A GUIDE DOG* FOR LINDA CANTRELL
When Linda Cantrell goes to work, she always takes her guide dog, Bobby, with her. Linda is blind, so Bobby helps her cross the roads and leads her to an empty seat on the bus. "I go everywhere with Bobby," says Linda. "He helps me in so many ways. He even comes with me when I go to the supermarket or to the beach."(lines 1–6)
To become a guide dog, Bobby spent almost two years in a special training program*. "The training program begins when a puppy is about four months old," explains Daniel Webster, a trainer* of guide dogs. "But before the puppies can join* the program, they must pass many tests. These tests check if a puppy has the qualities of a good guide dog. For example, a guide dog must not be afraid of loud noises. So in one of the tests, I take a puppy to a busy street with lots of noisy traffic. Then I watch the puppy to see if it remains calm."(lines 7–15)
Bobby passed the tests easily, and then he joined the training program. "It's an extremely difficult program," says Daniel, who was Bobby's trainer. "For example, the dogs must learn to ignore all distractions, such as cats or other animals. This is too difficult for some of the dogs, so they cannot complete the program. But Bobby can concentrate very well. In fact, he learned everything very quickly. This made it easy and fun to work with him."(lines 16–20)
After the training program ended, Daniel had to choose the blind person that Bobby would live with. "I have a long list of people who are waiting to get a guide dog," he says. "I know a lot about them because they fill in a questionnaire when they first ask for a guide dog. In Linda's questionnaire, she wrote that she loves going on long walks. I decided to give Bobby to her because he has a lot of energy. Linda told me that she is very happy with Bobby. He has changed her life."(lines 21–26)