A Leader Dog provides
an extra set of eyes,
and far more, for her owner.

area's legally blind for 60 years.
After being matched, the two
spent several weeks of training
together before Denise officially
lene Goldman Sawyer got a
became Sawyer's guide. Since their
new dog this past July. The
introduction, Sawyer and Denise
handsome German shep-
have spent each day together — at
herd came with a year of
home in West Bloomfield, on
training, a special harness and the
errands and doing the variety of
name Denise. Sawyer is very
service projects Sawyer has
pleased with Denise, but prefers a
assumed since retiring from social
nickname of her own devising,
work,
including advocating for the
Nee-See.
blind
and
leading the Braille
The moniker's second half
Bindery at Temple Beth El.
denotes the key role that Denise, a
Although Denise offers the
graduate of Leader Dogs for the
sight, direction and caution her
Blind, plays in Sawyer's life. The
keen senses provide, Sawyer said
charitably funded school in
that every Leader Dog has Much
Rochester Hills has provided free
to learn from its owner. In the first
training and 11,000 dogs to the
few years, and the early
months in particular, the
dog and owner establish a
relationship based as much
on intangibles as tasks and
commands.
"They say it takes
between six months and a
year for a dog to be sea-
Leader Dog are beginning a long
soned, which means that
relationship of learning and
they kind of can read your
moves. For example, now
cooperation.

—" Sawyer paused to tell Denise
to sit, then commended the alert
companion "— my last dog, I had
for 10 years. This is my fifth dog."
The intensive, repetitive train-
ing has great rewards, Sawyer
explained, but takes time. "She's a
real fast walker; she's real ram-
bunctious," she said of Denise.
"She is working'-out very nicely."
Calling Denise "probably the
most affectionate dog I've had,"
Sawyer said while the playfulness
is endearing, it can be a sign of
more adjustment work the pair
have to do. "She's very attached.
She usually follows me from room
to room. And she's always watch-
ing me — they say she's always
watching me. And she will not eat
unless I'm in the room, which is
not so good. I'm hoping I can
break her of that."
The greatest reward for their
efforts, she said, manifests itself in
a maturing, improving guide for
an owner who knows exactly what
to expect from the dog. As their
shared experience and bonds grow,
Sawyer's expectations for Denise
will rise. Veteran dogs are capable

QV*

of astonishing intelligence and
sensitivity, according to Sawyer.
"The best is to see a dog that's
been with somebody about three
years. They have up to a 10,000-
word vocabulary. Now, when I
walked in that room, I told her
table' and 'chair.' That's one of the
first things you teach them.
Denise, who negotiated the
Beth El banquet room with some
mishaps, is still a novice. But what
she lacks in know-how she corn-
pensates for in enthusiasm.
Her eyes clear and wide, her tall
ears twitching toward every small
noise, she keeps her body in con-
stant contact with Sawyer and
nuzzles her in spare moments.
Attention, activity and the
occasional kind word seem enough
reward for Denise, who even
appears to be smiling as they stroll
outside.
For Sawyer, the almost inde-
scribable pleasure of having a
Leader Dog is elemental, enabling
her to "feel secure about where
you're going and what you're
doing — it's the most fantastic
thing in the world." LI

