A celebration of those dedicated to our mission to partner guide dogs with the visually impaired through Hometown Training, and the members of those special partnerships.

Fall 2020

W orking as an LPN in May 2001, Sharon began having headaches so severe she thought they were

affecting her sight. She was right. At just 31, Sharon was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. In seven months her eyesight went from 20/20 to nothing and three years later she had profound hearing loss in both ears. Blind for about a year and a half, Sharon was working at Central Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired in Utica, NY, packaging gloves for TSA, when she first contacted Freedom Guide Dogs. She chose Freedom because of their Hometown Training™, knowing she would not have to leave home to learn how to use a guide dog. After having two Freedom guide dogs, Auggie and Watson, Sharon cites ongoing support and personal attention from staff, solid skills of the dogs, customized training, and their ability to successfully match a dog to a handler among the benefits of working with Freedom. It’s doubtful Sharon had any idea of the journey before her, both professionally and personally. Needing more marketable career skills, Sharon began her associate degree in human services in 2002. She worked on the manufacturing line while listening to books by day and attended school at night. She was accepted into an upward mobility program through National Industries for the Blind (NIB) which challenged her to add manage-ment to her program and put her on a path to, in her words, “make blindness a career.” Sharon, husband Joe, and guide dog Auggie moved to Washington DC where Sharon accepted a position with NIB as a legislative affairs specialist. Sharon credits Auggie and the freedom and confidence he provided her with her ability to take on this new challenge. The pair traveled regularly to Capitol Hill and around the metro DC area while Sharon pursued a dual master’s in business administration and social work. In 2009 Sharon accepted a position in NC with the Raleigh Lions Clinic for the Blind, and shortly after Auggie retired. Since life was more relaxed, Sharon chose to wait for a successor dog. Two weeks before her second Freedom guide dog Watson arrived, Sharon’s husband Joe passed away suddenly. Her world upended, but Sharon decided to proceed with the training as scheduled. It gave her new focus and motivation to move

forward. The first trip Watson and Sharon would make together was a flight to New York for Joe’s memorial service. After Joe’s passing, Sharon was looking for a change. She heard that World Services for the Blind (WSB) in Little Rock, AK needed a CEO. The agency had some difficult times and she felt she could provide them with leadership. In July of 2015 Sharon and Watson flew to Little Rock for an interview. When called to a conference room Sharon asked Watson to “find seat” — and he selected the chair at the head of the table! Sharon recalls, “From that moment, I owned the interview.” Three weeks later, they were off to Arkansas — Sharon as Chief Executive Officer and Watson as Canine Executive Officer.

As CEO of WSB, Sharon manages a residential facility with a staff of 35 and spends a great deal of time traveling the US — recruiting, meeting wi th various vocational rehab partners and other agencies, a n d m a k in g keynote speeches. With Watson S h a r o n c a n

independently navigate airports and new cities. Sharon relishes the gasps and comments she hears when they flawlessly move through an airport. Since delays are inevitable, Watson is happy to assist by finding outlets, charging stations and Sharon’s favorite coffee shop, as he was trained to recognize the logo! As any traveler knows, coffee is essential to surviving pre-dawn flights, layovers and delays. Asked how having a guide dog has impacted her life, Sharon sums it up succinctly, “Guide dog equals Freedom.” She believes that the navigation and problem-solving skills of a guide dog are unique and cannot be replaced by technology. “The dog and handler are extensions of each other with communication most people cannot under-stand, unless you’ve been on the other end of a harness,” she explains. “When you are between guides or on the days you travel with your cane, you suddenly find all of the obstacles that a dog navigates around.”

Sharon expresses true appreciation for Freedom’s puppy raisers, and it is important to her to have them as part of her life. While she did not know Auggie’s puppy raisers, she has built a close friendship with Watson’s raiser Leslie, and her family .

“They get to see the end result of their work and follow Watson’s adventures,” she explains. Sharon and Leslie connect through social media and had the opportunity to meet in New

York. In fact, Watson was even invited to Leslie’s son’s wedding!

Having logged thousands of air miles with Sharon, Watson is about to retire. Sharon shares that while it is devastating to accept, it’s part of the circle of life. “You have to be attentive to what your dog is telling you, but you can also take comfort in knowing that Freedom is just a phone call away. Their expert staff can help you and your vet make the best decision for the dog.” Watson will live out his retirement with Sharon, her three cats, dog “sister” Aubrey, and of course, Sharon’s next Freedom Guide Dog.

