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45 °F Forecast | Road Cams Thursday, January 27, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Wellness Connection Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley EXTRA Newspaper in Education Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Opportunities Moving to Southern Oregon? MARKETPLACE Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Classifieds Place an ad eSouthernOregon Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar CUSTOMER SERVICE Frequent Questions Advertising Information Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Network Affiliate Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend December 27, 2004 Lynn Hobbs, a puppy trainer for Guide Dogs for the Blind, crosses East Main Street in Medford with one of her students, Isaiah, a 13-month-old Labrador retriever. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Puppy trainer is humble about giving By SANNE SPECHT Mail Tribune Some people have a gift for giving — drawing from a seemingly endless well of compassionate energy. Lynn Hobbs is one of those rare folks, says her friend and fellow puppy trainer, Anne Rawlings. Hobbs, 51, moved to Medford from Klamath Falls when she was 5. Now a wife, mother, grandmother and nurse manager for the Hematology Oncology Department at Providence Medford Medical Center, she is also one of the area’s premier trainers for Guide Dogs for the Blind. "She is there for her family. She is there for her patients," says Rawlings. "And every time we have a meeting, I learn something new from her. Guide Dogs often sends her puppies who have problems because she’s so good." Hobbs is humble about all this praise. Helping nurses guide patients through cancer treatment is, she says, "emotionally expensive," but also very fulfilling. Advertisement "I learn things from my nurses and my patients every day," she says. "And it gives me a feeling I am helping people. I need that." It was family that helped her understand service — and lead her to become a puppy trainer 10 years ago. "I had a personal family experience that gave me the ambition to help people who can’t see," says Hobbs. Hobbs prefers to keep the particulars private for her family member’s sake. But, she says, it was her mother who taught her a fundamental lesson when it came to offering assistance. "She said if you really want to help somebody, find a way to help them help themselves," Hobbs says. Only 30 percent of dogs that begin guide training end up in service, says Hobbs. It takes special trainers and training to help these puppies along the path to service. Normally, the puppies are placed with their trainers at eight weeks of age. They arrive with a leash, "Guide Dog" coat and a $250 stipend to help with expenses. The rest is up to the trainer. "We keep them for 14 to 18 months," says Hobbs. "We teach them house manners, basic obedience, socialization and confidence." These formative months not only help create a mentally and physically healthy dog, they provide the cornerstone for the next stage of training. In addition to the daily training each puppy gets with a host family, Hobbs puts on weekly training classes for the puppies and host families. "A lot of people can give money. But not a lot of people can raise a puppy and let them go," says Hobbs. After the puppy trainers have done their job, the dogs are taken back to one of the two West Coast training centers: Boring, Ore., or San Rafael, Calif. At that point, says Hobbs, the dogs are kept in a kennel environment while they "go through college." The service life of a guide dog is mentally and physically rigorous, says Hobbs. When in harness, they are literally pulling their blind partners through and around obstacles. They must be constantly vigilant for potholes and overhanging branches. They must also constantly ignore basic doggy instincts — like the desire to respond to a stranger’s friendly pat, a nonservice dog’s request for a romp in the grass or even answering nature’s call at the neighborhood fire hydrant. "The dogs are on duty 24/7. So they generally only last in service about seven years," she says. All the dogs who make it through training and into service do it for love. Guide Dogs for the Blind does not use force in training dogs, says Hobbs. If they don’t want to do it, or become unable to perform for any reason, they are "career-changed" and go to a new home. Those special dogs who make it make a huge difference in a non-sighted person’s life, Hobbs says. The favorite and least favorite parts of the puppy-raiser’s job are closely linked. The day their puppy heads off to "college" is the hardest. The best part, says Hobbs, is graduation day. After the dogs have completed all their training, they are carefully matched with their new owner. The dog and blind person then spend a month in the dorms, learning to work as a team. "The day of graduation, the blind person is on stage. And the puppy raiser physically puts their dog’s leash in their hand — and releases the dog," says Hobbs. "There’s not a dry eye in the place." To learn more about Guide Dogs for the Blind, visit www.guidedogs.com . Reach reporter Sanne Specht at 776-4497 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions Website Feedback ADVERTISERS A D V E R T I S E R S SPECIAL SECTIONS Auto Finder Job Finder Home Finder Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Tempo Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Moving to Southern Oregon? Volunteer Opportunities Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers