On Episode 78 of No Rain Date, we welcome The Seeing Eye Area Coordinator Shannon Rager to the studio. The term “seeing eye dog” has become a universal coinage for just about any type of service canine, but Seeing Eye dogs are actually only those that are trained according to the rigorous standards of the organization for which they’re named, which was founded in Morristown, N.J., in the 1920s. Ever since then, the staff and volunteers of the Seeing Eye have been dedicated to training dogs for people who are blind and visually impaired, so they can lead more independent, fulfilling lives. To do this they depend on a closely-knit network of foster families who raise the pups in a learning environment in which they are groomed to potentially save someone’s life. Emotional attachments inevitably develop, but the ultimate goal is to provide a dog to someone whose life will be changed forever by it. We learn from our interview with Shannon how this process continued with modifications during the COVID pandemic, and how local families can become Seeing Eye puppy raisers. As always, Josh has a news roundup of the latest local news, including Veterans Day coverage and a story about a new craft cidery.
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