Discover what it means to raise a seeing eye puppy!

MILFORD — In a joint effort between The Seeing Eye, Inc. of Morristown, New Jersey, and the Pike County 4-H Youth Development Program there will be an informational public meeting to learn more about raising Seeing Eye Puppies on Tuesday, May 20, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. The meeting will be held at the Milford Borough Hall, 109 W. Catharine Street in Milford. The Seeing Eye, America’s preeminent dog guide school, relies on volunteer families to raise future Seeing Eye dogs. Volunteer puppy raisers in our area become members of the Pike County 4-H Paw Partners Club and attend meetings every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month. Children from age 9 and up can participate, and retirees also are frequent volunteers. When puppies are about seven to eight weeks old, they are placed with their new family. School starts right away, as families teach the puppy basic obedience and good manners. But there are also plenty of field trips. These excursions to various public places such as stores, libraries, and museums expose the puppy to the kinds of situations it will encounter as a working dog. Puppy raisers also provide their puppies with lots of love and gentle guidance which they could never receive growing up in a kennel. This enables the dog to establish a bond with the blind person it ultimately will assist. Seeing Eye puppies, born to a special destiny, stay with volunteer for approximately 18 months. It is no easy task to give a foster home to a Seeing Eye puppy for a year and then, unselfishly, return them to fulfill their special destiny as a dog guide. You will, however, gain a great deal of pride and satisfaction from knowing you have helped make it possible for a blind person to move with dignity and independence. So please come on May 20th to learn more! To register and for additional information, contact Diane Boucher Appel, 4-H Educator with Penn State Cooperative Extension, Pike County office at 570-296-3400 or call The Seeing Eye at 973-539-4425, extension 769.