Guiding Eyes for the Blind Fingerlakes Puppy Raising Region

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Guiding Eyes for the Blind Fingerlakes Puppy Raising Region

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This page details activities surrounding the Guiding Eyes puppy raising region in the Fingerlakes, NY

Guiding Eyes for the Blind is an internationally accredited guide dog school providing the blind and visually impaired with outstanding Guiding Eyes dogs who bestow greater independence,dignity and new horizons of opportunity.

11/01/2026

Did you know that wearing costumes helps our puppies gain skills in preparation for work as a guide dog? As adorable, spooky, or silly they may be during this time of year, being exposed to different wearable items helps support a dog's familiarity and comfort with having items on their body. This process starts as young as newborns with miniature fabric harnesses, moving on to the special blue puppy jackets they wear while on Puppy Program, with fun dress up opportunities in between--all in preparation to support their journey towards wearing the harnesses and various equipment as a working guide dog.

Featured are two of our pups on program accompanied by a service dog, and check out our previous post for additional festive and hardworking fun!

Wagner (male black lab 4W325) as Freddy Fazbear and Emmeline (female yellow lab 5E26) with Yosemite (male black lab service dog) wearing Halloween themed dog pajamas.

Image has an ombre orange to purple background with a spiderweb in a corner. Photo frames appear to have their top & bottom edge ripped.
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11/01/2026

Happy Howl-o-ween featuring…

Picture 1: Frost (female yellow lab 7FF25) as a Frosted Cupcake; Orissa (female black lab 1O26) as Spike the Dragon from My Little Pony and her raiser; and Anya (female yellow lab 1A26) as a giraffe with her raiser.
Picture 2: Opal (female black lab 2OO25) as Wednesday Addams with her co-raisers dressed as Morticia and Gomez Addams; and Zyla (female black lab 6Z325) as Lamb Chop.
Picture 3: Venice (female yellow lab 7VV25) as the Wiggler from Mario with her raiser; and Toby (male black lab 3TT25) as Tobey McGuire’s Spider-Man and his finishing raiser.
Picture 4: Justine (female yellow lab 30X25) as the Queen Bee; and Moe (male black lab 7M26) as a witch.
Picture 5: Rumi (female yellow lab 1M26) as the yellow M&M; and Howie (male black lab 2H26) the Ham (a piggy) alongside his raiser dressed as a cow.
Picture 6: Luddy (male black and tan German Shepard 5L26) as Dobby from Harry Potter; and Gremlin (male black lab 2G325) as a Gremlin.
Picture 7: Katara (female black lab 6KK26) as Katara from Avatar the Last Airbender with her raiser dressed as Appa; Hudson (male black lab 4HH26) as Paddington Bear with his co-raisers wearing bear ears.
Picture 8: Yvonne (female yellow lab 4Y25) as a Chick-fil-A Cow with her co-raisers dressed as Chick-fil-A employees.
Picture 9: Salem (female black lab 6SS26) as Salem the Witch with her raiser; and Sutton (female yellow lab 2SS26) as a fall foliage explorer.
Picture 10: Accidental twinning moment! Yosemite (male black lab service dog) as a zebra with Anya (female yellow lab 1A26) as a giraffe.; and Yvonne (female yellow lab 4Y25) and Alice both as cows.

All photos have an ombre orange to purple background with a spiderweb in a corner. Photo frames appear to have their top & bottom edge ripped. Most pictures were taken in front of a Halloween backdrop--red/white striped curtains pulled open to show black backing and expressive eye balls, a skeleton banner and trick-or-treat sign.
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09/24/2026

One week left and $170 away from reaching our fundraising goal! So far, our Finger Lakes team has walked over 143 miles and raised $830 during this Wagathon event.

It’s not too late to make a donation and help us reach our goal. Check out our team page and please consider making a donation today! https://give.guidingeyes.org/wagathon-2026/fingerlakesteam

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09/02/2026

Reminiscing on summertime adventures! What was an adventure you took this summer?

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08/30/2026

The dog days of summer! Check out how our pups had some fun in the sun this season ☀️

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08/28/2026

It’s never too late to celebrate National Dog Day and we’re big dog fans around here! Currently, we have 19 dogs in our region being raised by our wonderful puppy raisers and sitters in the community and our campus clubs at Ithaca College and Cornell University. Each day we work towards giving our pups a solid foundation of skills and experiences to foster their success as future guide dogs.

For the month of September, we are participating in Wagathon as a Finger Lakes Puppy Raising Region Team! Wagathon is a cumulative marathon where our team is working towards getting our steps in to hit our mileage goal and our fundraising goal of $1,000 to support Guiding Eyes for the Blind’s mission to provide guide dogs to people with vision loss. Featured here are some of the members of our team. Check out our team page and please consider making a donation today!
https://give.guidingeyes.org/wagathon-2026/fingerlakesteam

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07/10/2026

Hello everyone! My name is Sydney and I am one of the volunteers running this page. Recently I have also taken over the instagram and pages for the Guiding Eyes Club at Ithaca College. I have been on a mission to collect the names (and if possible photos) of as many dogs raised on IC's campus as possible. We have a pretty solid list so far, but as I have continued to search more pups have come up.

If you or anyone you know raised a dog at Ithaca College around or before 2012, please let me know! I have been reaching out to people directly but though this might be the most efficient way to get in contact.

