The Seeing Eye, the nation's first guide dog school, had come to the Statehouse late last year with a message — and a blindfold. The latter helped the Morristown-based school deliver the former.
Mainor remembers the cloth going over his eyes, and for a moment, getting just the briefest impression of what it might be like to be blind.
"It took away all my sense. It took everything away from me," he said. "And I had no choice but to rely on this dog."
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| Dusty, a dog being trained by the Seeing Eye, was attacked in 2010. He can no longer function as a guide dog, the program says. |
The dog — one of the Seeing Eye's trained guides — took the 31st District Assemblyman through a crowd. He didn't bump into a single person, he said.
"It showed me how valuable these dogs are, taking people through their normal lives every day," he said.
That's the experience that convinced him to become a primary sponsor for Dusty's Law — which would make it a crime to recklessly allow an animal to kill, injure or interfere with a guide dog. The state Senate passed its version of the bill last year, but it's yet to come up for a vote in the Assembly.
Penalties for allowing an animal to kill a guide dog would be the most severe — it would be a fourth-degree crime, punishable by imprisonment of up to 18 months, a fine of up to $10,000, or both.
Allowing an animal to injure or interfere with a guide dog would be a disorderly persons offense. with lesser penalties.
It would also require restitution if a guide dog is killed or injured. Costs could include the value of the dog, replacement dog training, veterinary bills, and lost income by the handler. Seeing Eye communications manager Craig Garretson told NJ.com last year it costs about $60,000 to train a guide dog.
In a survey of 744 guide dog users the Seeing Eye published in 2011, 44 percent said their guides had experienced at least one attack by another animal. Eighty-three percent of respondents reported some kind of interference by another animal.
The law's namesake, Seeing Eye dog Dusty, was attacked by a pit bull while working with his trainer in Woodcliff Lake, in 2010.
Dusty was walking with his trainer, Roger Woodhour, when a pit bull charged from a Woodcliff Avenue home, NorthJersey.com reported at the time. The pit bull's owner had left her house for a moment, and the pit bull escaped through a door that was ajar, according to the report.
The pit bull badly injured Woodhour's own hand as he tried to pull it off of Dusty, according to the report. Dusty himself sustained serious injures to his neck, leg and head, it said.
Garretson and Seeing Eye advocacy specialist Ginger Kutsch told NJ.com earlier this year Dusty had to leave the Seeing Eye program.
"He was adopted by another family. He's doing well, but he's still afraid of other dogs," Kutsch said at the time. "Our dogs can't be afraid of things when they're in the harness. A guide dog as to be able to perform his duties."
Guide dogs are particularly susceptible to attack because their handlers can't help them avoid aggressive animals, Garretson said at the time. And a guide dog isn't going to lunge out of the way, potentially putting its handler at risk with a quick jerk of motion, Kutsch said.
Kutsch's own guide dog, a German shepherd named Molly, was attacked in 2002. She described the feeling to NJ.com the same way Mainor described that of putting on the blindfold — one of helplessness.
But Kutsch was out in the real world, with an aggressive animal nearby, and a chance of stepping out off curb or into another dangerous situation without anyone or anything to stop her. And she couldn't get her vision back by pulling off a cloth.
Molly recovered physically, but she couldn't function as a guide dog anymore. She'd become too skittish, especially around other dogs, Kutsch said.
Mainor said he's not sure exactly sure why it's taken the Assembly so much longer than the Senate to vote on Dusty's Law — though he said other matters took up much of the Assembly's time.
But in May, the bill was referred to the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee, which he chairs. And he said it's on the agenda for November.
Mainor said he doesn't expect much opposition for the bill.
"I think it will have a lot of support," he said. "I believe no one is going to question someone else's lifeline."
(NJ.com - Sept 17, 2013)
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