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Pehler loves dogs so much, she breeds and shows them herself. The money and time that goes into raising the puppies and finding buyers was a shock to the Cochrane-Fountain City senior at first. But the commitment involved didn’t stop her from dedicating Marty, one of her pups, to a good cause for free.
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Joy Pehler, a senior at Cochrane-Fountain City High School, pets her 4-year-old golden retriever Calli on Monday outside the school. Pehler, whose uncle is blind and uses a seeing eye dog, was inspired to donate one puppy from Calli's most recent litter to Pilot Dogs, a seeing eye dog school in Columbus, Ohio. (photo by Katie Derus/Winona Daily News) |
This summer, Pehler, along with her mother and her uncle, drove Marty to Columbus, Ohio, to enroll him as a candidate with Pilot Dogs, a school that trains dog guides. She could have gotten between $300 and $500 for Marty, and the drive was longer than 12 hours, but she wanted to do it. Her uncle, Mark Schowalter, is blind and has received five dog guides from the school over the past 30 years.
“When we had this batch, I called him up and said, ‘I want to do this, what should I do?’” Pehler said.
He gave her advice on which dog to pick from the litter. Dominant, but not aggressive. Playful, but not too energetic. When Pehler chose Marty, they started the trek, with the help of donations by people like Elmer Duellman, Dale and Jenny Schaffner and the Fountain City, Wis., Lions Club. Schowalter, a minister in Genoa City, Wis. — who has his dog with him even when he preaches — said he was proud of his niece. The gift she gave, he said, is the opportunity for someone to explore places that blindness can restrict.
“(My dog) is my total independence,” Schowalter said. “I can go into cities like Chicago or Milwaukee and function totally independent because of that dog.”
There’s no surplus of guide dogs, Schowalter said. Less than half of candidates don’t make it through training, and people can wait for months on a dog, so every one that’s donated counts, he said. That’s why, as a dog breeder himself, he’s raised more than 20 dogs that have become guides for the blind. That spirit of giving back is what inspired Joy.
Pehler is planning to go to college next year, and doesn’t know if she will have the opportunity to breed a new litter before she goes. If she does, she said she plans to give another one to Pilot Dogs. She’s got plenty of time to devote to dogs right now if the opportunity arises. The former basketball player had her third knee surgery this summer and is still on crutches.
Marty will be raised with a foster family for at least a year, and Pehler won’t know if he’s made it through his six month training until the end. But Schowalter met Marty, and he thinks he’s got what it takes to be a guide dog
Nolan Rosenkrans may be reached at (507) 453-3519 or at nolan.rosenkrans@lee.net.
