By trusting a dog, Saukville man reclaims his freedom

THE SIGHT of Robert ‘Butch’ Kassens walking with his dog Reese is a familiar one in Saukville. Kassens, who is blind, walks every day with guidance from his Seeing Eye dog. (Lower) REESE THE SEEING EYE DOG got a hug from his owner Richard ‘Butch’ Kassens after the two returned from their daily walk earlier this week. Photos by Sam Arendt
You’ve probably seen him around town. For the last 20 years, in rain or shine Richard ‘Butch’ Kassens and his Seeing Eye dog have walked the streets of Saukville daily.
“A lot of people know me as ‘the blind man with the dog,’” Kassens said. “I have made lots of friends just walking around town.”
He started the hobby on doctor’s orders after suffering a heart attack in 1998 — the same year he lost his vision from the inheritable disease retinitis pigmentosa.
“My cardiologist wanted me to walk,” he said, so his mobility instructor recommended a Seeing Eye dog to make it easier.
“I thought about it for a year and then contacted The Seeing Eye in New Jersey,” Kassens said. “In the summer they sent a man to meet me and he had a harness and basically acted like the dog.”
The nonprofit used the information gained from the meeting to match him with a dog, Mott, and contacted him in September.
“I trained for six weeks,” Kassens said, describing the long solo trip across the country. “(You go alone) so that it’s just you and the dog.
“You put 100% trust in him. People don’t realize how hard it is to put that much trust in an animal.”
But after adapting to the change, he said owning a guide dog was life changing.
“I felt a degree of independence when I started walking (with a cane),” he said. “I felt 10 times more with the dog.”
Since then, he walks every day of the week, Kassens said.
“In summer and winter I walk,” he said. “When it gets cold, I put shoes on Reese’s feet (his current dog). When it’s bright in the winter with the snow, I put sunglasses on him.
“Only if it’s zero degrees with a 20 mile per hour wind, I don’t walk. If it’s zero with no wind, then I walk. I just love it.”
He has owned three guide dogs and says each one had unique personalities.
“They were all trained to do the same thing but they were all different,” he said. “When people ask me which dog I liked the most, I tell them the best analogy I can make is what child do you love the most?”
Reese is a German shepherd and is more protective, while his first dog was a Lab and was more outgoing.
“Mott was so friendly that we would go to Walmart and people would start petting him and I wouldn’t know,” Kassens said.
That’s a problem, he said, because guide dogs need to be constantly focused.
“People don’t realize he can’t be petted or get a treat. It’s awful when little kids ask to pet him and I have to say no,” he said.
“I had a little kid walk up to me the other day on the street and asked to pet him. When I told him ‘no,’ he said, ‘You’re mean.’”
But Kassens said that over time people around town have learned they can’t interact with the dog.
“Adults are a lot worse than children. They usually don’t even ask,” he added.
Kassens has lived in Ozaukee County his whole life. He was born and raised in Grafton, then moved to Saukville in 1977 when he got married.
He was working at the Ozaukee Highway Department when he got diagnosed with the ocular condition.
“I knew before the doctor told me. It’s hereditary. My mother had it, my grandmother had it,” Kassens said.
“It changes your life drastically.”
After getting diagnosed, he had to give up the job with the Highway Department but for a long time continued woodworking.
“I made kitchen cabinets, lawn ornaments, we rebuilt my sister’s vanity. People would always say ‘How much to build something for me?’
“I would say, ‘I’ll do it for the cost of materials,’” Kassens said.
He said that people often told him the finishes he did on the woodwork were better than those by sighted people.
Eventually he stopped woodworking after he almost lost his finger on a table saw.
“I ended up with 46 stitches. I had to give it up,” he said.
Currently, he is trying to find work through the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation.
“When I have a bad day,” he said, “I think of my mother. She was blind and raised six children.
“She never gave up.”
He said The Seeing Eye organization has been a godsend, and he has worked to promote their cause since getting a guide dog.
“They operate strictly on donations,” he said, adding that he sometimes gives talks to schools and clubs about the organization.
“Once, a lady stopped me at the store and said, ‘I see you walking all the time.’ She asked me to speak to her Cub Scouts group,” Kassens said.
He said he happily accepted the invitation and talked to the group about using a service animal.
“When Saukville had their parade, I stood by the street with my dog. Her group was in it and she came over and gave me a blanket,” he said. “She said her (Cub Scout) group made the blanket for Callie (his previous dog).”
He said by simply walking around the town, many people have come to know him and his dog.
After all, he said, “I am with him 24/7. He’s like my left arm.”
Category:
Feedback:
Click Here to Send a Letter to the EditorOzaukee Press
Wisconsin’s largest paid circulation community weekly newspaper. Serving Port Washington, Saukville, Grafton, Fredonia, Belgium, as well as Ozaukee County government. Locally owned and printed in Port Washington, Wisconsin.
125 E. Main St.
Port Washington, WI 53074
(262) 284-3494