Meet the puppies (and humans) making a difference at Rutgers
*Tries to maintain composure when passing baby german shepherd*
If you’ve walked around campus, chances are you’ve seen someone walking a dog with a green vest on. What you might not have known is that these lovable animals are guide dogs in training, instructed by Rutgers’ very own Seeing Eye Puppy Raising Club.
The Seeing Eye Puppy Raising Club formed in 2000 and are in partnership with The Seeing Eye, an organization based in Morristown, NJ that breeds and trains guide dogs. According to club President, Marisa Beckett, the club is part of the Seeing Eye Puppy Raising Project, an initiative where volunteers raise puppies from when they are seven weeks old until they are about 14 to 16 months old.
“Our school and people who are involved in Seeing Eye thought what a great way to expose puppies to all the things they’d be working with if you brought them on a college campus, since there are so many different types of people and environments,” Marisa said. “They have all sorts of things that are really good for their socialization and exposure.”
The dogs accompany their raisers all throughout the day. They go on the buses, to class, and to any events that their raisers bring them to. However, while they are wearing their green vests, they are working and will remain well behaved.
“When I walk my dog, the people on campus are usually pretty good. They know he’s working and not to distract him, but when they see him, they just get a big smile on their face,” Marisa said.
Marisa enjoys seeing people smile when she walks her dog and explains how rewarding it is to see how they react when they see her pup. Other club members shared Marisa’s sentiments. Jordan Thomas, a School of Environmental and Biological Sciences senior, also added that her favorite part of people seeing her with her puppy is they often ask why she has her dog.
“It lets me bring awareness to The Seeing Eye and why I’m doing this and what [the dogs] are going to do,” Jordan said. “There are just so many people that don’t realize the impact these dogs have on people’s lives and having her with me all the time lets me bring that little bit to light.”
The club is currently raising 12 puppies that live on campus with their raisers. The Seeing Eye Puppy Raising Club has special housing on Cook which is the only housing the dogs are allowed to stay in on campus.
The Seeing Eye Puppy Raising Club is very popular, usually having about 75 to 100 general members. General members are allowed to come to meetings as they please and can handle dogs when a raiser is present.
After attending two meetings and a handling session, general members are welcome to take the Puppy Sitter Quiz, which would grant them to be a puppy sitter if they pass. Puppy sitters are required to attend two meetings per month and two events per semester. Sitters can watch the puppies on campus without a raiser present.
After being in the club for a year, club members can choose to go through an application process with the club and The Seeing Eye to become a puppy raiser.
When it’s time for the dogs to graduate from their puppy training, it can be hard to let them go.
“Knowing from the beginning that they’re going to leave helps a little bit because you just keep reminding yourself of that,” Jordan said. “She has a greater purpose and she’s going to go on to do bigger and better things and I’m just lucky that I got to be a part of that.”