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CONNECTING THE BLIND WITH GUIDE DOGS

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008 -- 12:19 PM

A Wisconsin non-profit association with local ties hopes to make it easier for the blind to be placed with guide dogs.

The OccuPaws Guide Dog Association is the brainchild of Nicole Meadowcroft of Madison and uses the dog-training expertise of Doug Weil of the Neillsville area.

Meadowcraft suffers from retinitis pigmentosa (RPU).

"I've been gradually losing my vision since I was a little girl," she says, "It got so bad, I had to stop traveling independently. I couldn't do it safely."

As her eyesight diminished, Meadowcroft knew she wanted a guide dog, but quickly learned it was an expensive and life-halting undertaking.

"I looked at all the guide dog schools in the country. None of them would come to me. They required you to go to guide dog school for a minimum of 28 days," Meadowcroft says.

With the help of donations and plenty of fundraising, Occupaws aims to place trained guide dogs with the blind. The training takes place at the recipient's home and the expenses?which can total up to $25,000--are covered.

Meadowcroft's dog, a Labrador named Dale, was originally trained in our neck of the woods. Weil, Meadowcroft and Dale could be seen training in Neillsville, Greenwood, Loyal, Marshfield and other area communities.

"I was kind of the guinea pigs for the whole program. Then Doug came down to my home environment for a week and worked with me on my own routes, the bus line, the state Capital and things like that."

There are nearly 210,000 legally blind residents in Wisconsin.

With a donation from Strike Time Lanes in Neillsville, OccuPaws is currently holding a fundraiser. To get more info, you can contact Doug Weil at 937-2051.

On The Web:
[url=http://www.occupaws.org]OccuPaws Website[/url]

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.