Top Dog Charleston to draw guide users

About 100 sight-impaired people and their service animals will be in town Jan. 15-17 for Top Dog Charleston, an annual meeting of dog guide users.

"From an awareness standpoint, it's wonderful that Charleston is hosting this event," says Pepper Bynum of The Seeing Eye, one of about 12 dog guide schools in the United States. "It gives the general public the opportunity to get some exposure to people with dog guides and raises awareness of access laws."

The Americans With Disabilities Act and laws in all 50 states guarantee access to public places to blind people accompanied by service dogs. The dogs are trained to behave properly anyplace their masters go.

However, nowadays more people bring their pet dogs with them, blurring the lines of the law.

"That has started bringing up questions of what constitutes a service animal," says Chelsea White, a representative for The Seeing Eye who travels the country with her dog guide, Pippin, to promote awareness. "Do we need to revisit the law and its wording? I have run into that more than ever as I travel."

Founded 80 years ago in Morristown, N.J., The Seeing Eye was the first dog guide school in the nation. It breeds, raises and trains German shepherds, Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers and Lab/golden crosses, and has matched nearly 15,000 dogs to sight-impaired people.

It also has trademarked the term "Seeing Eye dog." In addition, because there is a school called the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, the proper generic term for the canines is "dog guide."

The convention, held in a different city each year, includes groups from South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia and Florida. The event includes social events, tours, a blessing of the dog guides and information sessions at the Best Western Inn, 250 Spring St. The exhibit hall, which will include several dog guide schools and other vendors, opens at 2 p.m. Saturday. The public is invited to visit the exhibits.

"Events like the Top Dog workshop are the perfect opportunity to educate the public," Bynum says. "There are so many people traveling from so many states to get there, and along the way they get lots of questions about what's appropriate."

White says her biggest challenge is well-meaning people who want to pet or otherwise distract Pippin.

"People say, 'Look at the pretty dog!' " she says. "She is beautiful, but she's also a working dog. I always tell people to admire her from a distance because most working dogs are very friendly, and that takes their attention away from what they are supposed to be doing and could potentially be a dangerous situation."

Brenda Rindge can be reached at 937-5713 or brindge@postandcourier.com.

---

---