Guide dogs: a story of pride and beauty

It's not easy to become the eyes of someone who can't see. Yet, they are there dogs who can do it. One of the schools where this happens is the Lions Guide Dog Center in Limbiatein Brianza, where from 1975 to today almost 2,300 guide dogs they were trained and entrusted to blind (or partially sighted) people by Italian Lions (Multidistrict 108 Italy), the large organization of service clubs that has always been very sensitive to the problems of the blind. And it is right in the center of Lambiate that the next dogs that will accompany them are being trained one of 130 blind people on the waiting list of the Lions Guide Dog Service and Mobility Aids for the Blind.

«A suspended dog” it is the initiative that allows you to support, with one donation even for just 5 euros, the long and complex training of one of these extraordinary dogs, which lasts about a year and a half and costs, overall, around 25 thousand euros.

“L'training and foster care of a 4-legged friend is the result of a complex process, which sees the involvement of families, “Puppy Walkers”, and trainers – he explains Claudio Sabattini, Chairman of the Lions Board of Governors. – A path that has significant costs, borne in recent years by Lions members but also and above all by all those who have chosen to give their contribution to help us shorten the time of this long waiting list as much as possible.”

An avant-garde centre

The training course in fact, becoming an expert companion is not easy. From birth to delivery to the blind person, of whom he will become an inseparable and irreplaceable companion in a relationship of absolute trust, the dog must learn to socialize in the right way, for example face the obstacles of city lifeto accompany his human companion through the difficulties of a life made more fragile by the lack of sight.

«Our dogs are born in the center of Lambiate which has 5 birthing rooms and as many nurseries – he explains Giovanni Fossato, president of the structure. – Inaugurated in 1975 today it is made up of 38 boxes that can accommodate 2 dogs each, each with a covered external garden and internal area. In addition to the 5 delivery rooms, it is equipped with veterinary medical practicea room for preparing meals for puppies being weaned, and a obstacle course specially made to fit puppies. Furthermore, there is a dog grooming room, a feed storage room and a veterinary clinic.” However, the 25 thousand square meters are also ready to welcome the first meeting between the blind and their future guides. «Our facility is equipped with a reception house composed of 4 mini apartmentswhere we host the blind and their companion free of charge for the entire period necessary to complete the training course in the use of a guide dog.”

How to become a Guide Dog

The training is long and detailed. The puppies born in the center, after weaning, are entrusted to the so-called Puppy Walker, volunteers who welcome them into their families for a year to allow them the best socialization, continuing to attend the center regularly, at least once a week. Once the period with the family is over, the dogs return to the center and begin the actual training alongside the dog trainers. «They are the ones who teach him to move among the dangers of the city: avoid manholes, obstacles, escalators or unexpected obstacles – explains President Fossato. – To do this they take them to the city center and use the so-called “gentle and non-coercive training”, which rewards virtuous behaviour. In this way every year we train around fifty dogs, usually Labradors or Golden Retrievers which are the most suitable».

At the end of the training period thecoaching with the person on the list to whom the dog was entrusted. «Sometimes it happens that they are very young children (by law they must be adults) and they have lost their sight in an accident or due to an illness. We organize a real delivery ceremony, and seeing them together is really touching, because they depend on each other.” For dogs, the satisfaction of a useful “job” for which they feel even more loved. «They understand that when they wear the “red handle“, that particular leash that the blind person uses to manage his walk, they are “working” and putting into practice all the teachings they have learned. However, when they wear their “normal” leash they go back to being simply dogs. But they are proud of what they can do. And it shows.”