Once your application is accepted, you will be scheduled for a month-long training program at your convenience. Guiding Eyes pays for your room, board, training, even most travel, for every student accepted into our program. On rare occasions, students can be accepted for individual, at-home training. Every month, a dozen men and women arrive at our Training Center in a beautifully renovated 18th century landmark house in Yorktown Heights, New York, to begin preparing for their new lives. During the 26-day program they work with the instructors and meet their new guide dog, which has been selected to match their individual temperament, needs, and energy level.
Training begins at a low-key pace on the campus and along country roads.
Gradually, the students learn to communicate with their dogs and entrust their safety to their new guides. The instructors take their students to progressively busier areas with heavier traffic, and finally, to New York City. Days are filled with training and practice. Transportation is available to houses of worship and other locations, thanks to a devoted core of volunteers. Three meals a day are included in the training program.