GUIDING THE WAY; GROUP GIVING DOGS TO BLIND HAS ITS DAY.

Byline: David R. Baker Daily News Staff Writer

It is a job not every dog can hack. It requires intelligence, patience and the ability not to be distracted by noise or bright, shiny balls.

But for blind men and women, there are few tasks more important than those performed by the canines trained by Guide Dogs of America in Sylmar.

The nonprofit group celebrated its 50th anniversary Saturday with an open house awash in puppies and people. The group provides dogs free of charge to blind people throughout the United States and Canada.

``The aim is really to enhance someone's life,'' said Andi Kruse, the group's admissions and graduate services manager.

Saturday's open house, at the Guide Dogs school on Glenoaks Boulevard, was a kind of reunion for the extended network of volunteers who make the program work. The school breeds dogs, mostly Labrador retrievers, then places them with ``puppy raisers,'' who teach the young dogs basic skills. After about 15 months, the puppies return to the school for more intensive training.

Hundreds of puppy raisers and their young charges filled the school's lawn Saturday, turning whole patches of grass into a squirming quilt of black, brown and golden fur.

Some humans browsed a silent auction. Others took their puppies through an obstacle course designed to test how well the dogs follow commands or respond to different distractions.

Most pups made it over the preliminary set of stairs but faltered when asked to cross an area covered with styrofoam peanuts. Younger dogs tried to eat the styrofoam.

``Labs are like babies - they want to put everything in their mouths,'' said Thom Brumley, an apprentice instructor at the school.

More than anything else, the open house seemed a gathering of serious dog people. A vendor offered framed, portrait-quality photos of canines. Dog shirts and dog jewelry abounded. One woman walked about cradling a completely unconscious puppy, asleep, upside-down and flopping.

But the job of puppy raiser may require a touch of obsession, not to mention patience.

Jean Richardson of Long Beach has been raising pups for the school for more than four years. It is, she said, a lot like raising kids.

``You have to watch them all the time,'' Richardson said. ``You have to teach them not to walk around with their nose plastered to the ground, which is totally against dog behavior. . . . There are so many things you can't do, like playing ball. You don't want them so distracted that they'll chase after every ball they see.''

The most difficult part of raising a guide dog, however, may be the job's end, when puppies must be returned to the school.

Christine Bridges of Simi Valley will lose Broker, a golden Lab sponsored by investment firm Merrill Lynch, in July. Although giving him up will be tough, Bridges knows it's for a good cause.

``When I got this dog, I thought, God bless this dog - don't let me mess up with him - so he can bless somebody else,'' she said.

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PHOTO Linda Hawes, a guide dog instructional assistant, puts her charge through the paces on an obstacle course during the open house.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News