August 26, 2001
JANICE OLIVEIRA loves animals, and not just because she depends on one to get around, having lost her sight to retinal cancer when she was only 2 years old.
Oliveira, 21, goes nowhere without her well-trained guide dog, Pavarotti, who unhesitatingly obeys her every command.
"Once a dog is trained, they're a lot easier to live with," she remarked earlier this month as she got ready to graduate as a canine behavior counselor from the Animal Behavior Center of New York in Rego Park.
The first blind student in New York known to hold that title, Oliveira had completed a 200-hour course.
It was an intensive five-week seminar and internship program, requiring attendance six days a week: eight hours per day on weekdays and four hours on Saturdays.
Oliveira, who lives in Shirley, was transported to the center by a car service from a hotel in Flushing. She used recorded textbooks her mother taped for her, and listened to her roommate, Susan Brumbelow, read to her from the training manual.
In this way she learned how to diagnose and treat behavioral problems in dogs and how to teach their owners to use hand movements or a leash to make them obey basic commands, such as "Sit," "Come," "Down," "Heel" and "Stay."
Oliveira also studied counseling, which prepared her to explain to owners how to handle their pets when the animals show signs of aggression, separation anxiety or phobias.
A senior at Cornell University studying animal science, Oliveira plans to attend graduate school in animal science.
"I'm focusing on behavior and physiology," she said. "Behavior is affected a lot by physiology. Nutrition plays a role in how an animal behaves."
Ultimately, Oliveira plans to go into private practice as a counselor for dog, cat and maybe horse behavior, according to Robert DeFranco, an animal behaviorist and president of the American Foundation for Animal Rescue, which runs the center. .
DeFranco described a day of classes for Oliveira at the Rego Park Center:
Her eight-hour day began with three hours of lectures in animal learning, ethology, psychobiology, history of the species and assessment, diagnosis and treatment of dog behavior problems.
After lunch, she attended workshops and clinics to learn to train dogs in basic and advanced obedience, teach group and private lessons for dog owners, and design treatment programs for dogs with behavior problems, including fear and dominance.
She passed with flying colors.
"She's right up there with everybody," DeFranco said. "She's very bright. Academically, she's one of the top students. She got the second-highest grade in the class [of 16]. She's going to be excellent."
DeFranco said working without vision, Oliveira relies a lot on her other four senses, especially hearing and touch. "Janice works with touch and auditory stimuli and a form of 'sensing' that is sometimes difficult to explain."
"I can feel what the dog is doing through the leash," Oliveira acknowledged. "There's more than one way of doing everything."
She does not consider her blindness a handicap.
"I think if you really want something, you can find a way to do anything you really want to do," she said. "It has never gotten in my way."
As to how people might respond to her once she is a counselor, she said, "I'm hoping people will be open-minded, and that I can get references."
The instructors at the center have a lot of confidence that she will succeed. DeFranco said when he first assessed her for the training, "I felt she could do it. I hope she'll set an example for other people with disabilities who might be afraid to try something."
Nancy Merrell, a certified canine behavior counselor and director of the seminar, said, "She is one of the most amazing student interns I have ever worked with. She is smart, she has tenacity and she can teach classes and handle a dog as well as any other student ...She will serve as a great motivator for others with diabilities that have a love for animals and a desire to work with them."
To ensure that her clients follow her instructions, however, Oliveira will need an assistant, Merrell said.
"Otherwise, she's very self-sufficient," commented her roommate, who said she assists Oliveira with her laundry and occasionally drives her to the center.
The seminar-internship program, which graduates 120 students a year, is co-sponsored by the American Institute for Animal Science, an online private school based in West Des Moines, Iowa, and the Association of Companion Animal Behavior Counselors of Rego Park, an organization that certifies counselors.
Oliveira says she "just always loved animals." She volunteers as a dog groomer and puppy socializer at the Guide Dog Foundation for the blind in Smithtown and is involved in Cornell Companions, a program at her university in which she and Pavarotti visit nursing home residents.
Oliveira interacts with animals in other ways. She is said to be an avid horseback rider, and, as a member of the Audubon Society, she can identify more than 100 birds by sound.
After briefly chatting with a visitor on the sidewalk outside the Animal Behavior Center, it was time for her to participate in her graduation activities.
Oliveira slapped her thigh twice. Responding to the signal, Pavorotti, who was sitting dutifully at her feet, immediately rose and led her inside the school.
Copyright (c) 2001, Newsday, Inc.
