Huskies to have puppies

Students at Mammoth High School gathered on Monday afternoon to express their interest in a new program run by Guide Dogs for the Blind that will involve Freshmen and Sophomore MHS students in a two-year program to train guide dog puppies.

Anne Parkes, co-leader of the Bishop chapter of GDB, brought 9-month-old Remus, a black Labrador retriever, to the school to talk about the responsibility of raising a guide dog. The lucky student, or students, who are chosen as the pilot members of this program will receive a puppy at 5-6 months old and raise it in accordance with GDB’s specific training standards. Students will bring their puppies to school each day until they reach the age of 15-17 months, when they will attend “college” at the organization’s headquarters in San Rafael. If a dog “graduates,” it will be ceremoniously handed over to a blind person, free of charge, by the student who raised it. “And yes, everybody cries,” said Parkes.

Erin LeFrancois, a MHS teacher who is helping spearhead the program, said that she hopes it will be “a community service opportunity…[and] a good opportunity to reach some students who have an interest in animals. I also think it’s great to have service dogs on campus.”

Parkes and LeFrancois championed this program as a chance for high schoolers to do something altruistic while enjoying themselves in the process. “It’s fun to have a puppy at home,” said Parkes, but “this is not your typical pet dog … You have to go into it knowing that, it’s going to go to somebody in need,” she said.

Students  and their families are encouraged to attend the informational meeting of Guide Dogs for the Blind on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at 7:00 p.m. The meeting will take place at First Presbyterian Church at 585 Main St. in Bishop.