Our Headquarters & Training Center is a bucolic country home to our dogs during professional training, and home to our students as they learn how to work with their new dog.
Guiding Eyes’ 10-acre campus in Yorktown Heights, NY, is our organization’s headquarters — home to our administrative offices, student facilities, kennels and a veterinary hospital. This is where our dogs live while receiving their professional training, and where our students live while learning how to work with their new dog.
Our modern dormitory has 18 single-occupancy rooms with doors that open onto an easily-accessible corridor. A second door in each room leads outside. Dorm rooms are equipped with TVs, small refrigerators, and Internet connectivity. They are also fully air-conditioned. Rooms are numbered with Braille and raised letter and number signage.
Student common areas and amenities include a Nurse’s Office, coffee room, a dog grooming area, Student Living Room, large dining hall, a fitness room equipped with accessible equipment and an outdoor dog play area. Volunteers spend time in the evenings with our students conducting yoga classes and dog massage class.
Our dogs arrive at the Training Center when they are around 18 months old, where each dog is assigned to a professional Guiding Eyes Instructor and spends approximately five months in training. When the dog responds reliably and safely to all work situations they will encounter while guiding, it is ready to be matched to a person who is blind or visually impaired.
The kennels provide our dogs with plenty of room for exercise and play. In the same building is the kennel kitchen, which provides our dogs with nutritious, measured meals. We provide an extensive kennel enrichment program to ensure that our dogs have a positive, enjoyable stay.
Our headquarters includes a Nature Walk, a peaceful paved trail set among gardens and bordered by a quiet stream. It is lined with park benches and features a screened gazebo for outdoor activities. The Nature Walk provides a safe setting for recreation and a variety of training situations. We are grateful to the Lions Club chapters that provided a portion of the funds for this wonderful asset.
Guiding Eyes for the Blind is approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501 (C) (3) tax-exempt organization, and all donations are tax deductible to the extent provided by law.
Guiding Eyes for the Blind Federal Identification Number (EIN) is 13-1854606.
© 2023 GUIDING EYES FOR THE BLIND PRIVACY POLICY | ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT
