Mix of art and science matches Dogs Inc. guide dogs with their owners

How Dogs Inc. makes the 'perfect match'

FOX 13 Photojournalist Barry Wong reports. 

SARASOTA, Fla. - Like pairing Valentine's Day partners, a lot goes into matching guide dogs with potential owners. 

"As we're training the dogs, we kind of have ideas in our mind as time goes on, or maybe this dog could work for this person," Dogs Inc. Apprentice Guide Dog Mobility Instructor Chelsea Aldrich said. 

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One of Aldrich's latest dog trainees was a black labrador named Grace. 

"I saw Mark's file, and after almost every sentence in the file I said, Oh, that sounds like Grace. That sounds like Grace, every single sentence," Aldrich said. "After time, it just became clear that I think Grace would be a perfect dog for Mark."

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Mark is a Sarasota resident — Mark Thornsbrough. After the urging of a neighbor, he applied for a guide dog with Dogs Inc. A lifelong runner turned bicyclist, Thornsbrough's back injury and loss of most of his vision forced him to switch to long walks. 

"It's very important that you move every day," Thornsbrough said. "When it came time for a dog, I needed a dog that would love to walk and would put the miles in with me."

Every new Dogs Inc. guide dog learns the core skills to help a person that is totally blind. The organization has a GPS speed for each dog and applicant. 

"That's kind of one of the first things we look at, try to match up the pace and the pull and the applicant, and then after that we go on to things like the personality of the dogs," Aldrich said. "As training goes on we just kind of, you know, make the puzzle come together. It really is like a giant puzzle. You got to make all the pieces fit into place."

What they're saying:

 Thornsbrough says the connection with Grace was immediate. The pair try and walk 5-7 miles each day. He says once the harness goes on, Grace is all business. 

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"It helps me so much because I was falling quite a bit. I would catch my foot on something, trip over things that I didn't see. She takes me around that stuff. She keeps me in the center of the sidewalk. She stops at the curb to make sure that everything's safe," Thornsbrough said. "It gives you so much independence because of what they know and what they do."