Here are some dogs that I am looking for information and photos on in particular:
- Orvis (1996)
- Pacer (1998)
- Mary Jane (2001)
- Sable (2002)
- Sahara (2002)
- Molly (2003)
- Irena (2003)
- Isa (2004)
- Gavin (2004)
- Winter (2004)
- Cleo (2004)
- Dijon (2004)
- Curry (2005)
- Vasco (2005)
- Sherlock (2005)
- Ames (2006)
- Snyder (2006)
- Tony (2006)
- Razzle (2006)
- Rusty (2006)
- Bart (2006)
- Image (2007)
- Samuel (2007)
- Yvonne (2007)
- Yeltsin (2007)
- Logan (2007)
- Ellis (2008)
- Helen (2008)
- Tyson (2008)
- Major (2009)
- Thomas (2010)
- Sterling (2010)
- Larry (2010)
- Cassidy (2010)
- Don (2010)
- Fisher (2011)
- Posh (2011)
- Doreen (2011)
- Josette (2011)
- Rafael (2011)

If there are dogs NOT on this this list that you know were raised/started/finished at IC, please let me know!

Thank you all for your help, I hope to hear from you soon.

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05/06/2026

It’s almost here!! Tomorrow is our Dine and Donate event at Cayuga Lake Creamery!

The boys--Gremlin (2G325), Nimbus (9N25), and Toby (3TT25)--say get your crew together for a tasty trip downtown, all while supporting a great organization and its volunteers!

A portion of the sales goes to supporting the puppy raisers, sitters, and volunteers of the Guiding Eyes for the Blind Finger Lakes Region, who put forth so much time, energy, and love into raising and training future guide dogs.

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Image Description: A white flyer with the text “Guiding Eyes Dine & Donate At Cayuga Lake Creamery” written in the top left corner. Underneath in smaller text it reads, “A portion of sales goes to supporting the puppy raisers, sitters, and volunteers of the Guiding Eyes for the Blind Fingerlakes Region as they raise and train future guide dogs.” Beneath that, in a blue textbox, it says “May 7th, 2026 12:30-9PM at The Dewitt Mall”. In the bottom right corner are three photos of puppies with the backgrounds removed. Behind them are blue circles with white polkadots. The left pup is a black lab sitting and looking up at the camera. They are wearing their blue training vest. The middle pup is a yellow lab also sitting, and looking up at the camera over their left shoulder. They are wearing a black gentle leader around their snout and a blue training vest. The right pup is a black lab who is sitting facing the right. They are looking forward to the camera and they are wearing their blue training vest. Above the pups is a circular photo of an ice cream cone in front of a grassy background. In the top right corner is the logo of Cayuga Lake Creamery, which has the name of the business around the shape of an ice cream scooper. In the bottom left hand corner is the Guiding Eyes for the Blind logo.

04/29/2026

About a week away from our Dine and Donate event at Cayuga Lake Creamery!

This girl gang--Opal (2OO25), Yvonne (4Y25), and Venice (7VV25)--says to grab your friends and hit the town to grab a scoop (or two) and make a difference!

A portion of the sales goes to supporting the puppy raisers, sitters, and volunteers of the Guiding Eyes for the Blind Finger Lakes Region, who put forth so much time, energy, and love into raising and training future guide dogs.

*alt text added*
Image Description: A white flyer with the text “Guiding Eyes Dine & Donate At Cayuga Lake Creamery” written in the top left corner. Underneath in smaller text it reads, “A portion of sales goes to supporting the puppy raisers, sitters, and volunteers of the Guiding Eyes for the Blind Fingerlakes Region as they raise and train future guide dogs.” Beneath that, in a blue textbox, it says “May 7th, 2026 12:30-9PM at The Dewitt Mall”. In the bottom right corner are three photos of puppies with the backgrounds removed. Behind them are blue circles with white polkadots. The left most pup is a black lab who is sitting and looking up at the camera. Their mouth is open slightly in a smile, and they are wearing their blue training vest. The middle pup is a yellow lab lying down facing away from the camera with their head turned around to look at the camera. They are wearing their blue training vest and a black leash. The right most pup is a yellow lab who is standing facing the right. They are looking up over their left shoulder at the camera, and they are also wearing their blue training vest. Above the pups is a circular photo of an ice cream cone in front of a grassy background. In the top right corner is the logo of Cayuga Lake Creamery, which has the name of the business around the shape of an ice cream scooper. In the bottom left hand corner is the Guiding Eyes for the Blind logo.

04/27/2026

To wrap up National Volunteer Appreciation Week, several members of the Finger Lakes Region, current and former, had the opportunity to gather alongside the community of volunteers at the Guiding Eyes for the Blind Training School. This event was a celebration highlighting and bringing together passionate, impactful, and motivated people as they are an essential part of the foundation in creating life-changing partnerships and greater independence for people with vision loss. Thank you to all the volunteers for everything you do, no matter how big or small it may seem, the impact of your efforts are felt by many and make the mission of Guiding Eyes possible!

Image Description: A group of people are gathered in a cluster, outside in a parking lot, roughly arranged in three rows. The sun is shining on the group of people, who are smiling and looking at the camera ahead. Most are wearing casual clothing and a few people are wearing Guiding Eyes for the Blind apparel. In the background there is a white building, a pickup truck, and green trees.

Address

611 Granite Springs Road
Yorktown Heights, NY
10598

Website

http://guidingeyes.org/

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