Dextra, my 4th Seeing Eye Dog, and I are approaching our 2nd anniversary on April 4th and I thought it appropriate if I wrote about my Seeing Eye Dogs and how God told me about them before I even met them. So, here is Part One, focusing on my first two guides.
I applied to The Seeing Eye in late winter of 1994 and was accepted later that spring. I am not exactly sure at what point I started getting the feeling that I would get a German Shepherd, but I know it was well before I arrived, in mid July, to The Seeing Eye's Morristown, NJ campus.
After talking to my instructor and going on several Juno Walks, where the trainer gauges how fast we walk, how much pull we need from the dog, how quickly we react to sudden movements, and more I anxiously awaited the moment when I would meet my very first Seeing Eye Dog.
After lunch, on a Sunday afternoon, I was called down to the Women's lounge, where I was sat down on a sofa and then introduced to Ginger, a female German Shepherd.
I was ecstatic, to say the least. I had that feeling I was getting a German Shepherd for so long and here I was given one. God's intuition or message to me had been correct. Every time I said "Ginger Forward!" out loud to her, in my head I was adding, "to freedom!" It was freedom from the use of the cane and freedom from having to depend on people, at times, even though I was quite independent, I felt this would only add to increasing my desired independence level.
Things went very well, but looking back, in hindsight, there wer some early warning signs. During class Ginger and I were playing and she pinned me to the floor and would not let me up for a few seconds and later she and another female German Shepherd seemed to develop a dislike for each other. Though they never fought, they did growl a little bit at each other. Both things were brought to trainers attention, but it was thought to just be play or stress related and isolated incidences. The rest of our month of training was smooth and we left The Seeing Eye a wonderful new working team, ready to take on the world, well, maybe just my college life.
Things continued to go well for about a month, after starting back to college, when suddenly little things started to happen that showed me I may have an issue. She started attaching herself to my friends, more than she should have, started to try to dominate me, and eventually she got very protective and then dog aggressive.
After about 6 months or so of trying to resolve the issues, talking on the phone with trainers from The Seeing Eye, it was decided I needed to be visited by a trainer to evaluate the situation. In late March 1995, I was visited by a trainer and after two days of evaluation it was decided that Ginger was just not suitable as a Seeing Eye Dog. The trainer said it was almost like she'd had a dog nervous breakdown or something. Her guide work was impeccable, but the behavioral problems just could not be ignored.
I decided to work her through the end of the spring semester, with some new training techniques the trainer taught me, instead of going back to the cane, while I tried to find Ginger a retirement home.
I was given a class date of mid May 1995 and though I had tried, I had been unable to find Ginger a retirement home, so I had a hard choice to make. I could keep her and return to The Seeing Eye with her, give her over on Saturday morning, for them to find a home, and receive my new dog a little over 24 hours later or return her 2 weeks before my class date, to have some time to grieve her loss and prepare myself for my next dog. I chose the latter. I knew I would not be emotionally able to hand her over and take a new dog within 24 hours, I just don't work that way. I was so attached to Ginger, despite all her issues, it was killing me to give her up, but I was in college and had no where to keep her.
Waiting those two weeks to return to The Seeing Eye, after sending Ginger back, was almost unbearable. I prayed a lot and cried a lot, pleading with God to heal my broken heart.
I arrived at The Seeing Eye, that mid May Saturday morning and my new instructor met me. We talked and I went on a Juno Walk with him. That night I prayed more, knowing I'd meet my new dog after lunch on Sunday.
Sunday morning came and it meant a Juno Walk in the town of Morristown. I went out first, of my group, and then climbed back to the parked van, as I awaited the others in my group to get their Juno Walks done. I closed my eyes and prayed, yet again. "Please God, heal my broken heart. Let my new dog be special and help me." It was at that moment a peace poured over me, a peace like I had not known before, and I saw sitting in front of me a male black Lab. I opened my eyes, looked up out the van window into the sky, smiled, and praised God. I did not stress anymore the next few hours, as I awaited my new dog, because I was sure that God had just shown him to me.
I was in the same room I had been in the year before, when I got Ginger, so when I was called to get my new dog, I was called to the same place, the Women's Lounge. As I turned the corner into the room, with my limited vision, I saw sitting across the room a big black Lab. My eyes did not waiver from this dog, as I sat on the sofa and heard "Your new dog's name is Zach." I do not really remember much else that my instructor told me that afternoon, all I remember is when he brought Zach to me, I got down on the floor and Zach climbed into my lap and licked my face.
I took him back to my room, for some bonding time. I spent most of it on the floor, with Zach in my lap.
God had sent me a clear message, that He was with me and He had the perfect dog for me, just waiting. At the time, I did not know just how perfect or how God had really worked. But I started to fairly quickly.
