Dog takes blind runner out for a sprint
PRESIDENT OF A NON-PROFIT SCHOOL FOR GUIDE DOGS HAS A NEW PROJECT — FINISHING A MARATHON WITH HIS TRUSTY ‘GOOD BOY’
homas Panek had been a runner from a young age, so even when he lost his sight in his early 20s, he continued to compete in road races. And like any visually-impaired runner, he has relied on volunteers to guide him.
Whether he was running the New York City Marathon (with Rabbi Michael Friedman of Running Rabbis) or the Boston Marathon (with famed ultramarathoner Scott Jurek), human guides, connected by a tether, have led his way. He has enjoyed this method, despite the lack of independence.
And yet Panek, now 47, has wondered what it would be like to run with one of his guide dogs. Every trainer he posed this question to gave the same answer: Guide dogs were not appropriate for long-distance running, let alone a race. “The presumption was that it wasn’t safe,” he said. “And no school had ever trained a guide dog to run.”
Exploring the possibility
He had gotten wind of several visually-impaired racers who bucked the conventional wisdom, including a Denver runner named Kerry Kuck, but Panek never seriously considered doing that himself.
Then one morning in April 2014, as he was eating breakfast just before running the Boston Marathon, a friend who was guiding him brought up running with a guide dog: “Why don’t you see if it’s possible?”
That was the right moment if there ever was one. Panek had just become CEO and president of Guiding Eyes for the Blind, a non-profit school in Yorktown Heights, New York, in northern Westchester County, that trains guide dogs for people with vision loss. He began dwelling on the challenges — “real and perceived”, he said — and after consulting with his training team, held a focus group for the blind community to weigh in.
“The response was overwhelming,” he said, and in early 2015, the school introduced what may well be the world’s first programme for training guide dogs to run with their handlers.
For the pilot, Panek used his guide dog, Gus, a yellow Lab, who was one of the first to be trained for this. “I said, ‘If other blind people are going to do this, I’ll have to prove it’s safe’,” he recalled.
Two dozen running guide dogs have graduated so far, with a long waiting list for more. None of these certified running guide dogs has yet to take part in a race, but yesterday, Panek and Gus hoped to reach the milestone when they ran the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff, an eight-kilometre race in Central Park, without human assistance. This would also be a first for the race’s organiser, New York Road Runners, which after much discussion agreed to officially allow Gus to run.
“Gus sets the pace,” said Panek recently, “and I follow him”. Trotting at about a nineminute-kilometre clip, Gus, five, is trained to avoid obstacles, slow down for congestion and, above all, keep Panek safe. Gus runs only when he feels confident there’s no danger, and he is trained to ignore commands that seem risky.
Unfazed
As they run, Panek, who is tall with a graceful stride, often says “yes”, a keyword command that assures Gus everything is going well.
And he praises him, saying, “Good job!” and “Good boy, Gus!” as the dog navigates the route while dressed in his own running gear — a specially designed harness that offers greater mobility than his usual one.
A New York Road Runners spokesman, Chris Weiller, said the event’s team had thought through this and was comfortable with Panek’s plan. “We want Thomas to have a good run and be safe,” he said, “and we want the dog to have a good run and be safe.”
To ensure that, a spotter on a bicycle followed along; and Gus wore a bib so all could see he is an official participant. The main concern, he said, was making sure that the solution works for everybody.
New York Road Runners spokesman