There is no better way to wrap up the story of this amazing, accomplished and inspiring woman, than in her own words; “You have two choices with the hand you’re dealt in life: you can fold, or you can play the hand. Drawing the Freedom card definitely changed the hand I was dealt, and I won. Life is ‘furever’ changed once you experience the freedom that Freedom Guide Dogs gives you.”

Sharon:“Guide Dog Equals Freedom”

Editor’s note: Sharon is now working with her third Freedom guide, Pilot. This story is condensed from an article written by Sheila LaMothe in the Freedom Guide Dogs 2019 Annual Report.

Fall 2020

We love the amazing folks at Diamond Chemical Company for their continued sponsorship and donation of cleaning products! Diamond Chemical is a national manufacturer of industrial cleaning products that serves a variety of industries. Thanks to their generosity, our kennel and training facility are pawsitively sparkling clean!!

W hen asked about hidden gems, one’s mind usually turns to quiet beaches, tranquil forests, and

even quaint restaurants, but there is also a hidden gem in the worldwide guide dog community. John Byfield is known around the globe for his years of experience as a guide dog Trainer/Instructor. He has worked for many schools, with many breeds, in varying capacities, and has shared his endless knowledge as a speaker at conferences in various countries, many times over.

John’s career began in June of 1958 when he was hired as an Apprentice Trainer for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association (GDBA) at their Leamington Spa Training Center in Warwickshire, England. GDBA provides guide dogs, mobility and other rehabilitation services to those who need them across the United Kingdom. In 1961 John was transferred to their New Bolton, Lancashire Training Center, where he worked for three additional years. In 1964 John emigrated to the United States with wife Pam and two young sons to join Guide Dog Foundation in Smithtown, New York. He began his tenure there as a Trainer/Instructor and was appointed Training Director in 1966, aiding in their mission to provide guide dogs and training to those who needed them at no charge, and developing their training program. Robbie and Charlie Kaman were beginning Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation in the early

1980s in Connecticut and hired John as their first employee and Training Director in 1981. He stayed with Fidelco for 28 years and had the opportunity to develop their In-Community Placement program, allowing recipients to train with their new guide dogs at home, where they live and work, instead of going to classes on the school’s campus. John joined Freedom Guide Dogs for the Blind in April of 1999 as the Director of Training. Interestingly, he was hired by Freedom Executive Director Eric Loori, who previously had been hired by John at both Guide Dog Foundation and Fidelco! After working at Freedom’s upstate New York campus for a few years, John moved to Florida in 2003 and commuted regularly to New York. Since Freedom’s Hometown Training

TM program allows for placing guide

dogs with clients at their home, he trained guide dogs in New York and Florida and helped with placements along the entire east coast of the United States while com-muting back and forth. Already based mainly in Florida, John became Freedom’s Director of Southern Operations about six years ago and began overseeing guide dog placements in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.

Throughout John’s career he trained guide dogs and coordinated their placement with approximately 1200 blind and visually impaired clients. He has been uniquely active throughout the years with no lapses, and was sure to find positions where he

could both train dogs and instruct people. John has done work for the International Guide Dog Federation and was a charter member of their Development Committee. In that capacity he evaluated guide dog programs in Australia, Japan, Spain, Germany, France, and Canada, and once spent two weeks in Poland working with a new program.

John has trained Dalmatians, Weimaraners and mixed breed dogs as guides, although the mainstay is Labradors, Golden Retrievers and German Shepherds. Even as walking became more difficult than in the early days, John was still able and never lost interest. “I’ve always been stimulated by instructing and training, and I had lots of mileage in me!” he laughs. “It’s a great feeling every time a pair qualifies, and it takes many people working together to come to the end result. The trainer is visible, but puppy raisers, volunteers and staff members all have a part in what we do.” And his wife, Pam, remained supportive through all the traveling. John’s retirement in the late spring of 2020 doesn’t mean that Byfield is a name miss-ing from the guide dog world. John now a welcome volunteer with Freedom Guide Dogs, actively supporting guide dog teams in Florida with in-home visits and touch up tips. He has also begun what he warmly calls his “advanced puppy raiser class,” helping Florida puppy raisers to better bridge the gap between raiser homes and formal training. John is celebrating 62 years as a guide dog Trainer/Instructor by walking to the local park with his wife, enjoying family and antiquing, and looking forward to whatever this next chapter brings!