Usually dogs take a few days to really start to trust, love, and transfer all their affections over to their new handler from their trainers. But by Monday morning, actually sometime during the night, I knew Zach was mine and I was his. When I slept that first night, he did not want me turning my back on him. If I turned over in my sleep, I was suddenly woke up with a big bassy bark! I'd turn over and he'd be sitting there on his tie down, staring right at me. I would pet him and drift off to sleep again. This happened several times during the night.
Late Monday, I could hear long time trainers commenting as Zach and I went by, "He's already found his master. I've never seen one transition that fast." And other comments of the like. The trainers all knew what I had been through and how hard it had been on me to give up Ginger and they were thrilled for me that Zach had bonded so quickly to me.
We are not usually told how old our dogs are or any other details of their past until we have had them about 2 weeks. There are many reasons for this, so someone isn't disapointed if they get an older dog, if the dog isn't the height they wanted, or so on, it kind of helps prevent prejudgement.
Well, when it was my turn to find out Zach's details, everything truly fell into place about how perfect God's timing is and how he has to sometimes get creative when humans mess things up.
You see, Ginger's birthday was November 3, 1992, and Zach's birthday was, September 1, 1992. Yes, he was 2 months older than Ginger, even though I was there almost a year later.
What had happened? Well, he was in training at the same time Ginger was, when it was discovered that the Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA) gene was in the Labradors that The Seeing Eye bred, raised, and trained to be guide dogs. They did not know how to track the gene, yet, but were working with Cornell University to find out. But until then, they had to have each Labrador get their eyes checked to see if they had any signs of this disease, that would leave the dogs eventually going blind. When Zach was taken to be examined, the test results were inconclusive. So the vet said he'd need to be rechecked in 6 months. So, he was sent back to his puppy raisers, but instead of it being 6 months, it was 9 months, because there was such a large number of dogs to be seen. I worked Ginger for 10 months.
Upon his 2nd examination, there was no change in his eyes, so he was cleared to go back into training.
What does all this really mean? Well, if Zach had not been taken out of training the first time, I most likely would not have ever gotten him or maybe I would have gotten him the first time, only God knows that answer.
But because he was taken out of training and he was my "perfect match", I had to get Ginger first, so that I could get Zach, who God had truly intended for me. God worked out this timing perfectly. Maybe I had to have Ginger first, to appreciate Zach even more. I see so many ways this could be viewed, but no matter which way I look at it, it is all God and His timing.
Zach worked for me for 7 wonderful years. I graduated college with him guiding me across the stage. I lived in Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas, and of course, Virginia, my home state, with him. He guided me through busy airports, college campuses, busy city streets, and so much more.
Zach, indeed, helped my heart heal, was an amazing guide dog, and had such a gentle and caring soul. I'd have total strangers approach me in stores and say, "May I bring my child over to meet your dog? They were attacked and are now afraid of dogs." This happened on at least 3 occasions that I can recall. Each time I'd agree and move to the side of an aisle, out of the way, put Zach at sit and await the child to approach. As Zach would see the child coming, without fail, he'd lay down, roll onto his side and I could tell he was looking at the child, as if to say, "I will not hurt you. It's ok." These kids were all under the age of 4 years old, one was maybe 18 months. Zach just laid there and let them touch him, not moving a muscle, and when he felt they were ok, he'd gently lick their little hands. Parents thanked me profusely for their help and I always just smiled and said it was no problem.
Zach also helped an adult woman over come her fear of dogs. She saw him almost daily for 2 years, coming into the office where I worked on the college campus to use the copy machine. She started out giving him a wide birth, from where he was safely tucked under my chair, but eventually realized he wasn't going to move, so started walking a more straight line. When I was close to graduation, she realized she wasn't going to see him very much more and finally got up the courage to pet him and I let her feed him a treat, which was a big break through for her. She thanked me and said that Zach had taught her that not all dogs were going to attack her.
Another time, I was sitting in the office, with Zach sitting under my chair when this woman sat down next to me. We started talking and suddenly Zach, very uncharacteristically got up without being told, turned around and put his head in this lady's lap. She broke into tears and confided in me that she had just been diagnosed with uterine cancer.
It's stories like the above, and many more, that are why Zach was so special, not just to me, but to just about everyone who met him. His first trainer at The Seeing Eye still fondly recalls him, telling me once, "Zach is just one of those dogs you don't forget, you know he's special from the moment you meet him."
Even when in training with Dextra, in 2011, almost 18 years after he'd trained Zach, he still recalled him fondly to me.
It was hard when Zach decided he wanted to retire, but he deserved it, and I retired him at the age of 9 1/2 years old. He went on to live to be almost 15 years old, continueing to touch the lives of people he met, even in his old age and retirement. I did get to keep him and a wish of mine was fullfilled, when he lived long enough to meet my first born daughter, who still remembers him, even though she was only 22 months old when he passed away.
I owe Zach so very much and there is so much more to our story than I can tell in one blog posting. But this focus was how God is in control, God's timing is perfect, even when we don't understand at first, it will eventually be revealed.
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