A Ground-breaking Book From Fidelco
Christine Buhler, Fidelco’s director of development, recalls her first brief meeting with David Shanks, CEO of Penguin/Viking books. “We were both at a charity golf tournament. I had given a short overview of our organization after accepting a check from the organizers on behalf of Fidelco. As the evening wrapped up and guests were headed home, David made a point of stopping briefly on his way out and handing me his business card. ‘Give me a call. We should talk,’ was the extent of our conversation. Needless to say, I didn’t waste any time doing so and after a meeting in New York, he agreed to generously donate to Fidelco. He then said, ‘We should do a book,’ and that was the beginning.”
From that first meeting until the book was ready for publication was about two years. It began in earnest after a second meeting where David introduced Clare Ferraro, the president of Viking, to the concept. Alessandra Lusardi became our editor and mentor on the project and after coming to Fidelco, taking a blindfold walk and meeting our team, Alessandra suggested that our book be put in the more-than-capable hands of writer Gerri Hirshey. She was a great choice.
Gerri’s credentials include writing for Rolling Stone, The New York Times, the Washington Post and many other publications. But unlike her other projects, writing about guide dogs and people with visual disabilities was a totally unknown territory for her. “It was enlightening and at times embarrassing to find out how little I knew,” she said. “I was in Manhattan and saw somebody crossing Times Square with a guide dog. And I thought to myself, how in the world does anyone teach a dog to do that?”
Gerri spent a great deal of time at Fidelco, talking to and working with the staff and volunteers and learning how the many pieces of our business; the “nuts and bolts” as she calls them, fit together. And as she grew more familiar with Fidelco, she also learned about the world of visual disability. “I had to bring myself up to speed in terms of my own perceptions but also just being with a person without sight is an interesting learning curve,” she said. “I found that everyday has challenges.
” As for Fidelco’s dogs, Gerri was surprised by their intelligence but more importantly, the bond that develops between the dog and the person. “It’s astounding and what the dogs are able to sense goes way beyond what I had imagined… like pulling you off a burning bus or walking you around a rattlesnake. As a Fidelco client told me, ‘You can’t make this stuff up.
” Gerri’s experiences with Fidelco’s clients and her time spent at the Fidelco campus in Bloomfield, CT included meeting and talking with Robbie Kaman, “one of the most extraordinary persons I have ever met in my life” and the Fidelco staff. “I have never been in a workplace where people come to work happy to do so, leave the same way and understand that they are actually doing good in the world,” she said. “And I found that the most enviable situation.”
Trust the Dog” will be in bookstores on March 8th and proceeds will benefit the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation. The book is currently available for pre-sale at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Borders.com and Indiebound.org. And, as Gerri says, “The stories are a great read. I hope that people will pick up the book and learn something about this ancient relationship between dogs and humans that they didn’t know.”