M y husband Jim obtained his first guide dog in 1999 and his second in 2011, going on to travel 250,000

business and vacation miles in the air with these incredible dogs. After seeing the amazing changes that Jim’s first guide dog made in his function, confidence, and ability to work and enjoy life, we began wondering if we could help someone else who was visually impaired by becoming puppy raisers. It would be one way that we could pay it forward.

But how could we take in an eight-week-old puppy when we were both working full time? It seemed an impossible task as we looked into it, and we sadly gave up on the idea. Several years later we saw an advertisement for a Freedom Guide Dog fundraiser in Connecticut and decided to attend. There we met many puppy raisers, including Karen and Bob Bass and their puppy Luna. A wonderful friendship blos-somed, and we simultaneously became enthralled with the Labrador personality (or should we say dogality?). We watched the Basses raise a few more pups, all the while longing to raise one ourselves. Then one beautiful day Karen and Bob offered to help us raise a puppy! We worked out a schedule that we kiddingly called puppy custody, and all too soon Wags was a fully trained Freedom guide dog who was placed with his handler in New Hampshire.

For most puppy raisers, it is the knowledge that your pup will help someone who is visually impaired which s o f t e n s the despair when let t ing each puppy go. Once you experience the fulfillment of raising a guide dog puppy and surrender that pup to its formal harness training,

you are already thinking about getting another. By this time Jim was no longer able to work due to health problems, and setting up puppy custody would not be necessary. However, we were planning on moving to Arizona once our Connecticut home was sold. We contacted Freedom and they encouraged us to take a new puppy for as long as we could, after which they would find another puppy raiser to take over as we prepared to move.

Freedom’s Otis came to us in 2017. Like Wags, Otis was a great student and polished his obedience and socializing skills without difficulty. Time flew, and in the fall of 2018 Otis went to another puppy raiser in upstate New York. Once again we dealt with the sadness of seeing a puppy move on, comforting ourselves with thoughts

of him changing someone’s life for the better. We kept in touch with his new puppy r a i s e r a n d r e c e i v e d a picture of him now and then. We were told when he went into formal

h a r n e s s training and wondered if he would be s u c c e s s f u l , and who he would someday be guiding. In what s t ate would he live and work? Would we be able to stay in touch with his handler (this is a decision that is left to the new owner/handler) and know how he is doing?

Jim continued with health problems after our move, while waiting for a kidney transplant. Meanwhile Bina, his second guide dog, was becoming more reluctant to get into harness,

letting us know that she was ready to retire. We contacted Eric Loori and asked about obtaining a guide dog through Freedom. Eric came to see us in Tucson during a trip to place a guide dog with a veteran in the area. He evaluated Jim’s needs and encouraged us to apply for a Freedom guide dog. However, he emphasized that the correct timing for this would be AFTER Jim had recovered from his kidney transplant.

We soon heard that Jim was nearing the top of the list for a deceased donor kidney, and we were blessed with a successful kid-ney transplant on 1/11/20. Jim worked hard to build up his strength and walking endurance. We kept Freedom informed of his progress, and Eric began planning to bring a guide dog to Jim.

Enter…COVID-19. Social distancing kept trainers from being able to do their work, and travel for placing dogs was restricted. We understood the resultant delay and wanted everyone to be safe. Eventually, we set a date for placement. What we didn’t expect, was to hear that Jim’s next guide

dog… would be Otis!! We were ecstatic! How unique and special! We had spent months wondering where Otis would settle, and he would soon be at OUR doorstep! Otis recognized Bina and us immediately. It was as though he had never left. Otis has learned to swim in our pool, which he loves almost as much as playing tug with Bina. He has done fairly well with the Arizona heat with the help of a thin white coat which helps keep the sun from heating his black fur. He has done well with guiding in a new and very different place with strange plant and animal life compared to New England! He is a joy.

There are lots of negat ive c o m m e n t s f l o a t i n g around about what the year 2 0 2 0 h a s brought into this world. But we have received two unbelievable gifts this year, miracles really

- a new kidney for Jim, and the return of Otis. Jim’s health and quality of life have dramatically improved. We no longer have to wonder about Otis. Instead, we think of a line that a puppy raiser once wrote about saying goodbye to a puppy:

“Our bond extends the miles that separate us, and every bit of love that ran down the leash for the time we were together extends the vastness into a harness held by some-one whose miracle you have become.”

