To quote a very famous dog, Scooby Doo, “ Cookies!”
For those of you who don’t know, internet cookies are essentially little messages your computer sends the web. Since they are based on your viewing habits, companies that sell things of potential interest to you can follow them back like bread crumbs. Cookies are why when you buy something or research something all of the ads on your page are suddenly for similar products.
It would appear companies are now picking up on my doing a lot of vision related searches. I believe they are a bit slow on the uptake considering I have been researching vision loss for over a year and a half but what the hey.
Maybe the birds ate my cookies. After all, that is what happened to Hansel and Gretel.
The specific company that has caught up with me today is IBM. IBM is not what you think of first when you think low vision but apparently they have been collaborating with Guiding Eyes for the Blind. I might not have read the article but they picture six, utterly adorable Labrador Retriever puppies. Be still my heart. I would probably walk across hot coals if a puppy were on the other side. I read the article….and watched the video.
The article is about how IBM has been helping Guiding Eyes for the Blind become more efficient. They were washing out something like 70% of their pups. This was even sometimes at the end of a 20 month training period that cost up to $50,000. Yikes. IBM, through their Watson software, reduced this wash out rate 20%. They analyzed years of data to match trainers to pups. Even with dogs some teacher/student pairings work better than others.
That was about it for that article, but all of you dog freaks should look at the video of those adorable, adorable pups. If you can, also look for the Today Show videos on YouTube. Did not know this but the Today Show has been featuring Puppy with a Purpose. Some of these pups are to become guide dogs and other will become service dogs. Either way, they are, once again, adorable. Eye candy for passionately puppy people, like me.
There is no way I could raise a pup and give it up at the end of the year. My dog and I would be sneaking across the border to Canada in the dead of night.
Likewise I am a softie as a puppy Mommy so I would not have what it takes to have a working dog. She would spend her days on her Perfect Sleeper just like Beastie Baby.
However, should you be willing to either raise service pups or be in need of a service dog, there are places to inquire. Do I know what they are? Nope. I will leave that to my highly competent editor and fellow puppy adorer. Lin! Help! [Lin/Linda: I’m here! In the US, the best place to start is with the National Service Animal Registry. In the UK & Ireland, Europe, Australia & New Zealand and Asia, it’s Assistance Dogs International.]