2004 Year in Review

Family raises Leader Dog puppies in Morrson

Samantha Nye, Abby, and Suzie Nye-Patten. Abby is being trained to be a Leader Dog for the Blind.

Susie Nye-Patten saw an article in the local 4-H newsletter to raise a Leader Dog. Leader Dogs are trained to work with the blind like a Seeing Eye Dog. Susie is an active leader of Spring Valley 4-H club, her children are members, and she is also the chairman of the dog area for the 4-H show. In addition Susie has helped with the local 4-H dog training classes. So raising a Leader Dog was right in with what she and her husband Tom and their children Sam and Chris Nye were interested in.

Leader Dog School for the Blind in Rochester, Michigan graduates 300 dogs and their new blind owners each year. They are also initiating a Deaf/Blind program. The Lion’s Clubs support the School as one of their charities but the School is also aligned with 4-H. The School has 150 employees but depend on volunteers for the first year of the dogs live and to walk the dogs at the School.

Abby, the Nye-Pattens fourth and current Leader Dog puppy, is a Flatcoated Retriever/Labrador mix with lots of energy. They are experimenting with this breed to see if they can reduce the size of the Labs. She is an active puppy with much to learn in her year at their rural home just outside Morrison.

A volunteer breeder takes in one of the pregnant females and keeps the pups until they are six weeks old. Then the pups go back to the puppy area of the facility for a week to be checked over. The puppy raisers may have as little as a weeks warning that a pup is ready. Then it is their responsibility to raise the puppy until they are about a year old or until they are needed.

At that time they are returned and put through three months of training. The next step is to match up the dog with a blind person. A larger more aggressive dog could go to a large man while one that is less aggressive and smaller would go to a young girl. They are put through 90 days of in-house schooling while the new owner stays in the School’s new resident housing. They must complete the course with the dog to be able to leave with their dog. One of the Patten puppy’s new owners got sick and could not finish. Then the dog is retrained and goes through a full rotation before they are placed again.

One of the required parts of training is to get the puppy used to being kenneled. They are kenneled during their training for their own protection and relaxation. Then their new owner is required to leave them in the kennel unless they are walked, groomed or another person is in the home.

Nye-Pattens have had three future Leader Dogs. The first in 1999 was Maggie. They were only given a one-week notice for the seven-week-old puppy. They receive a photo of the dog with their new owner but they can never contact the owner. Maggie went to a young girl.

A Yellow Lab male named Sydney was their second puppy in 2000. He was more aggressive and part of their training was for every member of the family to show dominance and to make him less aggressive. Tom Patten is helpful in teaching dominance to the animals and it also helps them to be around men. Sydney was paired up with a large man because of his size and personality.

Their third dog, Sandy, came in December 2001. She broke her foot by getting it caught in the kennel and had to have it in a cast. She never completed the stay and was adopted locally. She had shoulder problems and Leader Dogs must be physically faultless. Sam took Sandy to the State Fair to compete in Dog Obedience and missed getting a place by a ½ point.

Their newest dog Abby arrived in September. Sam is hoping to compete in the 4-H Show with her in July but they are not sure if she will be around for the August State Fair. Suzie takes Abby to Dog Obedience classes and when the show gets close Sam takes over. All the things taught in class are also helpful as a Leader Dog. Sit, Stay, Come and Heel are the common commands. The only difference is that Leader Dogs are taught to heal at their hip rather than their shoulder.

A big part of training is socializing the puppies and exposing them to all types of environment. Suzie takes them to the Christmas Walk, exposes them to other animals, trains, semi trucks, marching bands, and the highway. She has permission to take them to the Court House to walk across the catwalk and to the fairgrounds stands to walk up open stairs. They need to be good citizens like in normal behavior training. Not to bark, get up on furniture, and jumping on people are just a normal part of any of her dogs training.

Susie demonstrated another part of training, which is to get the puppy used to lying on their backs between her legs for grooming. The owner will need to be able to single-handedly groom and administer medicines. It also teaches the dog submission. The puppies also need to get used to being fed only once per day. It makes it easier for the new owner to care for them.

You would think it would be hard to give up a pet you have raised for almost a year but Sam and Suzie answered, “It isn’t hard because you know it’s going to a good place. It’s different than losing a pet, you know they are getting the best of care. It’s a little sad, the house is quieter and you miss the fun times.”

Suzie says she learns things from working with the program. “They tell you to teach the dog to stay on the floor of the car when riding, which is actually the safest place for the to be.” She has also learned about correct weight and feeding that has made their dog a better dog.

The Nye-Pattens have other house pets, Rosy, a large black lab that is learning agility training in the Quad Cities and a black cat that is also part of the training. Rosy hates to have the puppies when they come but misses them when they are gone. Their cat just tolerates the puppies. Raising Leader Dogs is a full family activity.

If this looks like something you would be interested in doing or would like to help, visit Leader Dog School for the Blind.

by Barb Benson, theCity1.com
January 20, 2004