Last Saturday, March 16, a very special graduate crossed the stage at a school in Boring, Oregon. Allegra, a one-and-a-half-year-old golden retriever, became the 100^th graduate of Future Vision, an Enumclaw 4-H club organization that raises Guide Dogs for the Blind. Many will remember Allegra from her visit to school in September of 2011, when she was just nine weeks old and being raised by Day School (6-8) director Bill Schuver and his family.

 

The Schuvers adopted Allegra to prepare her for an important career as a Guide Dog for the Blind. More than ten years ago, their daughter Meagan (now a graduate of UW) became interested in training guide dogs through her work with 4-H. The whole family got involved, including Austin (MS ‘11 graduate), and since then, the Schuvers have trained seven puppies to become service dogs.

 

Due to the hard work of the Schuver family, Allegra passed several required exams for certification. She was trained to eat and relieve herself on command, and to walk at an appropriate pace while constantly checking in with the human walker, unaffected by distractions of any kind. In order to socialize in as many different situations as possible (restaurants, concerts, grocery stores, public transportation, parks, etc.), she went everywhere with the Schuvers, including to work each day with Mr. Schuver’s wife, Kristin.

 

Guide Dogs for the Blind is a non-profit organization that breeds dogs for service, but so many factors must be met that only a small percentage actually become working dogs. Those that do not pass all components are "career changed" to other support agencies or become family pets with the puppy-raising family as the first option. “We have one such at home —McKinley,” explained Schuver. “He was too ‘vocal’ for the program, so now he is just vocal with us at home.”

 

Allegra returned to the agency for her final year of training and worked with her new owner, a woman from Florida who has been blind since birth, at the formal training facility in Oregon for two weeks under supervision.

 

After not seeing Allegra for a year, the Schuvers attended her graduation ceremony and delivered her to her new owner on the stage.   “It is amazing to see how the Guide Dogs organization matches the temperament of the dog to the personality of the new handler.  We noticed the loving connection and fit of these traits and characteristics for every graduate pair that crossed the stage on Saturday,” said Mr. Schuver.  This was the 246^th graduation ceremony for Guide Dogs for the Blind, which matches guides with humans in need free of charge.

 

Starting in 1985, Future Vision has placed more than 230 puppies into 73 raiser families’ homes and hearts. As graduates, Future Vision puppies head to homes across America and Canada to serve as guide dogs to blind and visually impaired handlers.