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Capital Region Scrapbook: Glenville family, dog received training in seeing-eye program
Monday, April 28, 2008
Sara McKay, kneeling at left, teaches potential seeing-eye dog Tara to obey during a visit to St. Clare’s Hospital during the spring of 1980. Hospital personnel Marilyn Brandt, right, and “candystripers” Andrea O’Neal, left, and Laurel Ivey, students at Mohonasen High School, seem impressed with the puppy.
Sara McKay and her family were training a protector, an assistant and a companion. Their student’s name was Tara, a 9-month-old black Labrador. The young animal was learning how to become a seeing-eye dog during the spring of 1980. Sara, a 15-year-old sophomore at Scotia-Glenville High School, had proposed that her family join the training program the previous autumn. Now Sara, her mother Karen, father Samuel and sister Kimberly were finding ways to teach Tara obedience and good manners. The friendly lab and her handlers had visited a local department store and a fish market. A visit to St. Clare’s Hospital was another lesson, and the dog seemed to enjoy the experience. “She made her way to the office of the administrative secretary of fiscal services, reluctantly sat down and fidgeted impatiently,” reported Susan C. Brickman of the Schenectady Gazette. “She yawned loudly, showing her white, orthodontically-perfect teeth. It was getting late and Tara wanted to go home to Glenville and have a bite, preferably on a milk bone.”
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July 20, 2008
6:22 p.m. [ Suggest removal ]
I was delighted to see the story of our guide dog, Tara, and her trainer, our daughter, Sara. Just wanted to let you know that Tara went on to "college" to became a guide dog for a young lady from Watertown who had lost her site as a teenager. A lot of tears were shed when we went to her graduation: tears of sadness that she was no longer ours and tears of happiness and pride that she was accomplishing what she was trained for. We tried contacting her through Guiding Eyes but she never responded, so we don't know what happened after she got Tara.
During the last three months that Tara lived with us, our youngest daughter, Kimberly, also raised another guide dog named Foster. For a while we had three dogs in the house (our own and the two guide dogs). Alas, Foster did not cut the mustard in "guide dog college". He was afraid of anything new which is definitely a no-no for guide dogs. He was offered to us as a permanent pet and we jumped at the chance to have this delightful hooligan come live with us. Poor Foster was not only afraid of new things, he couldn't swim and was afraid of the water too. Now, I know this is hard to believe because, after all, he was a black Lab too. But he really panicked whenever he was over his head. He simply couldn't swim without nearly drowning himself. This resulted in a lot of rescues from Kimberly. Until he passed away (13 years later) he gave us nothing but love, love, love and lots of laughs.