Lifesaver
They were on the way home with their brand new dog when it happened. Charlie Kaman and his son stopped for lunch, and the boy darted out of the car and across a busy parking lot. Quick as a shot, the dog lunged after the child and skidded to a halt in front of him.
As Kaman hugged his son back to safety, an idea took shape: For years, Kaman and his wife Roberta had raised German shepherds and donated them for police work. They knew their dogs were intelligent, but this one was clearly unique, bred with a special herding instinct. Having experienced how a guide dog had changed a neighbor’s life, Kaman began to believe that this breed of dog could be trained as the ultimate guide for blind people.
That was in the early 1960s. The Kamans set up a nonprofit foundation and, for more than 10 years, bred German shepherds and gave them to existing guide dog schools. In 1981, they incorporated as the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, and launched New England’s first guide dog school, training dogs in their own Farmington home and the homes of future owners. To socialize the puppies in a family setting, volunteer families are enlisted to care for the dogs for the first 14-16 months of their lives. Currently around 100 volunteer families are raising Fidelco puppies.
Headquarted in Bloomfield, Fidelco remains New England’s only guide dog school. Since 1981, it has placed over 600 guides. The Kamans and the Fidelco dogs have fulfilled their purpose of promoting increased independence for hundreds of men and women who are blind.