GUIDE DOGS OF AMERICA (International Guiding Eyes, Inc.)

Guide Dogs of America's mission is to transform lives through partnerships with service dogs.

Our primary goal for our guide dog program is to empower people who are blind and visually impaired to live with greater confidence, mobility and independence by providing professionally trained, expertly matched guide dogs and instruction in their use, at no cost. We aim to graduate 25-40 guide dog teams annually.

Our primary goals for our service dog program are: to heal wounded warriors, helping them gain greater independence and reintegrate into their families and communities; support families affected by autism in a variety of ways, enhancing communication, adaptive skills and safety; transform countless lives through therapeutic activities facilitated by facility dogs and their professional handlers in hospitals, schools and courtrooms; and transform the lives of the incarcerated individuals who train our service and facility dogs in our Prisoners Overcoming Obstacles and Creating Hope Program. We aim to graduate 25-40 service dog teams annually.

GDA breeds specially selected Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers and German Shepherds to provide the best quality service dog possible, with the ideal health, temperament, and desire for service work in a variety of sizes and personalities. Puppies spend the first part of their lives with their mothers and littermates in our Puppy Nursery, where they participate in daily enrichment programs. At age 8 weeks , they're placed with pre-screened volunteer puppy raisers who provide them with basic obedience skills, socialization and lots of love. Our puppy raisers work closely with our canine development team to ensure the puppies have appropriate confidence building experiences and the support they need to, hopefully, one day become trusted guide or service dogs.

At age 16-18 months, puppies return to GDA's campus for evaluation by our experienced team. Future guide dogs remain on campus and receive @6 months of formal guide dog training, during which they learn how to work with a human partner as a team to safely travel from one destination to the next, stop at changes in elevation, avoid obstacles in their path, and demonstrate intelligent disobedience (e.g., refusing to step off a curb when there is oncoming traffic). Six times/year, up to 10 blind/visually impaired clients arrive at our campus to receive their guide dogs and complete 21 days of in-residence training. GDA covers travel expenses and provides room/board in our campus dorm. During the first week, each student is carefully matched to a dog with special consideration given to his/her work and home environments, physical abilities, and other factors. While living and training together, each team develops a unique relationship based on mutual trust, respect, and cooperation. Upon course completion, a ceremony is held on campus, after which graduates return home with their new partner and a renewed sense of independence. GDA offers on-going post-graduate support to ensure all teams remain safe and effective throughout their working lives.

Future service and facility dogs are trained in one of our two prison-based service dog training programs. While enabling GDA to train more service dogs, this positive reinforcement program also helps inmates experience personal growth by developing patience, learning to manage emotions, enhancing decision-making and problem-solving skills, giving a sense of purpose and giving back to the community. After completing training in the prison program, dogs return to our trainers for customized training and placement which involves pairing dogs with recipients based on matching the service dog’s strengths and skills with the unique needs of the recipients. Recipients of our service and facility dogs are educated on how to effectively utilize their dog in a three-phase training model consisting of online classes, a 9-day intensive onsite team training (the costs of which, like above, are covered by GDA), and on-going post-graduate support as needed.

Guide Dogs of America's capabilities for meeting our goals include: an on-going strong relationship with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW - the entity that helped found the organization in 1948); highly qualified, experienced, hard-working and committed leaders and staff; hundreds of dedicated volunteers; collaborative relationships with other service dog organizations and organizations working to support work with the visually impaired, veterans and individuals with autism

GDA's staff is led by Guide Dogs of America President Russell A. Gittlen. Gittlen spent nearly three decades as an active member of the IAMAW and a leader in the union's Eastern Territory. He began his career as a Local 447 United Parcel Service mechanic in Massachusetts. He was elected shop steward in 1990 and served the union in various capacities until he was appointed Business Representative for the local in 2000. Gittlen became District 15's New England Area Director in 2003 and Assistant Business Manager for Local 447 in 2015. He coordinated all activities for the district's New England local lodges, including negotiating contracts with many global transport companies. For more than a decade, Gittlen led fundraising and community service efforts for charities, including Guide Dogs of America, providing him the vital experience necessary to assume the responsibilities of his current role.

GDA's Board of Directors meets quarterly. The board includes three GDA graduates. Board member Lorri Bernson is a two-time graduate and also serves as GDA's Media and Community Liaison.

“Never in my life did I expect to have a world as full as mine while being blind," Bernson said. “I attribute that to the best gift I was ever given in my life, at a time when I needed it the most – a guide dog from Guide Dogs of America."

Director of Programs Yvonne Martin oversees each facet of the school's programs. Martin is a California state-licensed guide dog instructor and she brings more than 25 years of experience with Guide Dogs of America to her current position. Martin is familiar with every department at Guide Dogs of America, as well as the people, and the organization's processes. She is also one of five United States Evaluators for the International Guide Dog Federation, evaluating other guide dog organizations outside of the US to make sure they are in compliance with the guidelines set forth by IGDF.

GDA's Manager of Admission and Graduate Services is Greg Steinmetz, a GDA graduate and guide dog user himself. Greg's unique ability to share his personal experiences with the program is a tremendous asset to our students.

Since our founding in 1948, Guide Dogs of America has graduated thousands of successful guide dog teams. In 2017, we increased our number of yearly classes from 5 to 6, with up to 10 students in each, so our current goal is to graduate 60 guide dog teams annually, up from 50 teams in years prior. We have also seen great success with our recently expanded puppy enrichment and socialization programs, which have helped our puppies more easily and confidently make the transition from our on-campus nursery to their puppy raiser homes, giving them a stronger foundation toward one day becoming guide dogs. We have also recently experienced an increase in the number of our volunteer puppy raisers (from about 250 in 2016 to over 300 currently), allowing us to raise, train and place more guide dogs.

Since merging with Tender Loving Canines Assistance Dogs in January 2020, we are now able to put even more service dogs into the hands of people who truly need them. The Prisoners Overcoming Obstacles and Creating Hope Program is running in four California prisons now, which expands the number of highly skilled service dogs that will be available to veterans, children with autism, and professionals who serve other populations that benefit from animal assisted therapy or intervention in facilities such as hospitals, schools and courthouses. Our goal is to place 20-40 fully trained service dogs with individuals in need each year.