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Grandpa Highland's Titan       

Irwin ~ from Puppy to Guide Dog - Episode 1

In 1997, in New York City, a kind, 40-year old man, Willie, had a heart attack.  When he awoke,

he was blind.

In 1997, a few miles north of New York City, puppy Irwin was born blind.  In about two weeks, he  awoke to sight, just like puppies do. His nine labrador puppy brothers and sisters were soon enlistedin a special training program for exceptional puppies. They would study to become Guide Dogs for the blind, someone like Willie.  In time, Irwin and Willie became partners, and Irwin shared his sight and insights with him. Irwin seemed to generate miracles ~  for me, for those around me, and for Willie.

In 2011, I completed a book about Irwin's story, from being a playful puppy to a Guide Dog for the Blind. The delightful antics of a puppy in training and the miracles that Irwin wrought in the lives of those who found it so easy to love him comprise the book and make for some fun reading.

This is Irwin's story ~ from puppy to a Guide Dog.  Each month you will be invited to read another adventure of his life and share it with others.

Chapter 1:  Irwin is born

This chapter is written for the family,  your whole family.  Small tikes will enjoy the playful story of Irwin's birth and will fall in love with this little blond ball of fuzz.

"Hey!  Stop Kicking!" Irwin cried,  as Ike flipped and flopped around.  On this warm spring day, Irwin had been sound asleep in his wet, warm bed.  Sleeping was not so easy for these 10 puppies, however.  Everyone was growing fast. Their little legs kept kicking, trying to find more space. They had slept cramped together for almost 60 days and nights now. Everyone was happy and healthy, but space was a problem. Everyone was cramped. Irwin tried yet again to push away from his brothers and sisters for more room. He squirmed a little to the left and surprisingly found it.  He stretched his legs and found even more room.  Finally!  Comfortable space. Irwin nearly had fallen back to sleep, when he suddenly realized there was too much room. He was wide awake now!  Something was wrong.  

"Italia, Imari, where's Ike?  Where's Iowa?  Hey!  Where has everyone gone?  Irwin cuddled closer to his two little sisters, a little frightened.  Where could the others be?  Where had they gone?

Suddenly, Irwin was being pulled and pushed, swoosh!  His little head was squeezing into a dark, tight tunnel.  "I'm not going in there!" Irwin objected.  "I think my big brothers and sisters got sucked into this tunnel and aren't coming back!  I'm staying right here!"

Irwin dug in his heels and fought against the pushing and pulling.  After a long struggle, however, he finally relaxed. Splish, splash, swoosh, ker-plop! Irwin was born.

"Wow!  It is really cold out here! Mom, where are you?"  Irwin whimpered.

Irwin sniffed around frantically.  Before he could get too frightened, he felt his Mama Jolene's big tongue lick him. 

"Whew!"  That felt good, but it did not last long.  Suddenly, a giant five-legged  pancake swooped  him up, up,

up, just like a fast elevator.

"Hey!  Where am I going now?  I  just found my Mom."  But Irwin was in Lynn's hands. Lynn carefully swooped

him into her warm gentle hands, up to the table to wipe him clean.  Her 10 fingers carefully massaged his tiny body

to warm him.  As quickly as she could, Lynn gently placed him down, down, down, back with his mother, Jolene.

Irwin squirmed around and smelled for Ike.  "Ike!  Ike, there you are!"  Irwin felt better now that he found his

big brother.

"You're okay, little brother. Mom is right here. Hey guess what I found?  Come here, Irwin;  I want to show

you something."  Ike had been born first and had had plenty of time to explore. 

Irwin and Ike squirmed and snuggled toward their mother. "Try this, Irwin," Ike urged his little brother. Irwin

reached out  and found a warm  nipple, dripping with Mom's milk.  Food!  Both Irwin and Ike found a place

at Mom's belly and grabbed onto a warm bump.  Milk!  This was a new adventure for both of them, and a

very good one, indeed.

