Seeing Eye Pup Mollie practices for walkking on water

Dogging it to Delaware

The ferry looked like it was going to the dogs this past Sunday. Maybe that’s because the folks from the ferry played host to about two dozen future Seeing Eye guide dogs, accompanied by their human trainers. Puppies representing 4H clubs from three counties made the sail, including our own county’s PPAWS club (People and Puppies at Work for Sight). Gloucester and Burlington County clubs also participated.
Our family’s black Lab Mollie was one of the sailors and she did a great job once she got her sea legs (a bit harder for dogs since they have four legs to work with). She walked the length of the ship and climbed to each deck on the ride over. She slept on the trip back like a sailor in his bunk after a three day shore leave.
We couldn’t have picked a better day weather wise. It was smooth sailing under sunny skies all the way across. We spotted a number of dolphins and my daughter and I are willing to sign affidavits that we spotted the watery spout from a whale, though the ferry was thick with doubting Thomases who were actually sore that they didn’t see anything.
And once over in Delaware, we enjoyed a nice lunch on the patio at Gilligan’s in Lewes.
Yes, there is a ship called the Minnow anchored at the waterfront restaurant. They use it for a kitchen. No sign of the castaways however. I was told they’d gone off that day for a three hour tour of the outlet stores down by Rehobeth.
The PPAWs club makes the ferry trip once a year. Not only is it a fun outing for the human members of the club but the puppies get some good exposures to a variety of sights and sounds both on the ferry and on the walk through Lewes.
Seeing Eye has expanded its successful puppy breeding program and is currently looking for new volunteers to raise a puppy. While the 4H hopes to see families join, that’s not necessarily a requirement to raise a puppy. Individual adults can also participate.
Puppy raisers take in a pup when it’s 8 weeks old and work with it until the pup is 12-15 months. You work with basic commands and essentially get the dog socialized. Then the pup moves on to Morristown, where it’s taught all the amazing stuff that eventually turns it into a guide dog.
Seeing Eye works mostly with labs, golden retrievers, and German shepherds.
If you’d like to find out more, check out the website at www.seeingeye.org or stop by the PPAWs booth at the 4H fair in mid-July.