Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 27, 1990 TAG: 9006280664
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: FRITZ RITSCH
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
The morning was crisp and clear as a noisy procession of about 30 people and their dogs, laughing and barking respectively, set out on a 5-mile walk to raise money for the Leader Dog for the Blind School in Rochester, Mich.
Frisky children tried to control frisky dogs in front of the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, where New River Valley civic organizations combined forces to launch the "Leader Dogs for the Blind Walk-a-Dog-Athon."
Jacob Terry, 7, and his l2-year-old twin brother and sister, Larry and Chica, spent the morning getting to know a friendly German shepherd puppy from the Montgomery County Humane Society animal shelter.
They also walked their Airedale, Roo. Jacob explained that he was at the dog walk "because people who are blind need dogs because they can't see."
Some folks walked their own dogs, but most of the dogs were donated by Highland Kennels of Dublin and the humane society.
The dog walk, coordinated by Walley Hedlesky of Highland Kennels and sponsored by the Blacksburg Breakfast Lions Club, raised nearly $l,200 through pledges and raffle ticket sales.
Raffle winners were Holly Price of Radford, who got a lawn mower, and Doug Mayberry of Dublin, who won a weekend at Mountain Lake Resort.
The walk-a-dog-athon was followed by a presentation about the leader dogs program by Bill Hadden of the Lynchburg Lions. Hadden was blinded and partially disabled by a stroke in l973. He uses a leader dog, Major, who was trained at the school in Michigan.
Hadden and Major joined the dog walkers for most of the event, as the group traveled around the Virginia Tech Duck Pond, through Hethwood, and back down through Smithfield Plantation.
While the turnout was somewhat disappointing, Hedlesky said, the event "was more fun than a barrel of monkeys." Animals from Highland Kennels and the Humane Society spent a good part of the morning just getting to know their human walkers.
Most of the dogs in the walk-a-dog-athon would not qualify for leader dog training, Hedlesky said. Potential leader dogs have to be of a certain height and temperament to be considered.
"There are also certain proven bloodlines," she said.
Labrador and golden retrievers and German shepherds tend to be best qualified for the job. Hedlesky raises border collies at Highland Kennels, and they are too short.
But that didn't mean that the playful, well-mannered dogs couldn't help support the cause by walking a few miles and entertaining some new friends.
Animal shelter manager Chris Bach said it was good for her animals to get out, and that it encouraged walkers to adopt shelter dogs. "Anything like this helps us," she said of the walk-a-dog-athon. The leader dog program shows that dogs "are not only companions, but useful."
Hadden inspired the walk-a-dog-athon, Hedlesky said. The event started out simply as part of her kennel's obedience training program and grew into a project that involved Dublin Kennels, the humane society, the veterinary school and the Lions Club.
"Bill has been a real inspiration in this club," said Spike Andrews, incoming president of the Blacksburg Breakfast Lions. Sight conservation is the major emphasis of the Lions nationally, he said, and the club intends to make the walk-a-dog-athon an annual event.
The Lions Club founded the Leader Dogs for the Blind School in Michigan in l939.
Hadden, an eloquent, friendly man with a booming voice, described his first three years of blindness as a time when he was "desperate."
His arrival at the school taught him to view the word "blind" as an acronym for "beginning life in a new dimension," Hadden said.
Hadden became a Lions Club spokesman for leader dogs program out of gratitude, he says. The Lions paid his $8,600 tuition to the school. Indeed, he says, the Lions will pay anybody's tuition.
"The most it'll cost is airfare," he said.
A leader dog offers "the utilitarian aspect of guidance, but also a lot of emotional support," Hadden said. People are often "intimidated by a blind person," but will talk to the dog. In that sense, Hadden said, leader dogs can "open doors for the blind."
Hadden has traveled all over the country giving presentations with Major. He believes strongly in leader dog training and wants to share his experience with other blind people.
Most leader dogs are donated, then raised for a year by volunteer families. But Hedlesky said there are "no puppy-raiser or dog-donater programs in Virginia."
by CNB