                                                                     Ker-plunk, ker-splash! "There they are!" Just as quickly as Irwin asked

                                                                     the question, the answer came. Everyone relaxed. Jolene's 10 puppies had all

                                                                     happily been born into a new world with new smells.  Irwin fell fast asleep. 

                                                                     This was about as much adventure as he could take for one May morning. 

Chapter 2:  Irwin can see!

One warm June day, Irwin was sound asleep in his dry, warm bed, snuggling next to his nine brothers and sisters.

Suddenly Ike yelled at Irwin and woke him up.

"Irwin!  Irwin!" Ike yelled.  "Watch me, watch me!"

"What do you mean, watch you, Ike?"

"I mean, open up those big brown eyes of yours and LOOK at me."

What could Ike mean?  Irwin blinked and blinked and ker-plink, he blinked again. He could see!

"How GR8 is this!  This is fabulous, Ike!  I can see!   Oh my, there's Mama and Italia, Iona, Imogene and

. . .  look over there.  That five legged pancake is attached to an arm;  and the arm has a body, and the body has a head.

It's Lynn!  How pretty she is!  How lucky are we!"

"And look over there, Ike.  This must be our house. There's a table and a chair and . . . Oh, there are so many things to see.

I can hardly believe it.  I can see!

"Ike, look through that big square. That room has a green spiny floor and a high, blue ceiling. I wonder how you get there?  What do you think it's like in there, Ike?"

As Irwin was looking at all of the fascinating new objects, he lost track of his big brother.  "Ike? Ike?  Where did you go?  Oh, there you are, up against Mom. You blend right into her color. You are as black as Mom.  You are gorgeous, and BIG, Ike!  You are really really big, Ike!"

"Yeah, Irwin. You should see yourself. You look just like Imogene."

Irwin smelled around for her. There she was!  Imogene was a beautiful blond, or yellow, as people call dogs.  "You look just like her, Irwin. You are a yellow lab."

Irwin looked down at his paw and realized  that he was different from Ike. He was yellow!  He looked at his other brothers and sisters, seven of whom were beautiful ebony - sleek and shiny just like Mama Jolene and Daddy Arbor.

"Why am I different from Mama?" Irwin wondered.  "Why don't I look like the others?"  Irwin's happy adventure had just taken a detour. He snuggled against his Mom and whimpered.  Irwin wanted to be like Ike, his big brother.  He wanted to be like most of his sisters and Mom, and Dad . . . and . . . Irwin began

to cry.

Irwin's Mother quickly and gently rubbed his little head and licked him with love.  "What's wrong, little one?"

Irwin told her why he was sad.  Mama Jolene assured him that he could hold his head high and be proud about his yellow coat.  Why?  Because he looked just like his Grandpa Highland's Titan.  He was tall, handsome, and yellow!  "Oh!" Irwin sighed. He felt much better.  "I hope I grow up to be like my Grandpa Titan.

"You will little one;  just wait and see."

Seeing had turned out to be yet another adventure for Irwin.  He wondered what was next!

Chapter 3:  Irwin can walk.

On a warm June day, Irwin was sound asleep in his dry, warm bed, snuggling with his nine brothers and sisters.  Sleeping was getting a little more difficult these days. Everyone was growing fast, and their little legs were still kicking.  Legs helped them push themselves to Mom's milk, but Ike's long legs could be annoying.

"Stop kicking me, Ike!"  Irwin pushed himself away from Ike and wiggled his legs as fast as he could.  He moved his right front leg one way;  the other three seemed to follow.  Voila!  Irwin was off to another adventure.

                                                                                                                   "Hey, I can walk! Hey Mama, watch me! watch me!  I'm wa- . . ."   ker

                                                                                          plunk!  Irwin plopped  to the floor.  He pulled himself up and tried again.  Step, step, step,

                                                                                                                    ker-plunk!  Irwin fell to the floor again, but he just kept trying again and again.  Now any

                                                                                                                    ordinary dog might have given up , but Irwin was no ordinary dog.  He picked himself up 

                                                                                                                    and tried again and again.   Soon he was walking and ker-plunking across the floor with zest.

