's Betsy with her Bear -- her Newfie mix -- and her guide dog Oakley.
I met Betsy five years ago when Bark magazine asked me to write a piece about in-home guide dog training. Most people with disabilities attend three-to-four-week sessions at training centers to work with a new service dog. “But I couldn’t see leaving home and losing my independence for even a month,” Betsy told me in the interview. “Especially at a time when I was struggling to learn my limits.” She taught her own dog Bear to lead her to the local post office, but when she realized the Newfy mix would be too big to get on trains and planes with her when she traveled, she used her reporting skills to find an “in-community” program to bring an instructor and guide dog to her home.
Oakley, a two-year-old Labrador Retriever, leapt from his crate and covered Betsy with kisses when the Upstate Guide Dog Association van arrived at her door. The duo was up at seven every morning to meet their trainer and worked nonstop until six each evening, focusing on routes Betsy and Oakley would take on a regular basis. After two weeks, the trainer left Betsy with her new guide and took off for another town and another dog and client.
Betsy said the program was perfect for her, but she won’t be training that way again when it comes time for a new dog. “Upstate Guide Dogs went belly up,” she told me with a shrug. “Lack of funds.”
The sad Truth is, one instructor for one student can be costly. The good news? Oakley is still a strong worker. Betsy is, too: Adirondack Lifemagazine kept her on after she lost her sight. She’s the creative director there now, and she uses a talking laptop like mine to write stories. From an article about Betsy Folwell in a Vermont publication called Seven Days:
A ruddy, spry redhead with a dry wit, she is generous to a fault with her time. And her blindness is barely apparent to a casual observer. Folwell doesn’t use a cane and, on this reporter’s recent visit to her office, her yellow Lab guide dog, Oakley, was sleeping on the job, perhaps chasing chipmunks in his dreams.
Adirondack Life has a circulation of 50,000 and comes out eight times yearly (six bimonthlies and two special issues). Betsy wrote yesterday touting the magazine’s new web site and letting me know she’s started blogging there, too: she writes the outdoor rec blog every week and posts on Park Life as well. “I’ve got one in the pipeline about winterizing your dog’s paws for snow,” she said, using that spry wit of hers to acknowledge the unusually mild winter we’ve had in Chicago. “That’s still a concern here!”
Hey, I’m a puppy raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind. I wanted to let you and Betsy know that in-home training is still an option. GDB will do in home training if requested and they also have two week at campus training programs now for this very reason. Hooray for inovation!
Keep writing, Erin
Interesting! For those unfamiliar with guide dog training programs, “GDB” stands for Guide Dogs for the Blind, headquartered in San Rafael, CA. I am more familiar with how things work at the Seeing Eye in Morristown, NJ, where I train with my guide dogs.
Erin, when I wrote this article years ago, the Seeing Eye would occasionally bring a guide dog directly to a student, but only if that student had worked with a Seeing Eye dog before, and only under special circumstances. Back then fewer than 10 percent of the Seeing Eye’s yearly graduates were trained in their homes, and most were senior citizens.
I have no idea what the stats on this are at Seeing Eye now –anyone out there who can chime in?
I can’t chime in on that one, but I have a question. How does a blind person teach a dog to lead her to the local post office?
Dunno.
Carl;
I have a friend who uses a guide dog and the way he teaches his dog a route to somewhere is to first make the trip (or two) with the dog and a sighted guide. All along the way he will say to his dog, “we’re going to the post office. We’re going to the post office” over and over until they get to their destination. The next time he wants to go to the post office he tell his dog, “We’re going to the post office.” and off they go with his dog leading him all the way to the post office (or where ever). Its called habituation. The dog learns a route by travelling there.
I would also add that Fidelco Guide dogs out of Connecticut does in-home placement and training of their guide dogs. In fact that is all they do as they do not have a residence facility at their school. They exclusively use German shepherds though. I don’t know how Betsy feels about that breed.
These stories are such energy boosters!
…and much easier on your pocket book than one of those Five-Hour Energy drinks!
I love reading about working dogs and “their” people. Thanks for the interesting post!
You know some outstanding and interesting people who deserve admiration.
Too, too bad about that guide dog organization going belly up. That’s very sad.
I’m not sure, but I think I recall that the school that went out of business might have done at-home training exclusively. That would be a tremendous financial burden. These schools put an enormous investment in every dog and every class…even with putting one trainer to a group of students for several weeks. It’s easy to see how one-on-one must be really expensive.
dried Dog food
Betsy blogs | Safe & Sound blog
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