Meet Hank. He’s a Golden Retriever/Labrador Retriever puppy that my family and I will be raising for the next year as part of the Seeing Eye’s Puppy Raising Program. Like Olaf, the German Shepherd puppy we raised, we’ll be teaching Hank basic obedience while socializing him to the larger world.
As part of that process Hank will be spending a good deal of time at Lafayette. He’ll be learning how to spend time in an office environment by sleeping under my desk, attending meetings, and traveling around campus. His education extends beyond College Hill though; we take him to as many different kinds of locations as we can, including schools, airports, baseball games, bowling alleys, movie theaters, farmers markets, parades, book stores, hardware stores, and as many other places as we can think of.
You can tell if Hank is working based on whether or not he’s wearing his forest green Seeing Eye bandana (and when he gets older, a green vest). If he is wearing it, please ask before interacting with him, even just to give him a friendly pet. If we are in a meeting with you, please ignore him until the end of the meeting — once the meeting’s done he’ll be happy to say “hi”.
We will have Hank until he’s about 14-15 months old, when he’ll return to the Seeing Eye for a physical and — assuming he aces that — his advanced training in how to be a guide dog.
“Isn’t it hard to give him up?” is the most common question we get about Hank and his kin and the answer is “Yes!” At the same time though, we pack a lot of experiences and love into the year that we have him, and when it’s all done, he’ll be going off to help someone. That makes it all worth it.
If you’d like to know more about the Seeing Eye, visit their website or drop me an email at newquisk@lafayette.edu. I’m always happy to chat about the program.