A Future Guide Dog is Ready to Be Trained at Worcester Regional Airport
- Wanjiru Waweru
- May 7
- 1 min read
Wanjiru Waweru, Jadetimes Contributor
W.Waweru is a Jadetimes News Reporter Covering America News
Worcester, Massachusetts — The Worcester Regional Airport welcomed some special travelers on Friday, May 2. A lot of puppies are trained to become guide dogs for the nonprofit “Guiding Eyes for the Blind.” The group supports people with vision impairment by providing a guide dog for the blind. The puppies were capable of receiving more crowds, security, and all other aspects of an occupational airport.
The regional puppy instructor, Lisa Bumbalo, explained that training begins when they are born.
"They kind of start getting exposure right away when they're born in our kennels, on our campus at our canine development center, they start training them right away,” said Bumbalo. “But then they go to puppy raisers between 8 and 10 weeks of age, typically. Those who are volunteers that invite these pups into their home in their lives for, let's say, 14 to 18 months. And then they go back to our training center for evaluation. And that's when they would start their formal harness training and learn how to guide."
The dog-training organization has recently acquired yellow and black labs and some German Shepherds. They reported that over 150 dogs graduate from this program every year.
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