In August 2024, Mark Widawer and his wife, Marlene (the creative talent behind InvitationMaven.com), visited the Guide Dogs of America campus in Sylmar, CA, following an introduction at a San Fernando Valley Chamber of Commerce meeting. During the private tour, led by Yvette Sheehan and Greg Steinmetz, Mark & Marlene gained a deeper understanding of Guide Dogs of America’s mission.
About Guide Dogs of America and Web Compliance Pro
Guide Dogs of America | Tender Loving Canines provides guide dogs for visually impaired individuals, service dogs for veterans, and autism service dogs for children. They also place facility dogs in professional environments such as airports, nursing homes, hospitals, correctional facilities, and schools. Guide Dogs of America’s dogs become trusted companions, helping their owners navigate daily challenges and achieve greater independence, mobility, and confidence.
The organization operates from its 7.5-acre campus in Sylmar, California, where all services, including breeding, training, transportation, room and board, and post-graduate support, are provided at no cost to the recipient. Volunteers, including puppy raisers, play a crucial role in raising these dogs, and only those animals with the best temperament are selected for their programs.
At Web Compliance Pro, we aim to make the internet accessible to people with disabilities, especially visual impairments. We believe that the internet, much like the world itself, should be accessible to everyone. This shared vision of creating a more inclusive and accessible world is one of the reasons we are proud to support Guide Dogs of America, which works to make the physical world more accessible to people with vision and other impairments.
Aligned Missions To Help The Visually Impaired
According to Mark Widawer, Owner of Web Compliance Pro, his company’s mission and that of Guide Dogs of America are closely aligned, each in its own domain:
“Today’s daily life involves interacting with both the physical and digital worlds. Guide Dogs of America helps people with visual and other disabilities navigate the physical world, while Web Compliance Pro helps people with similar disabilities navigate the digital world. The more we can each help those with visual impairment, the better.”
Impressed by what they saw, Mark and Marlene made their first donation to support Guide Dogs of America’s incredible work and will commit to remaining closely aligned.
Touring the Guide Dogs of America Campus
When interviewed after their tour, Mark and Marlene made the following comments:
During our visit, we witnessed firsthand the fantastic work that Guide Dogs of America does. We toured the puppy nursery and observed the “kindergarten” area where adolescent dogs play, learn, and socialize. We also saw the vet and surgery areas, where every animal receives wellness exams, shots and boosters, and more urgent procedures if required.
Many areas have flooring that approaches hospital surgical areas of cleanliness to ensure no infections make it into the dog population. Employees and visitors step in antibacterial baths or wear shoe coverings to prevent the introduction of outside contaminants further.
All the indoor areas are air-conditioned for the dogs’ health. Some outdoor recreation areas have water misters that cool the dogs on sweltering days. An emergency generator backs up critical functions during a power outage.
The guide dog “academy” rivals many schools for human children in terms of routine, organization, and attention to the “pupils.” At the age of six months, the volunteer puppy raisers drop their wards off for one to two days a week of doggie daycare. During their stay in the facility, they can explore, socialize, and be treated to storytelling and rewards for correct behavior. Every aspect of the training revolves around positive reinforcement and care.
Our guides let us look in on some of the enclosed areas where the canine students were learning their craft. We then moved out into the campus’ open areas. This portion of the campus contains most of the environments, surfaces, and walking conditions that guide dogs and their handlers will encounter when working together. While on this part of the tour, we chatted with a sight-impaired individual about how he works with his guide dog.
We had a thorough, detailed tour and spoke with several Guide Dogs of America staff members. Every person we met was genuinely passionate about their mission and their dogs.
Things We Didn’t Know About Guide Dogs
During the tour, Mark and Marlene were amazed at the things they learned about raising, placing, and using guide dogs, including:
- Labradors have mostly replaced German Shepherds as the preferred breed.
- Guide Dogs of America breeds all their puppies, allowing them to control every aspect of their development and training.
- To find the right combination of traits and characteristics, Guide Dogs of America uses an international database of genetic information and contributes the results of their breeding efforts.
- Guide Dogs of America places about 60 guide dogs annually, and to achieve this level of placement, it breeds about 130 puppies each year.
- Not all puppies can be guide dogs. Successful guide dogs must have a unique combination of temperament, healthiness, confidence, boldness, and initiative.
- About 40% of the puppies that don’t get into guide dog training go through the Guide Dogs of America Career Change program and are placed in different roles where their training is valuable.
- People receiving guide dogs must demonstrate the ability to navigate independently before they qualify for a dog.
- Puppy raisers don’t need prior experience training their wards as guide dogs.
- It takes about 18 months to train a guide dog.
- Dogs work for five to six years and then are retired.
How You Can Help Support Guide Dogs of America
Guide Dogs of America relies heavily on volunteers and donations to continue their work. Volunteering as a puppy raiser or donating can help transform lives and support the independence of those dependent on service dogs. To get involved, visit the following links:
