Trooper, Xebo, and Tom did not pass the seeing eye dog test, but Theresa Marie Plummer and her family adopted them. One is a therapy dog. All three are blood donors.
Theresa Marie Plummer is an avid animal lover.
All her life, she’s wanted a dog. Plummer’s wish came true when she was in middle school. Her mother was referred to the Seeing Eye Dog Puppy Raising Program, and they got their first puppy in 2011. Plummer, her mom and her sister raise the puppies together.
When Seeing Eye puppies reach the age of seven or eight weeks, they are delivered to the homes of volunteer puppy raisers who live in New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and certain counties of Maryland, Delaware and New York.
The foster families nurture and care for the puppies until they are about 13 to 16 months old. They teach the puppies basic obedience. They socialize them to a variety of social situations and experiences that range from shopping and car trips to visiting airports and boarding airplanes.
“It’s a lot of responsibility,” said Plummer.
Though the dog is not their own, Plummer said she loves the puppy as if it were their own.
The type of dogs that are raised to be Seeing Eye dogs are golden retrievers, labrador retrievers, German shepherds, labrador crosses and poodles for people who are hypoallergenic.
“Poodles are so smart,” said Plummer. “Our job is to teach them house manners, socializing and how to be a good dog.”
Plummer and her family have taken the dogs to New York City, Newark Airport, sporting events, and on many forms of transportation, such as ferries, buses, monorails and trains.
“We’ve taken them to college, to work places, the Nutley Library, farmer’s markets, the mall. We do overnight trips to Washington, D.C., Lake George, Cooperstown. It’s great exposure to have the dogs familiar with hotel situations when they go off with a blind person. I try to have the dog as socialized and exposed to as many situations. We have the dogs experience a life of socialization, not at home all the time. Have experience around crowds, other dogs, different age groups, how to behave in the public setting.”
The most challenging aspect of being a puppy trainer is letting them go, according to Plummer. “We love them so much,” she said. “They’re going to an amazing visually impaired person who needs them.”
After the dog leaves Plummer, they go to The Seeing Eye in Morristown to become a guide dog. Then, four months later, there is a Town Walk, where the foster family who raised the puppy attends to see what the dog learned.
“How to stop at traffic, weave around a low hanging branch. They go through all these different obstacles,” said Plummer. “We don’t teach them that. We teach them socialization, how to be a good-mannered dog.”
During the Town Walk, which is similar to graduation, the foster family isn’t allowed to make contact with the dog, so the dog doesn’t become reattached to the family.
“It’s kind of like a good-bye but from a distance,” Plummer said. “It’s heartbreaking, but it’s a bittersweet feeling.”
After the Town Walk, the dogs are matched with a person.
But not all dogs pass as Seeing Eye guides, Plummer explained. One of her puppies was “way too distracted.” She said, “So they thought she would be a great bomb sniffer.”
Other dogs that don’t pass the test can also get a career change. In addition to being a bomb sniffer, other options include medical alert, law enforcement or becoming a therapy dog. There’s also the option of going on an adoption list or back to the person who raised the pup. Plummer and her family have adopted three of the dogs they raised. One is a therapy dog and all three are blood donors. In total, she and her family have raised 16 dogs since 2011.
For more information on Seeing Eye, visit: https://seeingeye.org/.
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