At Monte Vista, it’s not uncommon to see dogs walking around campus. Far from your regular old stay-at-home couch potatoes, these dogs actually service dogs!
Service dogs’ key purpose is to assist their owners in managing their disabilities including blindness and other physical conditions. At Monte Vista, there is currently only one service dog being trained on campus.
Christian Tan, a senior at Monte Vista, has trained three service dogs during his time at the school, as part of the nonprofit program Guide Dogs for the Blind. He takes in puppies at eight weeks old and trains them for sixteen months. The reason why he brings the dogs to school is to help socialize them, and get them used to different environments, training them to be suitable guides.
“Every dog has a different personality,” Tan said. “As a raiser I see different aspects of their character.”
Tan takes the dog to school for the whole day, bringing the dog to each class with him.
“The school is extremely accommodating,” Tan said. “However the real shoutout goes to the teachers who make Retro feel like a member of the classroom.”
His fourth and current dog, a black lab named Retro, is about eight months old. “Retro specifically loves to sleep but has a very small bladder,” Tan said. “For example Retro is hypersensitive to sound. Emmett, who I trained last year and is currently a guide dog in Pasadena has slept right through fire drills!”
Guide Dogs For the Blind, although based in San Rafael, California, has clubs throughout California and twelve other West Coast states, but their dogs help people in both the U.S. and Canada. They only raise labradors and golden retrievers to be guide dogs, as, being very food-motivated dog breeds, are easier to train. Their big size, friendliness, and intelligence also plays an important factor in their eligibility to be service dogs.
“I’ve seen them be interested and scared of different things,” Tan said. “Part of my job as a raiser is being able to work with multiple different dogs in order to set them up for success.”
This organization features three different programs: the Guide Dog Program, which pairs people up with guide dogs, the Orientation & Mobility Immersion Program, which teaches orientation and mobility to their clients, with skills important to guide dog mobility, to ensure safe individual travel with their dogs, and finally, the K9 Buddy Program, which provides specifically chosen dogs to be had as a pet and companion.
Anyone can donate and volunteer for any of the programs they have. Tan is a dog raiser for Guide Dog for the Blind. The program covers veterinary care as well as equipment and learning materials. Volunteers for dog raising are part of the location-based puppy raising club. To find out more information go to the Guide Dogs for the Blind Danville Facebook page or guidedogs.com.
For students who may want to get involved in this program, Tan suggests joining the Danville club, which he is a part of.
“My favorite part of training is learning that every dog is different. I’ve brought four dogs to Monte Vista and every dog has given me a unique experience,” Tan said. “I’ve had unique struggles and triumphs with different dogs over the years.”