Otis became our miracle, and we will be forever grateful.

Editor’s note: Article written by Jim’s wife Judy. Jim, Judy, Otis and Bina live in the outskirts of Tucson. Otis’ most recent training involved avoidance of poisonous snakes and toads!

Wish List….

Dedicated people and dogs, working together for the benefit of others. It doesn’t get better than that!

Be a part of Freedom’s plan for the future by including a charitable gift in your will or estate plan. Large or small, your gift will make a difference, providing impeccably trained guide dogs for the blind and visually impaired community, at not cost to them.

Personal donations, funds from your employer’s charitable foundation, employee matching funds programs, appreciated stocks and bonds, or bequeaths from your estate can be sent directly to Freedom or to the Freedom Guide Dogs Charitable Fund at the Community Foundation. Please contact our office at info@freedomguidedogs.org for information regarding which option is best for you.

We are so grateful for the support that we continue to receive from our extended Freedom family. The road to independence is not one traveled alone! Your enthusiasm and generosity keeps us moving forward, fulfilling the mission to help everyone who needs our guide dogs.

Thank you…..

Congratulations to Freedom’s Spring 2020 graduating class!

Happy tails and happy trails!

Kimber & Pebbles, yellow Labrador, PA

Sharon & Pilot, yellow Labrador, AR

Marissa & Ocean, yellow Labrador, NJ

Malcolm & Oakley, yellow Labrador, FL

Tony & Phrank, yellow Labrador, PA

Tammy & Olive, yellow Labrador, CT

Deborah & Penny, yellow Labrador, FL

Ernest & Ferguson, yellow Labrador, NY

Phillip & Maverick, Poodle mix, FL

Nikki & Pippa, yellow Labrador, MD

Kirstyn & Olga, yellow Labrador, CT

Jeffery & Philly, yellow Labrador, PA

Anna & Perry, yellow Labrador, NY

John & Owen, yellow Labrador, FL

Jim & Otis, black Labrador, AZ

Josh & Odin, black Labrador, ME

Cassandra & Jovi, Lollie, FL

Daniel & Jayden, smooth Collie, FL

Lisa & Ozzy, yellow Labrador, FL

Name___________________________________________________________________

Address_________________________________________________________________

City________________________________________ State_________ Zip____________

Phone________________________ Email______________________________________

Checks payable to: Freedom Guide Dogs, 1210 Hardscrabble Rd., Cassville, NY 13318

Save time, donate online! www.freedomguidedogs.org

Originally from Long Island, NY, I previously worked for the Guide Dog Foundation where I fell in love with working in the guide dog field. I knew I always wanted to work with animals, and after attending veterinary technician classes online, working at animal hospitals, rescues and pet sitting, nothing compared to working at a guide dog organization. The impact that these dogs have on the life of an individual who is blind or visually impaired is truly remarkable and being able to be a part of that process is something I will always cherish.

I wanted to further my career within the guide dog world, and I am beyond thankful

to be doing that here, at Freedom Guide Dogs. I made the move to upstate NY and began my work at Freedom Guide Dogs as the Breeding Program Manager in January of this year and I could not be happier. From living on Long Island where you need to watch out for pedestrians to moving to the country where you need to look out for cows crossing the road, I’d say it’s been quite the adjustment, but a fun one to say the least. I did not make the move alone; Leona, a female yellow Labrador breed dog from the Guide Dog Foundation who I puppy raised and am now the caretaker of, made the move with me. She has become part of Freedom’s cooperative breeding program while still being owned by Guide Dog Foundation.

Being the Breeding Program Manager I breed and deliver the newest additions of Freedom’s finest and future guide dogs. I care for and socialize them until they are 8 weeks of age and old enough to be matched with their puppy raiser. Once they are out with their raisers, I am always available to address any questions and/or concerns a raiser may have regarding their puppy and am here to support puppy raisers along the way! Our mission of providing another pair of eyes for those who can not see would not be possible without our puppy raisers, and we are forever thankful for the wonderful raisers that we have! I am so happy to be apart of the Freedom family and want to thank everyone for welcoming me with open arms.

We rely on your generosity to keep costs low! Here are some items that we currently need:

Gas/hotel/VISA cards Airline miles Hotel points or discount points DuraChew Nylabones size L or XL Milk Bone mini dog treats Dog boots size L Staples, PetSmart, Pet Supplies Plus or Petco gift cards