By PAT NEWMAN
pnewman@thecitizennews.com

Students at Peachtree City United Methodist Pre-Kindergarten and their families succeeded in raising $600 in change to send Rachel, a chocolate lab, to school for training as a guide dog.

“We collected money for her to go school from Mom and Dad,” said Evan Novelly. “She is learning to help a guy who is blind,” added Chase Haithcox.

School director Cathie Lusted said she and the staff wanted to initiate a community service project that would have meaning for the children and incorporate their parents as well.

“I had read a newspaper article about the work done by Canine Vision and the placement of a dog at McIntosh High School,” she said. “It was decided that raising money for this organization would meet our goals. I contacted Sally Sue Bradley [director of Canine Vision] and she agreed to bring a young dog that was to begin additional training to our school,” Lusted added.

“We were fortunate to have Rachel visit our school twice so that all the children could have the opportunity to see her,” she said. “The parents were very supportive of our project and wanted to be kept informed of how much money was collected each week,” Lusted said.

Bradley, who trains the dogs in Villa Rica, said Rachel was given her “jacket,” which identifies her as a guide dog, at five months of age. The jacket allows her access into stores, church, restaurants and other public facilities. “She had to learn that whenever she had her jacket on, she was working and had to behave differently,” Bradley said.

Rachel weighs about 70 pounds and returned to school in November for advanced training. “Her first task was to get used to wearing the harness and listening to a person giving her commands. She must also learn to stop at curbs, steps, doors and any surface change such as gravel to grass, driveway to street, etc.,” Bradley explained.

Guide dogs are never petted or touched by anyone other than the person who has the harness in his or her hands, because this can distract the dogs and cause them to lead their charges into dangerous situations, explained Bradley.

The preschool students exceeded their goal of raising $500 by more than $100, donating a total of $601.24. “We had a jar that we used to collect the money. It was circulated between the classrooms daily. The children could dump their money in themselves,” Lusted said. “I brought my money in a baggie,” said Maddie Martaus.

According to Bradley, it costs $10,000 to train a guide dog. “The school (Canine Vision Center) receives no state or federal funding, only donations,” she said.

“There are 18,500 visually impaired people in the state of Georgia alone. Of that number 2 percent, or 370 people, are good guide dog candidates,” Bradley added. “Last year we graduated six dogs and hope to do the same this year.”

Canine Vision Inc. is the only school among the states of Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina, Bradley said. “We are one of two schools in the U.S. that train in the community of the visually impaired person, the other being in Connecticut,” Bradley said.

For information about the Canine Vision Center, phone Sally Sue Bradley at 770-459-4872 (school) or 770-599-0680 (home).

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