Alaska Airlines Collaborates with Guide Dogs for the Blind to Update Policy and Allow Service Animals in Training to Travel

Alaska Airlines, in collaboration with Guide Dogs for the Blind (GDB), has updated their Accessible Travel Services policy to allow service animals in training to travel domestically at no cost.

“GDB is honored to partner with Alaska Airlines and we are thrilled that our guide dog puppies in training will now have the ability to practice traveling both in the airport and in cabin. This type of exposure helps to prepare them for the highest level of service dog work -- becoming a guide dog for someone who is blind or visually impaired,” said Christine Benninger, Guide Dogs for the Blind president and CEO. “We very much appreciate Alaska Airlines’ ongoing efforts to improve independent travel and customer service for all travelers, especially those with disabilities.”

Listed are some of the requirements:

-Travel is wholly within the United States.
-Space confirmed in advance.
-The service dog is being transported by their trainer/raiser.
-The trainer/raiser can provide a health certificate for the dog in training and an official ID card issued by the assistance organization.

“Making travel easier for our customers is a mantra at Alaska Airlines,” said Len Wolford, Alaska Airlines passenger service policy and procedure specialist. “When Guide Dogs for the Blind asked us to adopt a policy that would welcome ‘dogs in training’ on our planes, we responded quickly and waived our standard fee to allow service dogs-in-training to travel free of charge.”

Alaska Airlines and GDB recently hosted an exclusive event at Sea-Tac Airport for individuals who are 

blind and visually impaired, as well as GDB graduates and volunteers, to enhance the travel experience for all.

GDB puppy raising volunteers raise puppies from age eight weeks to 16-18 months, at which point they can enter into formal guide dog training. During this time in the puppy raising home, families are responsible for providing their guide dog puppies with a well-rounded, nurturing environment. To support the puppy raisers, GDB offers a comprehensive puppy raising manual, organized training and socialization through meetings with other local Puppy Raising clubs, as well as staff that offer training and problem solving for the pups and their raisers. GDB currently has over 2,000 active puppy raising volunteers in the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington.

With several hundred puppies needing raiser homes every year, puppy raisers are a critical part of producing highly trained guide dogs and other service dogs. People interested in Puppy Raising can learn more here: www.guidedogs.com/puppy

To view Alaska Airline’s full updated policy regarding Accessibly Travel Services, specifically Service Animals in Training, please visit: http://www.alaskaair.com/content/travel-info/accessible-services/specialservices-support-animals.aspx

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Nancy Bloyer Memorial Fund Scholarship: Winner for Outstanding Essay

The Nancy Bloyer Memorial Fund was created to support the GDB Puppy Raiser Youth Scholarship program for 2015 and in the future. After reading about the 2014 scholarship winners, puppy raiser Nancy Boyer saw each of them as truly amazing, strong, giving individuals who deserved a nice “thank you" for all their efforts to make a difference for others. As a result, the GDB memorial fund in the name of Nancy Bloyer was created. Nancy will be remembered as one of the givers – especially the love and guidance for the GDB pups entrusted in her care: Flair, January, Ella and Madge. Thank you very much to the Nancy Bloyer Memorial Fund donors for their generous contributions (these funds will also be available next year).

Nancy and Don Bloyer with guide dog puppy January

Nancy Bloyer Memorial Fund Scholarship – Winner for Outstanding Essay: Laura Marchi

How has your experience in raising a GDB puppy specifically impacted someone else in your life or in your community?

I hop out of my car, dressed in a suit, purse over my arm, expertly avoiding an ever-present Oregon mud puddle. My heels click as I walk around to the tailgate, leading out a puppy whose tail is wagging. He has no regard for the wet weather or my nice clothes and hops out - right into the puddle I just avoided. I sigh, looking at the mud spots on my skirt. Luckily, I’m prepared for puppy antics. I pull a wet wipe out of my bag and clean off my suit and the rambunctious puppy’s paws before heading into the courthouse, laughing to myself.

Volunteer work has been a source of learning and satisfaction for me for many years. My most fulfilling volunteer job has been as a Puppy Raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind. One of my favorite things about puppy raising is that I can participate in training and socializing my puppy while going about my normal life. It makes for a very flexible schedule, at least once the puppy is reliably house trained! I also devote my time to a local program called Roseburg Area Youth Services (R.A.Y.S.) Youth Court. Through this program, I serve as an attorney for high school and middle school students who have committed first offense misdemeanors, such as possession of alcohol or marijuana, petty theft, or harassment. I have been working for both organizations for four years.

Part of my job as an attorney for Youth Court is to serve as a mentor to troubled teens, but it can be really hard to connect with the teens that are assigned to jury duty as a sanction for their offense. Without meaning to, I often found myself taking the easy route and socializing with the other volunteers. It felt like my conversations with the sanctioned teens tended to end before they had begun. I wanted to reach out, but it was always hard to connect. Then, one day I came in to volunteer with the puppy I was raising for Guide Dogs, a fluffy golden retriever who was bright eyed, friendly, and had a tail that could clear a coffee table in under a second. As I began to wade my way through the cafeteria, kids perked up, staring and whispering. Some of these were kids that I had never seen look up from their phones or take off their headphones. These were the teens who usually stared listlessly at walls, annoyed or ashamed that they were here serving out their community service sanctions. They normally refused or avoided talking to me, but now they were looking at me and my dog. They began to tentatively ask questions and pet my puppy. I ended up sitting next to a girl that I had always wanted to speak to. After hearing her case for the first time and meeting her less than supportive parents, I wanted to help in some way if she would only let me talk heart to heart with her. She absolutely adored the golden puppy, and it was only a few weeks later that she began to open up to me and others, take advice from us, and really let her guard down. She’s now a strong attorney in the program, and has plans to graduate high school and enter college. It was the puppy that opened the pathway of communication, but it allowed me to make the decision to step up and make a dedicated effort to speak with her.

My leader, Terri Jo, always says that our puppies have a purpose. Even when they do not make it to be a working Guide, they will leave their mark in this world. Some dogs are meant to be Guides, to serve as a light to their handlers. But others serve as a beacon of hope to those in our communities that least expect it. This golden pup helped this girl long before he would ever be old enough to become a Guide, and to me, that is the true power of what we do with these puppies.

When you are in public with an irresistible puppy wearing a green Guide Dogs for the Blind training vest, everyone wants to talk to you. I have chosen a career in engineering, but being a public ambassador for Guide Dogs for the Blind has really helped me become a strong communicator and allowed me to look at my long term goals critically. I’m going to Oregon State University in the fall and I plan to continue as an active volunteer in the Guide Dogs program. I want to improve people’s lives and shape the world through engineering. Guide Dogs for the Blind and R.A.Y.S. Youth Court have opened my mind to the needs of different groups of people. Using both my passion for mathematics that I have demonstrated through school and my passion for helping others that I have developed through these volunteering opportunities, I have the tools to make change happen and apply my skills to my career goals.

Laura Marchi poses with Kristoff 

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