I am happy to contribute to the “Growing Up Guide Pup” blog. I am a sociologist and a writer. I teach at Stanford University in the Program in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. For the past twelve years, I have shared my life with two guide dogs. I received my first guide dog, Teela, from Guide Dogs for the Blind in 2003. My second, current guide dog, Fresco, came to live with us in 2013. Teela, who is still with me after retiring, is a Golden Retriever-yellow Labrador cross and very playful as well as having been a lively conscientious guide for me for ten years. Fresco is a more serious soul, a yellow Labrador Retriever and an excellent and responsive guide, showing grace and skill immediately. My partner and I live in San Francisco, California, in a house bursting at the seams with two large guide dogs, a small black poodle, and two cats.
I wish here to convey to the Growing Up Guide puppy raisers how grateful I am to you for raising guide dog puppies. By the time I, or any blind person, receives a guide dog, the dogs are obedient, quiet, responsive, willing to go anywhere, adept in following instructions, friendly with all sorts of people, gentle with children, well-mannered, toilet trained to relieve on cue, adaptable in any environment and in jumping into cars on command, always eager to get out and lead, cautious when walking through dangerous places or on uneven ground, wanting never to mislead, always wishing to be out and about, and loving and affectionate toward their blind person.
"Were it not for the committed, conscientious, loving work that goes into the raising of guide dog puppies by so many wonderful puppy raisers, I would not have these gifts."
The past twelve years of my life have been enhanced beyond my wildest expectation by having a guide dog with me. Teela was my first guide and highly suited to me. I often worry as we walk along streets, thinking about what I must do next, trying to resolve problems in my mind. Teela always reminded me that we need to have a good time on our walks as we get from here to there, that we need to pay attention to curbs and the many street crossings but we also need to leave time to play. Fresco, too, has been extremely conscientious in making sure that he is guiding me safely as he races to the next curb and puts on his brakes. He has an excellent memory for every store we have ever stopped into, and any office or destination, and leads me meticulously. Yet he lets me know, too, that he is a dog and needs to enjoy his strong sense of smell, so we take breaks where he can nose around. The two dogs have also enriched my life by playing together when at home, lying close to each other, developing a bond that is as important to them as each dog is to me.
Were it not for the committed, conscientious, loving work that goes into the raising of guide dog puppies by so many wonderful puppy raisers, I would not have these gifts. You open your lives to the little wiggly pups who, I imagine, must be a handful for a very long time. Were it not for all of your hard work and loving care, I would not have these beautiful beings who have so enhanced my life and made it safe.
Here is an excerpt from my new book, Come, Let Me Guide You: A Life Shared with a Guide Dog, to give you a sense of the debt I feel to all of you. This book covers the entire ten-year span of my working life with Teela, discusses other relationships in my life that have been enriched and supported by our bond, and describes, as well, the introduction of Fresco into our joint life.
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