Walton Family Raises Service Dog

This article was originally published in The Walton Reporter on 6/25/13.

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Walton Family Raises Service Dog

By Cori O'Connor

WALTON— Greg Graupman and his granddaughter, Madison Graupman, 12, are raising and training a puppy named Lawrence for Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Don Smith, general manager of the Walton McDonalds, donated all of the dog's food.

Greg Graupman has been involved with Guiding Eyes for the Blind for over a decade and raised service dogs with his sons when they were younger. Lawrence is the fourth dog Graupman has raised and the second dog Madison has raised. They have never had a dog pass the final evaluation, however. Lawrence will attend his final evaluation when he is between 16 and 18 months old.



Madison Graupman and Lawrence, the service dog s
he is raising for Guiding Eyes for the Blind,
give a certificate of appreciation to Don Smith,
general manager of Walton McDonald's restaurant,
for donating all of the dog's food. photo by Cori O’Connor/The Walton Reporter.

"It's a real wonderful experience, especially for kids," Greg Graupman said. "It is a lot of responsibility because the bottom line is that from the time he wakes up in the morning to when he goes to bed at night he's in training. He's always working."
The dogs are trained according to a five step program and the "puppy raisers," Greg and Madison, attend class with Lawrence once a week in Oneonta. When Lawrence was placed with the

Graupmans at three months old, the program began with simple commands such as sit, down, come close, and stand, and they initially used a lot of food reinforcements. "As the dog matures you begin to not give them as many treats," Greg Graupman said. "Right now Lawrence is in step three, so his food reinforcements are intermittent, he doesn't know when he is going to get them. When he gets to step five he will have none."

Greg Graupman explained that they are allowed to bring Lawrence wherever they go. Lawrence sat through a class at the Walton Middle School with Madison and he goes into the Big M Supermarket almost every day. Greg also takes Lawrence to the bus garage. "I take him there frequently, mostly when I know the buses will be either pulling in or pulling out, because it's noisy," he said. "We're trying to desensitize him to loud noises because most of these dogs end up in urban areas with a lot of noise."

Lawrence also has to learn how to ignore things such as a stick on the ground, a cat or another dog. "We purposely put him in situations where he has to perform even though there's a cat. He has to ignore that cat and that takes a while, because the way you do that is to call his name and get him back to you."

Lawrence is also in strict training at home. Unlike most dogs he is not allowed to "counter surf" with his nose along the counter, he's not allowed on furniture, he can't have any "people food" as they have to watch his weight, he only can be off of the leash in fenced-in areas and, when they're gone, he must stay in a kennel.

Although the Graupmans would recommend the program, according to Greg Graupman, "It's not for everybody. Not every kid, not every adult can do this and give up this dog. Your heart's one place, your mind's another. You have to separate your heart and mind to be successful as a puppy raiser."

"It's for a cause so you have to focus on the fact that he's not your dog. It's like babysitting for a long time," Madison Graupman said.

Greg Graupman gave Smith a certificate of appreciation from Guiding Eyes for the Blind, which Smith said he will hang on the wall in McDonald's. "This is just another part of Walton McDonald's taking care of the community. Someone we haven't even met is going to benefit from having Lawrence," Smith said.

"We're very grateful for what Don and McDonald's is doing," Greg Graupman said. "For a puppy raiser, Don is saving a puppy raiser a lot of money."