Patrick TrautfieldKate Cappe begins her day just like any other college student. When she wakes up in the morning, she showers, dresses, eats breakfast and then she leaves for a full day of classes.
Cappe performs this morning ritual with her close companion Sequoia, a midnight-black Labrador Retriever that would appear to be an average pet.
However, that would be wrong; there is nothing average about this twosome.
Sequoia is a guide dog in training for the blind, who is being trained through a local group called Paws 4 Sight; Cappe is her handler and trainer.
Coming to Cappe almost immediately following the dog’s birth, Sequoia will spend a total of 18 months with her.
An animal science sophomore, Cappe said she wanted to become involved with the program for a combination of reasons.
“I went to my first meeting in September of ’05,” Cappe said. “I thought it would be really cool to have a dog to be with me everywhere I go.
“I also wanted to mix community service with my major. I thought they would blend well together.”
Cappe said that she really got hooked on the program after she attended one very special event.
“I went to an outing and met some of the people the guide dogs were placed with,” Cappe said. “It was an inspirational visit. After that day, I knew I would always be involved.”
Cappe said that she and Sequoia spend the day and night together, practically as a single unit.
“She’s like my little shadow, she follows me around everywhere I go,” Cappe said.
“I go to my classes in the morning, lab in the middle of the day and then classes at night. Out to lunch break, in the car, she just comes everywhere with me.”
Cappe said one of the requirements the handlers teach the guide dogs are a series of basic commands.
“One of the commands I teach her is ‘do your business,’ which is a relieving command,” Cappe said. “I also teach her sit, stay, down, stand and come.”
Animal science junior Laura Ingels said that she has been involved with Paws 4 Sight since she was in high school and is currently raising her fourth dog.
“I saw an ad and became interested,” Ingels said. “My mom and I co-raised our first puppy together.”
Ingels said one reason she has been involved so long is the great atmosphere the campus offers for training.
“The campus and the teachers are really great and accepting of the dogs,” Ingels said. “I can take my dog into any class or any building and not have a problem.”
Ingels is the handler for Gretchen, a yellow Labrador who has been with her for the last year.
Ingels said that when she is finished training Gretchen, the dog will go to the Guide Dogs for the Blind campus in San Rafael to finish training.
“There’s a 10-phase program that they must complete,” Ingels said. “It’s really intense, really rigorous. They have to pass each level.
“It takes about six months to do the phases, then they get placed with a blind person,” she said.
Ingels said she would like to remain involved with the program post-graduation.
“I would love to keep raising dogs after I graduate,” Ingels said. “It’s very important to me to keep doing it.”
Ingels also said that the program would have an effect on her finding work.
“It would definitely have an influence on my job choice,” Ingels said. “I would take the job that would allow me to have the dog.”
Cappe said there are options for dogs that don’t make it through the program and their trainers as well.
“Those are the dogs we refer to as ‘career change’ dogs,” Cappe said. “The handler can either keep the dog through an adoption process or have it placed in another program.”
Cappe said other options that are available include Guide Dogs for Diabetes, Canine Buddies for young children or being placed in search and rescue jobs.
“These dogs are bred to work so there are a lot of dog jobs out there,” she said.
Susan King is the leader of the Paws 4 Sight group and said that having students as handlers is something that benefits everyone.
“I think it’s good for the school, I think it’s great for the kids and I think it’s good for us,” she said.
Other group leaders have concerns about using college students as trainers, but King said her experience with Cal Poly students has been a good one.
“I have found in my experience that every Cal Poly student I’ve had raising a puppy has done a magnificent job,” she said. “I have been very impressed with the quality of each student.”