The eyes of friendship

[Times photo: Ken Helle] Enter photo gallery

By MIKE WILSON, Floridian editor
© St. Petersburg Times
published December 22, 2002

St. Petersburg Times staff photographer Ken Helle had always been curious about Southeastern Guide Dogs Inc. in Palmetto. Where did its dogs come from? How were they trained? And where did the dogs end up?

He contacted Southeastern, a nonprofit organization that places guide dogs with blind owners at no charge. With the group's cooperation, Helle set out to photograph the making of a guide dog from its birth to its placement. The dog he tailed was Holly, the female yellow Lab you see here.

During his work, Helle was introduced to the puppy-raiser program, in which families keep guide dog puppies as pets until the dogs are mature enough to begin training. Holly was fostered by the Sandberg family of Tarpon Springs. The Sandbergs allowed Helle to photograph them living and playing with a pet they knew they'd eventually have to part with.

Today Holly is the best friend of and guide to a 65-year-old woman in Charlotte, N.C. This project, conceived in 1998, chronicles more than four years in a working dog's life.

Learn more

For information about Southeastern Guide Dogs Inc. and the puppy-raiser program, please call toll-free 1-800-944-3647 or see the organization's Web site, www.guidedogs.org.

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