Falling in Love with Penny

Roi Cohen and Ravid Ben-Ze'ev raised a guide dog puppy named Penny. Penny was recently paired with her new blind handler, Aviad, who calls his new dog Funny. Here is Roi's account of how he went from detesting the tiny, mischievous puppy who disrupted his life to falling in love with her, and finally, seeing her become a full-fledged guide dog. It all began two years ago when we received a phone call from Eli from the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind, saying that he was waiting on the street in front of our apartment. When Ravid went downstairs she saw Eli holding a small puppy with a red ribbon around her neck. At the time I was not enthusiastic about the idea of raising a puppy who would chew things, whine, and pee in the house. Our lives were filled with university studies, work, and political activities and I felt that a taking on the project of raising a guide dog puppy was not for us. Penny spent the first night in a pen next to our bed. We were told not to let her out so that she would become accustomed to her new home. It was difficult and nerve-wracking. She missed her mother – precisely the way we miss her now, and she cried and cried. She was only five weeks oldn and was being forced to be in a home with people she did not know. I was angry, and was determined to send her right back again. Penny was housebroken within several weeks, but she showed no signs of becoming a dog capable of leading a blind person around obstacles. She chewed on everything and continued to be willful and stubborn, insisting on chewing slippers, our mattress, a pair of expensive sunglasses, weeds, newspapers, and cigarette butts. We attempted to train her by calling her to us and rewarding her when she came, and allowed her to eat only after we had blown a whistle. She pulled on the leash, explored litter on the street, and growled at strangers. We asked ourselves again and again whether other puppy-raisers permitted their dogs to engage in such activities. We gradually settled into a routine in which Ravid would take Penny out in the morning to relieve herself and run off her excess energy, and I would come home at noon to take care of her. She would come to me, happily greeting me and licking me. I began to fall in love with this pretty dog with her uncompromising nature, her great love that she bestowed upon us and her knowledge of what she wanted and what we wanted from her. She became part of our home, made \ravid and I feel as if we were a family, and our lives revolved around her. Penny left us a half a year ago to begin her training at the Guide Dog Center for the Blind. The day we left her there was a tearful day for us. We were filled with trepidation: we were afraid that the year and a half with us was not enough, that we were not good enough, that she was not good enough, and that she would never be a guide dog. We knew that approximately half the dogs were disqualified during their training period, and we feared that Penny would not make it. A week ago we received a phone call from Orna Braun from the Guide Dog Center, who informed us that on December 17th Penny would complete her training with her new blind handler, Aviad. We drove to the center, filled with pride, knowing that now someone else would enjoy Penny's love. She will have to work hard, but I am proud of the training she has completed thanks to us. I love her as if she were my own child. And I thank Ravid for insisting that Penny be a part of our lives. How foolish I was for thinking that raising a guide dog puppy was not a good idea!

Aviad with Penny (now named Funny), with Roi and Ravid at Penny's graduation at the Center