                                                                                                                    "This is fun!" Irwin thought.  "I'm getting better.  Hey Mama, look at me!  Are you watching

                                                                                                                    me, Mom?  Do you see me walking?"  Irwin stopped in his tracks.  Oh no!  He suddenly      

                                                                                                                    realized his Mama Jolene was not watching.  Irwin sniffed, then sniffed again.  His realized

                                                                                                                    that his mother was not even close by.

Irwin looked one way, and then another.  Oh, my!  Irwin could not smell or see her anywhere.  He began to panic. He turned left, and ran into something hard - a table leg.  Ouch!  He fell to the floor but got up again. He scurried to the right.  Ouch!  Another hard table leg.  Irwin's adventure had taken a detour, and not a very pleasant one this time.

Then he smelled something very pleasant, pleasant indeed!  It was that five-legged pancake, Lynn's hand.  Irwin stopped and waited as Lynn swooped him up, up up, like a fast elevator. She snuggled Irwin against her warm face and rubbed his little body.

"Where do you think you're going, young man?"  she giggled.  With just a few human steps, Lynn walked back to the litter and carefully put Irwin down, down, down, next to his mom.  Nothing ever smelled or looked so good as Lynn and Mama Jolene that day.  This was one adventure Irwin would not soon forget.

Chapter 4:  Irwin plays outside

Today Irwin was going to find out that through that square glass window, he and Ike  had seen

green spiny grass reaching to the high, deep blue New York sky.

It was a warm July day, but Irwin was not sleeping.  He and his nine brothers and sisters were playing

outside where they was plenty of leg room.

The puppies were all moving their little legs as quickly as they could through the grass, running

hither and yon.  The spiny grass tickled their toes and noses.  The puppies giggled, racing with

their brothers and sisters around and around. This was such fun!

Ike and Irwin loved to chase each other around the yard. They tumbled over and over, nipping at each

others ears and laughing. They ran up and down the fence, always safely inside, or course. They often

found themselves bouncing against the garden gate.  It gave a little, whereas the fence was firm.  Little

did they know that on the other side of that gate many more adventures lay ahead. - adventures full of

good smells, sights, sounds, and loving people, just like Lynn.

"Hey Irwin," Ike asked.  "What do you think is on the other side of that gate?"

Read more about Irwin's adventures outside the gate.

Puppies are born blind. They cannot see for a week or two.

Magically, they open their eyes and began to see blurred shapes in 7-14 days. 

Eventually, dogs will be able to see in dimmer light than humans and see motion better than we can.  Yet dogs see a narrower range of colors than we do.  They can see blue or violet and yellow better than green and red (thus, making the quintessential toy a yellow, blue, or violet ball).  Puppies in training to become guide dogs must learn to see in different ways, too.  They must see danger coming down the road when it is not so obvious to their handler.  When Irwin and seven of his siblings became the eyes for a special group of people who could not see, they learned to see traffic and obstacles in order to make their person safe.

At about one month, or shortly thereafter, puppies gain strength and learn to walk. 

Their small legs inevitably carry them to many adventures, some better than others. 

In the Guiding Eyes for  the Blind program (located in Yorktown Heights, New York),

these special puppies are tested at about 10 weeks to see if they have the

temperament to enter the Puppy Pre-Training Program.  Eight of Jolene's 10 puppies

entered that special puppy program;  all of them passed more tests and graduated to

become Guide Dogs for the Blind.  But first, they had to grow up and become socialized.

Irwin came to his first home with me when he was 10 weeks old.  "Let the adventures continue!"

You can read more adventures about Irwin's puppy training in next month's posting. 

Feel free to let me know if you like Irwin's  story at mmowens40@yahoo.com.

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