Submitted by Jeff Masors, President, Board of Directors
I am honored and proud to note that Temple Beth Abraham has consistently supported the work of Guiding Eyes for the Blind to raise and train dogs to be guide dogs for people with vision loss. Five years ago, my wife (Chur) and I began volunteering as puppy raisers with Guiding Eyes. When our first pup arrived – Wiffle – we asked the Temple’s Board of Directors to approve a service dog policy. The Board agreed to support federal and state law allowing service dogs and service dogs in training at the Temple. Since then, each of the pups we have raised has attended Temple services and activities. Socializing a pup to everything it might experience as a guide dog (like religious services) is a prime responsibility of a puppy raiser.
Raising a pup includes attending Guiding Eyes classes twice a month. Initially those classes were held at a local Nashua church. However, with the onset of Covid that location became unavailable. When TBA reopened we asked the Board to allow Guiding Eyes to conduct classes in the Temple building. Again, the Board extended its support. Guiding Eyes is now able to conduct training classes on Sunday mornings at TBA. The New Hampshire region of Guiding Eyes for the Blind is currently raising approximately 15 pups.
This past Sunday (Dec. 18), we took a break from our usual training to expose the pups, and their raisers, to some holiday fun. The Chanukkah fun our pups and raisers experienced was the dreidel game. Here you can see two of the pups in training calmly watching their raisers spin a dreidel and play the game.
Puppy raising with Guiding Eyes for the Blind has been an enjoyable and rewarding experience for Chur and me. If you want to know more about our experiences, please feel free to ask us.
Here are some resources if you would like to understand more about Guiding Eyes for the Blind and the impact a guide dog can have for a person with vision loss.