Several guide dogs in training spent Sunday afternoon sniffing around the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad station and socializing with various emergency personnel in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Jeanyne Gembarski said the “outing class” was used to help future guide dogs get exposure to the sights, sounds and smells of an emergency response situation. She’s a regional puppy instructor with Guiding Eyes for the Blind, an organization that trains guide dogs for the visually impaired.
“The noise part of it is really important, because they’re going to be experiencing sirens a lot in their lives as guide dogs … so we don’t want them to be afraid,” Gembarski said. “We don’t want them to lose focus on their work when they hear a siren.”
Each dog was accompanied by a “puppy raiser” — someone who volunteers through Guiding Eyes to take a pup into their home for around a year to teach obedience, socialize and house train the future guide dog.
The puppy raisers wore packs around their waists holding treats. Each dog then had the opportunity to walk around ambulances and other equipment, socialize with emergency personnel and listen to sirens.
“We do use a lot of positive reinforcement when we train our dogs,” Gembarski said. “We want to reward them for the good choices that they make. So, we reward them for being calm and not jumping, and we reward them for being polite. We also reward them for not pulling on leash and being connected with their handler most of the time.”
Capt. Gregory Mitchell, of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad, wore his uniform and hat as he crouched down to greet the dogs.
“If we’re responding to a fire or an emergency medical call and the dogs have never seen us, then the dogs become a distraction that can actually take away from the patient care,” Mitchell said.
Thankfully, he said, the outing class was no burden on the station’s operations.
“As you can see, staff from all of our stations came to see it,” Mitchell said. “Many of them diverted their days so that they could spend some time with the dogs.”
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