It happened on a busy street corner and the woman standing there had no idea of the trouble coming her way.
She was blind. On this afternoon, the woman was waiting patiently for the nudge her guide dog would give her to indicate the crosswalk was clear.
A bus was bearing down on the corner, and somehow he knew it was too close for comfort. So instead of following her command to cross the street, he disobeyed and started backing away.
The woman followed.
Seconds later, the bus took the corner too tightly and ran right over the sidewalk where the two had been standing moments before.
“It would have hit her if she hadn't moved,” Shaw said. “Guide dogs have saved people's lives.”
“They have to put their whole faith into this dog to keep them safe,” she said. “That has to be a hard thing to do - to put all your trust into a four-legged animal.”
Shaw and her husband, Ron, have been raising puppies for Guide Dogs of America since 1988. And now, they're hoping that others in the Bitterroot and Missoula areas might join them in helping the visually impaired gain new freedom.
The Hamilton couple started raising puppies for the program after they lost a dog to old age.
They were living in California at the time. After one of their two huskies died, they decided to see if they could make the other dog feel better with a new companion.
“We'd heard about the guide dog program and we thought that if the second dog didn't work out, then we'd only be committed for a year and a half,” Shaw said.
And so Heathcliff came into their lives.
He was a golden retriever and they fell in love with him.
The volunteers take a puppy when it's seven weeks old and keep it until it turns 18 months. During that time, they must teach it obedience, basic house manners and expose it to as many different sights and sounds as possible.
“Most importantly, you need to show it a lot of love,” Shaw said.
The man who would become Heathcliff's owner was 32 years old at the time. He was a teenager when he lost his sight by staring too long at an eclipse.
He had waited a very long time for his own guide dog.
“When it came time to let him go, I was sure that dog would never survive without me,” Shaw said. “He was such a pleaser. That's what he wanted to do more than anything else.”
“I almost didn't survive without him,” she said.
After the Shaws saw the difference Heathcliff made in the life of someone visually impaired, they were hooked.
The Shaws were now official “puppy raisers.”
The young yellow Labrador retriever puppy the couple is currently raising is the 15th dog they've trained for the program.
Only half of the dogs placed with puppy raisers will make the grade and become a guide dog. Some drop out because of bad hips or other medical problems. Others are rejected because they don't respond well to training.
“Those dogs end up being career changed,” Shaw said. “Puppy raisers have the first right of refusal. ... If they don't want them, the dogs are adopted out.”
The California-based Guide Dogs of America traces its roots back to 1948 when a blind machinist named Joseph Jones was turned down by other organizations because at 57 he was considered too old.
The International Association of Machinists took on his cause and started the program that continues today.
In the United States there are about 600,000 blind people, but only about 50,000 are capable of using a guide dog.
Guide Dogs of America keeps its classes small.
Classes are kept at about 10 students and their dogs. The school graduates about five or six classes a year.
The cost of raising a dog, training and placement is about $42,000, Shaw said. While the program encourages the dog's recipients to help pay the cost, many are provided the guide dog free of charge, she said.
“They help a lot of people,” Shaw said. “We're trying to get a group started in the Missoula area. I'm looking for puppy raisers now.”
Guide Dogs of America is always looking for people interested in becoming puppy raisers, but people need to know that it's a decision they shouldn't take lightly.
“It's not really something that's hard, but it's definitely a time commitment,” Shaw said.
If people are interested in learning more, they can call Shaw at 375-9202 and schedule an interview.
“I don't pressure anyone,” she said. “After the interview is completed, I tell them they won't hear from me again. I tell them, ‘You can call me if you're interested.' It's a big step. It's one that we never regretted for a minute.”
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