This article features VIPACE program co-ordinator Jim Vaglia -
[log in to unmask] - and may be found at
http://www.ghplus.com/news/southhills/news/story1-12-2.shtml
Guide Dog Leads Way to Easy Street


   By Brian Estadt
   Editor

   With Dave the Labrador retriever sprawled out on the floor at his
   feet, 29-year-old Jim Vaglia recalls the first time he realized he
   wanted a dog of his own.

   Jim, a teenager at the time, was playing beatball with some of his
   friends. Some of his buddies had brought their dogs and Jim was
   excited when he saw how the animals helped with the game.

   Actually, Jim didn't see how the dogs helped. Beatball is, after all,
   played by the blind.

   The dogs were guide dogs. Just like Dave.

   And just like Dave, they expanded the horizon for their owners and
   helped them navigate it.

   Dave is your typical black lab. He likes to give kisses. His fur is
   the color of coal and his eyes a few shades darker than amber.

   And his tail... well, his tail is like any lab tail. Which means it
   beats like a propeller whenever he's happy.

   Jim is obviously as happy as his new buddy. As Jim talks about his
   guide dog, his words come faster and faster. And anytime he mentions
   Dave's name, the tail starts thwacking against the carpet.

   Though he's quickly becoming a valued companion, Dave is first and
   foremost a guide.

   Provided by Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind Inc. in New York City,
   Dave was placed with a volunteer family until he was 14 months old.
   After he was house trained by the surrogate family, Dave was recalled
   to begin guide dog training.

   Jim joined Dave on the foundation's campus during the first week in
   October. Over the following four weeks, the two worked to become
   familiar with one another.

   Jim had his doubts early on.

   "During my first week, I didn't know my way around the building," Jim
   says. "I thought I wasn't going to be able to do it."

   Then - two, maybe two-and-a-half weeks after he arrived - Jim and Dave
   took a walk by themselves. And something clicked.

   "To me, that was when Dave and I really started to bond," Jim says.
   "The instructors said you could see that we were bonding."

   Noting that Jim and Dave seemed to work better when left to
   themselves, the instructors gave them a little more space during the
   training period.

   Less than a month back home in Brentwood, the duo loves to go for
   walks.

   As he starts out from his home on Brentwood Avenue, Jim is talking
   nonstop to Dave, urging his guide to keep straight or to find the curb
   or to go to the nearest steps up.

   "You have to constantly talk to him, to keep his attention," he says
   as they make their way up the sloped sidewalk this Friday afternoon.

   Because of Thanksgiving, garbage collection is a day late. Not that it
   matters to Dave, who leads the two of them through a minefield of
   garbage cans and lids along the sidewalk.

   Dave pads through the impromptu obstacle course with a nonchalance
   that, at first glance, could be mistook for inattention. It's not.

   With Dave leading the way, Jim misses every telephone pole and garbage
   can by a margin that's repeated too often to be coincidence.

   Not that Dave's perfect, though.

   At 17 months old, he's learning on the job. He still pauses to sniff
   at items on the ground - a big no-no for guide dogs while in harness.
   Today, he even stops to taste a waterlogged cigarette filter.

   Though Dave pauses every now and then, Jim says his guide has improved
   daily.

   Among the commands Dave understands is 'find curb.' When uttered by
   Jim, Dave positions himself so that Jim faces the road.

   Like someone testing the temperature of bath water, Jim reaches out
   his left foot, taps it downward then inches it forward and repeats the
   process until the tip of his foot dangles an inch or two above
   asphalt.

   At least that's how it's supposed to work. One of the biggest problems
   for blind pedestrians is sidewalk curb cuts to accommodate wheelchair
   users.

   Though curb cuts make traveling easier for wheelchair users, they pose
   an obstacle to blind pedestrians and guide dogs that, when directed to
   find a curb, only find a ramp.

   But that doesn't matter today. After trekking along Brownsville Road,
   the duo retraces its steps. Along the way they come to a wheelchair
   ramp and Jim directs his guide to "find curb."

   This time, Dave has no problems with the ramp. When Jim realizes what
   just happened, he enthusiastically praises his guide and notes this is
   the first time Dave's led him right to a curb cut.

   Dave responds by beating his tail like a hummingbird and soon Jim has
   another command.

   "Find home, Davey," he says with a smile. "Find home."

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