World-leading geneticists present three-day workshop at Seeing Eye Dogs

09 December 2019

Towards the end of November, Seeing Eye Dogs had the opportunity to host two internationally respected voices in the assistance animal industry: Jane Russenberger and Dr. Eldin Leighton.

Jane Russenberger speaking about the live-feed video being presented to attendees.

The live-feed video being recorded during the lecture showing SED staff Jane walking a dog down some stairs.

Jane is the Senior Director of Breeding and Genetics at Guiding Eyes for the Blind in New York, and Eldin spent 20 years as a Canine Geneticist with The Seeing Eye in New Jersey. Between the two of them they have nearly 80 years experience in animal sciences.

Attendees sitting, looking at notes in the Mobility Training Centre while Jane Russenberger leads a lecture.

During their three-day visit to Seeing Eye Dogs, they ran several workshops, both theory and practical, which covered a wide range of subjects including genetics in dogs, temperament assessment, and ways to vary our own young pup assessments. These will ultimately allow us to improve our own methods and contribute to global program development in the working dog industry.

Jane Russenberger leads a physical demonstration with Seeing Eye Dogs staff in our car park.

During the workshops, we were also thrilled to be able to host some staff from Border Force.

Jane Russenberger, Eldin Leighton, Border Force and Seeing eye Dogs staff stand for a group photo at the Mobility Training Centre — Jane Russenberger, Eldin Leighton, Border Force and Seeing Eye Dogs staff stand for a group photo at the Mobility Training Centre

All in all it was a very memorable and informative three days and our staff took innumerable lessons from the workshops. We offer our sincere thanks to Jane and Eldin for taking the time to talk to us so we can continue evolving our methods to be a leading service dog provider in Australia.