Program trains dogs to assist blind

Guiding Eyes for the Blind, a nonprofit program that trains service dogs, has made University of Richmond one of its training sites.

Cathy Foldesi, regional coordinator for Guiding Eyes for the Blind, and her husband, Les, meet in the North Court courtyard the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month to host training sessions.

The program teaches puppies the behavioral skills they need to become service dogs. Foldesi, who is legally blind, has worked with the non-profit since 2000.

Guiding Eyes for the Blind is a non-profit program for service dogs that has been around for more than 50 years. The headquarters is in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., but the non-profit spans from North Carolina to Maine.

Carol Parish and her husband, Martel Zeldin, professors in the chemistry department, helped Guiding Eyes for the Blind get permission to hold training sessions on campus, Foldesi said. Parish and Zeldin are raising a Black Labrador named Dell to be a service dog. Foldesi said she had been thrilled when the university became a training site.

It is important to ensure the dogs are comfortable in any environment, Foldesi said. "There's everything...noise, lots of smells, and all kinds of people.

"Our main goal is to socialize and expose the puppies to lots of new environments, and what more could you ask for?" she said.

Hula hoops, cones and dog treats are placed strategically around the courtyard to guide the canines, Foldesi said. A majority of the dogs that Foldesi trains are Black Labradors, German Shepherds and Golden Retrievers.

Anyone can become a service dog trainer after attending "pre-classes," four two-hour sessions where students learn how to teach behaviors and protocol, Foldesi said.

"We start with basic behaviors like sit, down, stand, come, stay and over all good manners, but we incorporate everything we do with our pups in to our daily lives," Foldesi said.

The dogs go through training for 18 months and are sent to the Guiding Eyes for the Blind school in New York for six more months. There, they learn how to navigate traffic, keep their owner from walking into things, locate escalators, and perform other daily tasks that can be struggles for the visually impaired. Afterward, they are assigned to a new owner who is blind or visually impaired.

Dogs also learn "targeting" skills, or the art of walking the owner to class, through repetition.

Delta Gamma supports Guiding Eyes for the Blind, and members have even made rope toys for the dogs, said senior Caitlin Harman. They also have attended some of the training sessions and have offered the organization a booth in the DG Dash 5K run scheduled for Oct. 1, she said.

"They are doing a lot of great things and we will continue to support them," Harman said.

Students gave positive feedback on the dog training. Junior McKenzie Keller said, "I love dogs and this program should continue."

Contact reporter Laila Hart at laila.hart@richmond.edu.