Guide Dog Month
I want to share our personal experiences with a guide dog.
Growing up my mother never wanted a guide dog. It wasn’t until I was 13 or 14 years old that my mom had started to see some of the benefits of having a guide dog. She also learned about how helpful it would be if she ever needed to go back to work.
My dad said no for many years. He was not a big dog person to begin with. We also had a lot of other things going on during those years. In 2006, mom started the year as a newly single mom. She had many friends who encouraged her to apply for guide dog school as this would help her independence as she pursued going back to work after 16 years. This is our story of adding a guide dog into our lives!
After much consideration, Mom decided on Guide Dogs for the Blind. This school had two campuses one in Oregon and one in California. It took a number of months from when we did the submission of paperwork until she got a date. She was chosen to go August of 2006. Because it would be her first guide dog, she would be gone for 4 weeks. During this time she would have Orientation and Mobility work, meet her new guide, and the team would work various routes together to ensure both were comfortable. While mom was away the four of us kids were at different peoples houses. I stayed mainly with one family because I was driving and had a job I was working. This time away from mom was hard, but we knew this would give her independence.
Mom returned home at the end of August 2006. We drove to the Atlanta airport to meet mom. It was a weird feeling to watch her come out of the elevator with a dog. A BIG dog. Growing up we had only had small dogs. We met Lassen who was a yellow lab almost 2 years old and very enthusiastic to work. Mom had told us before she came home that he was not our pet for the first month or two while he adjusted. Although we did all get a chance to pet him in the airport.
Adjustment to a dog was hard for us. We had all been a bit ashamed of mom using her white cane once we were 7-8 years old and preferred to just guide mom where she needed. Now we were basically useless expect to tell mom what direction to turn. One of our first outings was to our local mall. We had to learn that Lassen would walk on the left side of the pathway. He also like to hug against pillars which scared us as we thought he would run mom into them. He never did! We had to learn to walk behind mom and not beside which would distract the dog. There were adjustments when out in public with all the comments of people wanting to pet the dog. Sometimes kids would just walk by and pet without even asking. We had adults who would also make dog sounds, or whistling to get the dogs attention. We spent many excursions just helping the public know the proper way to interact with a guide dog pair.
We did not have too many accessibility issues with access with the guide dog. Although we did have many people at stores who would ask if the dog would bite them. The only place we truly had an issue with was when we moved to a small town and our Chinese restaurant owners weren’t sure about the dog. After that they would always welcome us in excited to see us and the dog.
One thing we learned early on is Lassen was a “counter surfer.” What does that mean, if food was around beware. Lassen would steal food sitting on the counter including whole sticks of butter and chicken bones. He also ate a wax candle once. When we were going someplace with food mom had to be on high alert to correct his leash when he would decide to go for crumbs. Guide dogs are not allowed table scraps and so his constant distraction with food could be annoying. Other than that, I think he did great. He liked cats, enjoyed smaller dogs, hated faces being covered either by the shadow of a hat or someone carrying something in front of their face. He had many times he felt a bit uneasy in the store if he couldn’t make out a persons facial features. But he was quick to refocus and get his job done.
As time passed, we got to hang out with Lassen more at home and he became our buddy. We had many times when we would sit on the floor and he thought he was our personal lap dog. As we grew to trust him, we were able to watch mom become more independent in her travel. In 2008, mom found a job as a Braille transcriptionist in a local middle school. Lassen was able to guide her through the very weird building. He learned his route from where mom got dropped off at to her room in the media center. Mom would then spend most evenings at Kroger with my brother so he could work. Lassen had a hard life of being out of the house from 6 am until 10-11pm. He did it wonderfully.
For me, I was off at college in 2008 and had no issues leaving mom. I knew Lassen would care for her and her needs. The guide dog pair gave me confidence that mom could safely navigate anyplace she may decide to visit. In our town they had a shuttle bus that she could take to the bank or grocery store if she chose. Lassen learned the route and knew what to do.
In 2012, Lassen retired. It was earlier than we had expected, but he had been doing long days for awhile and was at the point of not wanting to come anymore when mom asked him to put the harness on. He was able to stay with us until he had to be put down in 2018. Now the adventure began again. Would mom want another guide dog? What school would accept her since she had lost her job? She wasn’t one to take a lot of walks around the subdivision and as her hearing had deteriorated, traveling completely alone didn’t happen often.
Mom was able to apply to Guide Dogs Foundation in New York. In February 2013 she was able to go and meet her second guide. This time we were all a bit more prepared for the change. Mom was able to go for 3 weeks I believe. This time she came home with another yellow lab James.
James was very different personality wise compared to Lassen. James was very laid back. He did his job well, but you could tell he was just a calmer dog. He was not as prone to be distracted by food and was totally up for any activity we could take him on. James has had life a bit easier with mom not working, but he still worked hard every time the harness came on.
James retired in 2022 and now stays with me and my kiddos until my siblings are able to get a house and take mom and the dogs to a new place. James may not live too much longer as he is now 12. But he enjoys running to see the neighbor dogs, eating treats, sleeping and good belly rubs.
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