by Cheree Heppe
Just after the 4th of July, the Adventure Club to which my daughter, Tiara, belongs planned a field trip to the Forest Park Zoo in Springfield, Mass. Organizers asked parents to chaperone. Many of the parents wanted to go to the zoo, so the trip organizers collected a lot of chaperones. I signed up to accompany my daughter on the field trip.
Along with the usual packed lunch, sunscreen, proper attire, charged cell phone and a bit of extra emergency cash, Tiara, Graham, my German shepherd dog guide and I went properly groomed and looking presentable. I also made sure to mark the place in the little legislative digest booklet for Massachusetts and to take a copy of the Department of Justice's directive on admittance of dog guides and service dogs.
As I expected, when we approached the ticket window, the receptionist handed me a phone; the call concerned my dog. The zoo's director, John Louis, wanted to talk with me about the dog going into the zoo. We spoke briefly just inside the zoo entrance gate and Mr. Louis expressed concerns about Graham upsetting the animals or reacting to them.
I thought for a moment, then asked Mr. Louis whether he'd ever had a dog guide in the zoo before. He said no and that he'd never been directly exposed to a dog guide in his long career working with and around animals.
After handing Mr. Louis the Department of Justice material, I suggested that he show my daughter and me around the zoo and observe firsthand whether there were any difficulties. Mr. Louis readily agreed to my suggestion.
My protocol departed radically from my usual practice. Instead of asking Graham to follow Mr. Louis as Graham has been taught to do, I took Mr. Louis' arm and asked Graham to walk at heel. Graham heeled along politely while I talked with Mr. Louis about dog guides, access and disability issues. Later, Graham competently guided me back and forth across large open grassy spaces, along sidewalkless roads which ran in back of the predators' enclosures and around and through the zoo-goers as if he had never done anything else.
Mr. Louis and his staff saw Graham and me working around the park and zoo property in more than one setting. Later that day, my daughter was pushed off the playscape slide and punctured her lip. Tiara didn't have to visit the emergency room because our first aid, use of ice pops on the inside and ice packs on the outside, clotted and closed her lip injury.
Mr. Louis took us first to a barn housing some sheep. The sheep and Graham sniffed noses and afterward ignored each other. The sheep, used to being fed by visitors, found us extremely uninteresting.
Next, Mr. Louis took us to see the llamas, an emu and a camel. None of these animals, contrary to his predictions, reacted to Graham. Graham behaved in a exemplary manner throughout, a credit to his preparation and to his high canine calling.
Next, we went to visit the cats. Mr. Louis raised two cougars by hand and took us behind the scenes to meet the cats. Graham and the cats looked at one another, but as is the custom of cats, they feigned total disdain and disinterest. Mr. Louis brought me near enough to their enclosure to be able to stroke one of the cats while Graham sat at my left hand, patient and unruffled. The cougars are bigger than I imagined and have coarser fur than I would have expected.
Mr. Louis next showed us the cows and some rabbits. He explained that to keep the rabbits cool, staff placed frozen water-filled soda bottles in their hutches.
We visited the deer enclosure next. Mr. Louis explained that visitors may enter the enclosure, but the deer, being very skittish, would be alarmed by the presence of a dog. The deer watched but didn't react in alarm or run. I explained that it would be possible to instruct Graham to lie down and remain in place outside the enclosure while I went in with my daughter. Since my daughter did not want to go in to see the deer, we moved on.
Mr. Louis described the zoo's binturong, a nearly 100-pound rat-like rodent that, thankfully, is vegetarian. Some of the last exhibits were the raptors and the bears. The zoo has a pair of black bears and an owl who has a navigational problem in that he flies in circles. The raptors didn't react, of course; they're nocturnal. The bears grunted in surprise upon seeing Graham but Mr. Louis said they didn't seem the least bit put out.
Throughout this tour, Mr. Louis kept praising Graham's behavior and demeanor. Graham executed commands when asked, did not pull against his leash or harness, whine, make other sounds or bark or seem in any way disconcerted by where he was.
Before leaving the park, my daughter and I took a ride on a train that takes visitors around the Forest Park acreage. It isn't a true train, but a look-alike mounted on a diesel flat bed. The operator and one of the zoo staff wanted to know if I would be taking Graham on the train and wondered how he might react. Graham already mastered New York City's subways, Toronto's streetcars and Hartford's bus system. During the ride, Graham sat up, tongue hanging out, the breeze blowing through his ears. The park has a very large acreage and a lovely water park that is part waterfall and part water play area. The next time we visit, we'll have to bring our bathing suits.
Graham's able assistance resulted not as an accident or by chance, but rather as a product of design. Graham's sound breeding and my consistent education and handling of my dog guide made a positive impact on the zoo director. Tiara and I got a fantastic personalized tour of the zoo and everyone learned a lot.