FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED Speaker educates about seeing-eye dogs

By SEAN BARRON
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
SHARON, Pa. -- Florence Scott sees several benefits and a few drawbacks to owning a seeing-eye dog.
The Farrell resident, who is legally blind, has good peripheral vision but little center vision and is leery of crossing busy streets in the area. She also hopes to reopen a school she started, working with children age 4 to 18 -- and having such a companion would likely help her get around better, Scott said.
On the other hand, Scott would have to undergo about a month's worth of training to learn to handle a seeing-eye dog. The training sessions would take her away from her husband and the 7-year-old boy she's rearing.
Nevertheless, Scott said, she hopes to own one.
She was one of about 80 people who came to the Keystone Blind Association this week to hear a presentation by Jay Stiteley, associate manager of The Seeing Eye Inc., a Morristown, N.J.-based school that trains dogs to accompany those who are visually impaired.
Stiteley discussed the importance of nonverbal communication and training, and exposed various misconceptions he said some people have about the animals and their owners.
Speaker's background
Stiteley, who was born with cataracts in one eye and has been blind since age 14, said he travels about 70 percent of the year through the United States talking to people interested in getting a guide dog and conducting other workshops. Everywhere Stiteley goes, he has Flanagan, his fifth seeing-eye dog, with him.
Stiteley said the New Jersey school conducts a rigorous training program starting when the animals are 6 weeks old.
They are raised by an approved puppy-raising family with children and, at 14 to 18 weeks, returned to the company and evaluated to ensure they're healthy.
Afterward, instructors conduct four-month training programs to teach the dogs to stop at curbs and look for openings and overhanging objects that could be dangerous for someone with vision problems.
The animals also master "intelligent disobedience," the practice of deliberately giving an unsafe command and teaching the dog not to perform it.
The dogs can also be taught to ride on buses and trains, climb escalators, listen to distinct traffic noises and learn patterning. Patterning is training a dog to judge various distances and areas and eventually locate a specific place, Stiteley noted.
Important note
Stiteley stressed the importance of consistency and praise, noting that well-meaning people should resist the urge to show affection to dogs wearing harnesses, since that interrupts their concentration.
"He works for the praise I give him. I encourage people to ignore [Flanagan], and his harness is his work uniform. Whether it's the first or 30th curb of the day, I have to praise him," Stiteley said, adding that he welcomes people to interact with his dog when he's not wearing the device.
The program offers a 27-day training course near its Morristown site. The $150 fee also includes 27 days of room and board, a round-trip airline ticket, equipment and the first seeing-eye dog, Stiteley said.
Those interested in taking part in the program have to earn the money themselves; that lets them see that they can be independent and capable, Stiteley said.
Since opening in January 1929 in Nashville, Tenn., The Seeing Eye Inc. has provided about 14,000 guide dogs to more than 7,000 people in the U.S. and Canada, Stiteley noted. About 260 dogs are placed annually, he noted.
For more information, visit the school's Web site at www.seeingeye.org.