The social cause I would volunteer

Eyes on four paws

2

Motivation

“ Physical freedom is so natural, that you can appreciate it only when you lose it.

“ Simply, we believe that Bulgaria needs the school which instructs guide dogs for people with disabilities.

3

Senses in the darkHearing – Blind people use both visual and auditory cortices to hear. Echolocation and “Facial vision”.

Sense of smell – Tactile and auditory stimuli. Smells effectively activate the visual cortex in blind people. Smell and emotion. Smell and behavior.

Sense of touch – The importance of the sense of touch. The sense of touch and the size of fingers. Blindness and the sense of touch. The Braille code. Braille and the brain. Braille music. Other writing systems for the blind – Moon Alphabet. Tactile maps. Tactile art.

4

Animal strategies in the darkBats – use echolocation to find food.

Cats and Dogs – have a huge hearing range and big olfactory membrane. Cockroaches –

detect movement as small as 2,000 times the diameter of a hydrogen atom.

Crickets – hear using their legs, as sound waves create a vibration on a thin membrane of their front legs.

Earthworm – the crawling tongueThe entire body of an earthworm is covered with chemoreceptors, similar to taste receptors.

Elephant – hearing range of an elephant is between 1 and 20,000 Hz. 

Fish – have a “lateral line” system, consisting of sense organs (“neuromasts”) in canals along the head and trunk.

The star-nosed mole – uses its fleshy star nose for hunting.

Shark – has specialized electromagnetic receptors.

Snakes –have a heat-sensitive organ between the eyes and the nostrils.

5

Open your eyes

Herpes Simplex Eye Disease – Coldsore of the eye;

Macular Degeneration - Degeneration of central part of retina, causing central vision loss;

Diabetic Retinopathy - Bleeding/scarring of the retinal blood vessels caused by Diabetes;

Astigmatism - Oval shaped eye;

Glaucoma - Optic nerve damage often caused by increased pressure in the eye;

Stargardt's Disease - Genetic condition causing loss of central vision - also known as Juvenile Macular Degeneration;

Retinal Tear and Detachment - Retina peeling/separating from the underlying support tissue;

Flashes and Floaters - Posterior Vitreous Detachment;

Nearsightedness - Myopia;

Conjunctivitis - Pink Eye;

Keratoconus - Clear central covering of the eye representing a cone;

Blepharitis - Inflammation of eye lid margins or 'Granulated Eyelids‘;

Optic Neuritis - Inflammation of the Optic Nerve;

Cataracts - Clouding of the lens inside the eyes;

6

Back in time Man's relationship with wolves stretches

back 400,000 years.Man's domestication of dogs coincides with the

evolution of early breeds of dogs about 150,000 years

ago.

The earliest recorded example is depicted in a first-century AD mural in the buried ruins of Roman Heculaneum.

1780 ,at 'Les Quinze-Vingts' hospital for the blind in Paris.

1788, Josef Riesinger, a blind sieve-maker from Vienna, trained a Spitz so well that people often questioned whether he was blind.

During the First World War, with thousands of soldiers returning from the Front blinded, often by poison gas.

1916 ,Dr Stalling opened the world's first guide dog school for the blind in Oldenburg.

Dorothy Harrison Eustis, training dogs for the army, police and customs service in Switzerland and would properly launch the guide dog movement internationally.

1931, the first four British guide dogs completed their training and three years later The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association was founded in the UK.

7

Best breeds for guide dogs

Golden Retriever

Origin - Great BritainTemperament -Intelligent, Kind, Friendly, Confident, Reliable, Trustworthy

Labrador Retriever

Origin - United Kingdom, CanadaTemperament - Gentle, Intelligent, Good-tempered, Kind, Outgoing, Agile

8

Best breeds for guide dogs

German Shepherd

Origin – GermanyOther names - Alsatian, Berger Allemand , Deutscher Schäferhund ,GSD , SchäferhundTemperament - Gentle, Intelligent, Good-tempered, Kind, Outgoing, Agile

Beagle

Origin - Great BritainTemperament - Gentle, Intelligent, Even Tempered, Determined, Amiable, Excitable

9

Best breeds for guide dogsThe generic term for dogs trained to guide the blind is "guide dog.“

Biddability, intelligence, ability and willingness to work long hours,

ability to tolerate stress, good health, and public acceptability or recognition.

Originally guide dogs German Shepherds (this was right after World War I).Later most programs switched to Labrador Retrievers.

Ideal behavior and intelligence characteristics for guide dog work.

10

In Bulgaria

The only school in Bulgaria for dog guides for blind people.

Foundation Eyes on four paws

11

I would volunteer“Foster family” program – adopt puppy;

Donate – money or buy food for guide dogs;

Send contributory SMS;

“Open your eyes” campaign;

Attempt in “Seeing in the dark” events;

Spend some time with blind person for company;

Respect the 10 requests of guide dog;http://e4p-bg.com/10-te-molbi-na-kucheto-vodach/

Electronic recycling services to charities;

Join Speakers Bureau;

12

“Always in the dark,never able to see beyond,

but they have a faint glow of hope that will spark,when they hear you and respond.

You can give them hope,and you can help them strive,

when they can't get pass the challenges you are there to help them cope,

you are what makes them come alive.”