I interviewed Della Deal a few weeks ago in reference to her experience as a guide-dog foster mom. A week or so after being interviewed, Della found out that Chantal didn’t make it past her training, which basically meant that Chantal would go back to Della as her own puppy. Even though the two are still together, Chantal is no longer seen on the Pitman High School campus since her constant training is no longer required. I’d like to thank Della Deal for the time she spent out of class for this interview.

Q: How do you feel your experience with Chantal will contribute to your everyday life?

A: Being able to walk down a hallway and notice people I wouldn’t otherwise just because my dog noticed them and it brought new opportunity for new conversations because Chantal opened up the door for people to come talk to me either about blind awareness or about guide dogs for the blind in general or just service dogs or the well being of animals

Q: Will it be difficult not having you with her anymore?

A: Yes it will be very difficult because I’m not used to having no dog with me. Like when I’m sitting in class ill forget she’ not sitting with me so ill over my backpack a certain way or like not move my feet in front of me because she’s used to sitting beneath my desk or um ill get up to get a piece of paper or sharpen my pencil and ill look back to say oh is Chantal going to stay. But the hardest part is walking down the hallway and people telling me oh how suit like not having your dog with you. Yes it’s very sad. I’m not heartless because I gave away a dog because it was one of the hardest things I ever had to do but I think that it was worth it

Q: Will there be any opportunities for you to see her again?

A: Yes. I will see her again which is in about three months. There’s either two reasons why. It’s either I’m at her graduation ceremony or I’ll be taking her home with me to stay. So if she doesn’t graduate I get to keep her.

Q: Well is that good?

A: (Laughs) Yes. Well it’s going to be good either way. It’s going to be oh she graduated and she’s working with a blind person or she gets to come home with me and live with me. And I can still certify her as a therapy dog and got to hospitals and that kind of thing and work with people. Take her to elderly homes and stuff like that. It’ll be good, she won’t just be a lazy pet anymore.

Q: So why did you decide to join this program?

A: Right. Well I was so interested in raising a guide dog puppy because my whole entire life we’ve always had Labrador retrievers and I always thought that they were amazing dogs. But I saw someone who was with a guide dog and it got me interested in it and I realized, I talked to my agriculture teacher, Mrs. Vannest and I realized I could do it for FFA credit; so I got class credit for doing it. And I went on Youtube and researched it and watched like a 10 min video of 4 – 6 people giving their testimony of what life was like in the first few minutes of having a guide dog. And that was just so powerful, understanding the value of those dogs in those peoples life, being able to walk in a hallway confidently or on a sidewalk without worrying about tripping from the sidewalk being lifted from roots and trees and stuff like that. And they described it as dancing and they were never able to walk at a normal pace until after they had a guide dog and that was so powerful I knew I had to do it.

Q: What was it like in training her and what process and techniques did you use?

A: Mhmm, well basically it’s a learn-as-you-go experience. But before you can actually get your puppy you go to three consecutive meetings in a row, which is every 2 weeks, we have a guide dog meeting but they changed it to every week, and they give you a binder that’s an inch thick and filled with info front and back and you actually learn their techniques. It’s the same for each puppy in every home so they all have the same training, so they all have the same foundation for when they go to technical training. I got to babysit a puppy for 5 days just to see if this is something I wanted to do. But essentially they give you a puppy and you go to weekly meetings and you just learn as you go.

Q: Do you feel that Chantal will be a successful guide dog if she graduates?

A: Well I actually do believe that Chantal will graduate because she’s just one of those dogs where she’s so willing to learn and she’s so obedient, but she was also sort of submissive so she wasn’t very dominant. So she was willing to listen to what I was willing to teach her, so she was happy to obey me.

Q: Was it difficult for you to balance you academic and social life with this new dog?

A: Yes, it was extremely difficult but I actually found it as an amazing accomplishment being able to balance both my academic life and my um guide dog life. Because before Chantal was able to come to school, before she was 8 months old, she was a puppy at home and I had to make sure I got home right after school to go take care of her and that kind of thing but being able to complete my school work while she was in class with me was a whole different thing. Being able to pay attention in class and make sure she wasn’t chewing an eraser. One time she found a marijuana joint in our classroom and it was actually like oh my goodness what if I ignored her and she ate that she would’ve been like sick and that would have been bad you know. I was actually surprised that I could recognize that. Oh that’s a joint. But if you think of it she was more like an anchor to what I was able to do with my free time but it was manageable.

Q: What advice would you extend to prospective trainers seeking to train a guide dog?

A: Oh, I would definitely go to the weekly meetings of our local group and I would really consider puppy sitting a guide dog puppy, which you will learn by going to the groups. But really talk to your family and talk about you know, what will suffer from this? Am I strong academic student that I can maintain my grades? Because honestly it was a lot of work and there was times I was staying up really late at night. For example when I started my project it was during the summer and the first 2 weeks of having her I was up every 2 hours at night like a mom it was like a crash course in parenting it was unbelievable.

Q: Would you consider fostering another dog?

A: Yes, actually I would do this again but currently not right now because I’m in the middle of the first quarter of my senior year and by the time I’m done I’d already be in college. so If I was to do it again, I would get a transfer dog, so a dog that’s already gone through their puppy stage and they’re about 5 months old. So I would do that but I’m also going to  stay involved in the puppy group by puppy sitting other peoples puppies in the group because you have to be certified to that, and so I might like have a puppy with me for 4 days.

Q: Well thank you

A: Thank you so much.