After raising puppies for Leader Dogs for the Blind, Margaret Goebel admits it’s hard to give them up once they’re ready to serve people.
But the dogs never forget.
“We get to meet the person they were placed with and see the dog again,” says Goebel, purchasing clerk for Computing and Multimedia Technology (CMT) at the Survey Research Center. “It’s amazing how excited the dog is to meet you, they don’t forget you.”
Her part-time job gives her time to focus on her passion for volunteering.
As a puppy-raiser for Leader Dogs for the Blind, Goebel works around the clock taking care of puppies that one day will become guide dogs for the Rochester, Mich.-based institute. A strong believer in volunteer work, she has raised eight dogs, seven of which have become successful leader dogs.
“I would really promote it to anyone. It’s very worthwhile,” she says.
Goebel leaves work by
1 p.m., which allows her to go home and make sure the dogs she raises are getting the attention and socialization they need to prepare them for leading. She just returned her most recent four-legged friend, Wilma, back to Leader Dogs in early September to be put through five months of rigorous training. Wilma will be matched with a blind student for more training and then will become a full-fledged leader dog.
Although Goebel says there is no way to prepare for returning the dogs, she focuses on the “really wonderful things they do for the blind. You can’t dwell on how hard it is for you to give the dogs back; you have to look at the big picture.”
Goebel has worked at the University in various departments for almost 20 years. She sought a job in News and Information Services (now News Service) when her kids were in their teens, and left shortly thereafter for a part-time job in the Film & Video Studies department (now the department of Screen Arts & Cultures).
At the CMT, where she has worked part-time for 10 years, Goebel every month purchases thousands of dollars of desktops, laptops, servers and other computer-related items. She enjoys getting to know the staff throughout the building and in other departments. “I have learned so much from my fellow departmental employees,” she says. “They have put me at ease over the years with their knowledge of the computing world, which I was quite honestly very uncomfortable with when I started to work here.”
Goebel recently joined the CMT’s professional advisory committee, where she hosted a brown bag lecture last summer to promote puppy raising. In attendance were Wilma and an adult leader dog, Kenzie, whom Goebel raised and is now owned by her friend Betsy Gerhart. Goebel often travels to schools and civic groups to talk about raising Leader Dog puppies.
Goebel resides in Whitmore Lake with her husband “Red” and their black lab Maddie, the “resident puppy sitter and tutor.”
The weekly Spotlight features staff members at the University. To nominate a candidate, please contact the Record staff at [email protected].
