Echoes of chatter skip between friends. Bells ding under restaurant facades. A trumpet crescendos as a local band settles in for a Friday night gig. It’s a warm August evening in downtown Salem, Oregon.
Kenai, a 15-month-old male black lab, lays obediently at 16-year-old Emily Vetter’s feet despite his sensitivity to high-pitched musical notes. For this pair, the sounds of summer mean a constant flow of kibble.
Two years ago, Emily started volunteering as a puppy raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind, at the same time she started high school, eager to combine her love for dogs with her passion for helping others. For her, “sit,” “stay” and “down” are more than simple commands. Emily has raised three puppies so far and has seen two graduate as working guides.
Walking future guide dogs through the hallways of Cascade High School is not something every student has the time to experience. Up at 6:15 a.m. on school days, Emily’s days begin with Kenai’s needs. With a kibble- holding fanny pack on her hip and a “puppy in training” vest strapped around Kenai, the two are ready for a typical day at school. Oftentimes peers will greet the puppy without acknowledging his raiser.
“Everyone recognizes him in the hallways and says hi,” Emily says. “He’s popular.”
As a junior, Emily is busy running cross country and track, working on student council and learning the various duties of positive reinforcement for puppy raising. To stay on top of things, she keeps a planner organized weeks ahead of time.
Considering the 24/7 commitment, Emily does not have the same luxuries as her friends when it comes to free time. Still, she appreciates the lessons puppy raising has taught her about real life obligations that many of her peers have yet to learn.
“It makes me be more purposeful with my time,” Emily says. “I’ve had to have more balance in my life, managing my time between working with Kenai and doing my own stuff.”
Through the heavy responsibility and time commitment, raising puppies has shaped Emily into a better person. Taking the puppies out and about has made her more confident, social and willing to talk to strangers and answer questions.
“I’ve learned how to take care of another being, to spend time on them,” Emily says. “It teaches me to be selfless.”
Emily’s job as a puppy raiser is to teach the puppies basic commands and to socialize them to everyday situations. Training them out of bad habits is key to ensuring that they react calmly in conflict. According to her, diligence is key in proactively socializing puppies to environments and situations they might encounter as working guide dogs. For example, although high-pitched music induces bad behavior, exposing Kenai to such environments is necessary for his success.
Another important aspect of puppy raising is to teach them to know the difference between when they’re working and when they’re not.
“When the vest comes off, they know they’ve been freed of duty and they run around, play, be real dogs,” Emily says.
Every week, Emily meets with Willamette Valley Paws for People, her local puppy club, where she and other raisers in the area learn techniques for training, discuss behavioral issues, swap stories and share a love for dogs. The required weekly meetings also provide many resources for socializing. They often meet in “chaotic” or unusual places, like a bowling alley, so the puppies can experience something new. In a few weeks, the club is visiting the Portland International Airport to board an Alaska Airlines plane. Learning what it might be like to fly is a crucial aspect to the puppy’s repertoire.
Not only is the support of the puppy club necessary for the raisers, but it’s good for the dogs too. Often, club members will “puppy-sit” each others’ dogs to socialize them to new environments, teaching them to be flexible and prepare them for any scenario.
In the same way, the support of Emily’s teachers, friends and especially her family is invaluable. When Emily first was interested in puppy raising, her parents and three older siblings had to be just as willing and committed as she was. Often, when Emily is unable, they are the ones who feed, relieve and take care of Kenai.
“Raising guide dog puppies is a whole family commitment,” says Marla Vetter, Emily’s mother. “It is mainly Emily, but we all have our turn helping out with the training, socializing, cleaning up the messes and vacuuming dog hair.”
Her supportive family has made all the difference for Emily’s journey. Recently Kenai helped move Emily’s sister into her college dorm.
“Puppy raising has made us more aware of what a blind or disabled person has to deal with on an everyday basis,” Marla says. “It has made us more compassionate.”
Since Emily has to take her puppies to school, it’s important that they are already potty-trained. In this case, she receives “transfer” puppies from Donna Litchfield, another raiser in her club, who raises starter puppies from six weeks old to about six to eight months old. Litchfield teaches them to relieve on command, house manners, basic obedience and gets them ready for more formal raising.
“It’s a joy to pass them on,” Litchfield says, who has been raising for 10 years and is on her 11th puppy.
Once the puppy is transferred to Emily, she keeps them for about seven months to a year and a half. Then, she sends them back to the local Guide Dogs For the Blind campus (either in Boring, Oregon or in San Rafael, California), where they undergo eight phases of formal training completed in three to six months. Then, at around 2 years old, the dogs graduate and are matched with their visually impaired person (free of charge to the client – GDB is an entirely donations-based organization,) where they will spend the rest of their lives working as guide dogs.
For Emily, saying goodbye is part of the job, but seeing them graduate with a perfect match and change someone’s life is the best part of it all. “Going in, you have the mindset to enjoy the time you have with the puppies and to do a good job and do as much as you can,” says Emily.
Not every puppy moves on to training. It ultimately comes down to the dog’s decision if they want to be a working guide. The dogs that don’t make it are “career changed,” and are considered for other service dog organizations, such as Dogs for the Deaf or Diabetic Alert Dogs. If that doesn’t fit then they can be adopted by their raisers or placed as a pet by GDB.
The puppy will exhibit certain behavior that is indicative of their desire to be guide dogs, according to Cindy Miller, Emily’s puppy club leader.
“It’s their way of telling us they don’t want to be guides,” Miller says.
Kenai, whose sensitivity to certain sounds and stubbornness to relieve on command has revealed himself as unwilling to continue as a puppy- in-training. Ultimately, he lacks the confidence and moxie needed to be a working guide and is being “career changed” by GDB. Recently, he has been adopted into Emily’s family as a pet.
“I am sad that he won’t be a guide dog but I am excited he’s a part of my family, and know this is what he was meant to do,” Emily says.
She hopes to get Kenai certified as a therapy dog through a local program and possibly take him on hospital visits. Emily will continue to work with other GDB puppies in training for as long as she can, learning the ins-and- outs of puppy raising and using her passions to change people’s lives.
As the summer of her second year of puppy raising comes to an end, Emily hits the streets with her new puppy-in-training, Kelsey, who she received as a transfer from someone else in her club. With the sound of the first school bell ringing in September, Emily navigates the new rhythm and personality of Kelsey, teaching the puppy and everyone around her the importance of helping those in need.
