Beyond Sight: Journey to a Seeing Eye Dog: (Background)

07/09/2022

Journey to a Seeing Eye Dog Part 1: Background

I was born in Hinton West Virginia, a tiny town in the Southeastern part of the state. At the time my parents were a logger and a stay at home mom. Ten days after I was born, after noticing that I wouldn't open my eyes especially in the presence of light, my mom was told that I was blind. It was determined that I was born with Glaucoma, Anaridia, and Peters Anomaly, or 11P deletion syndrome. Between the ages of 28 days old and 2 years old I had 78 eye surgeries, 11 of which were cornia transplants. During this time I also received Early Intervention services, and attended a local preschool for disabled children followed by headstart with Mrs. Kay. At the age of just two, my grandmother began telling me about Seeing Eye dogs, and I knew, even then I wanted to partner with them. In August 1992 at the age of two and a half I was driven six hours from home to Romney West Virginia to attend the West Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind. Here I began to learn Braille from Miss Garner and how to use a cane from Miss Childs, among other things. I spent 2 years 2-3 and 3-4 in preschool with Mrs. Hicks there, and then did Kindergarten when I was 4-5 with Mrs. Hicks, and then first grade at 5-6, With Mrs. MacEntyre and first-second transition with Mrs. MacEntyre and Mrs. Zarger at 6-7. When I was 7-8 I was in 2nd grade with Mrs. Zarger. Near the end of the 1997-1998 school year my parents decided to move to North Carolina in hopes of finding better doctors to treat my eye conditions. In fall 1998 I began the 3rd grade at Sandy Ridge elementary with Mrs. Heath my first time in a setting with sighted peers. In fall 1999 I was in 4th grade with Mrs. Heath again. Fall 2000 I started at Sandy Ridge Elementary with Mr. Parker, but because my VI teacher Mrs. Islan left after having her baby, I ended up transferring to Konnoak Elementary for 5th grade with Mrs. Guirley. During this school year my parents also separated and divorced, so at the end I moved back to West Virginia with my dad and attended WVSDB for the 2001-2002 6th grade school year where I had Mrs. Morris, Mrs. Householder, Miss Brown, Mrs. Durst, Mrs. Riley, Miss Gragg, Miss Harriet, Mr. Lipold, among others. At the end of that school year I ended up moving back to North Carolina to be with my mom and her new husband Jim, and my dad married Mary Joe. I started 7th grade at Haines Lorance Middle school in Winston Salem North Carolina. Unfortunately the amount of students, the location, along with trying to get things in braille resulted in this not being a good fit, so in November 2002, I transferred to the Governor Morehead school for the Blind in Raleigh North Carolina. I completed 7th grade there with Mrs. Spruel, Mrs. Carter, Miss Snyder, Miss Haiken, Miss Wood, Miss Moldro, Miss Tucker, Mr. Coates, and others. I also nearly completed 8th grade there with Miss High, Mrs. Carter, Miss Snyder, Miss Tucker, and others. In April 2004 we moved to Warrensburg Missouri because Jim had rejoined the air force. I then attended Warrensburg Middle School for the rest of that school year, and had a lot of fun, especially in music where I ended up in 4 different choirs with Mrs. Robbinson. That summer I also spent with her in the summer choir program. In July we moved to Knob Knoster to live on the air force base, Whiteman Air Force base. This resulted in me needing to go to Knob Knoster High school, but after only 1 day there I called the Missouri school for the blind myself and enrolled myself. I completed 9th grade at MSB with Mrs. Mitchell for Algebra I and Geometry, Mrs. Arnold for physical science, Mr. Doyle for American History I, Miss Roth for English 9 and 12, Mr. Seitz for computers 2, Mrs. Sokol for home Ec., Mrs. Townsond for O and M, Mrs. Schonlau for braille, Mr. Fisher for choir. I completed most of 10th grade there with mostly the same teachers, other then adding Mrs. Reid for choir instead of Mr. Fisher, and Miss Cumings for band, and Mr. Eirsman for O and M. Near the end of the year, my mom thought I needed some help due to all the things going on in my life, so I attended a small private school for the rest of the year. In the fall of 2004 I applied to and was accepted at Southeastern Guide Dogs, at the time, the only school to accept anyone under 16. I had been researching for several years by this point. Unfortunately, class was canceld due to a hurricane, and with one thing and another things kept getting pushed back. In July 2006 we moved back from Missouri/Illinois to Virginia to be near family as Jim was going to South Korea. I began the 10th grade again at GMS, but they discovered we were living out of state, Virginia school for the Blind wouldn't accept me because I was too advanced, so I ended up at Patrick County high school from January to May 2007. I then transferred completely to Hadley and finished high school through them. During this time, I had also reapplied to Southeastern, had been reaccepted, and then denyed because someone told them I had anger issues. So during the summer of 2007 I applied to and was accepted at Guiding Eyes for the Blind. On Monday 11/12/2007 I traveled from Greensboro North Carolina to Laguardia Airport LGA in New York to GEB which is in Yorktown Heights New York. My instructor was Chrissy Vetrano. The first 2 days we spent doing juno walks, practice dogs, my practice dog was a male yellow lab named Gibson. On Wednesday 11/14/2007 I was matched with my first guide dog a male black lab named Willis. Willis was 67 pounds. We worked together for almost 2 weeks. Unfortunately during our routine class vet visit, it was discovered that Willis had luxitating patellas, and he could not continue to work. So on Monday 11/26/2007 I met Padgett a female black lab. We worked hard and traveled home back to Greensboro North Carolina on Friday 12/07/2007. The following week from 12/10/2007 to 12/12/2007 we had 3 days of home training since I had a dog switch. In April 2008 I moved from Virginia to Ontario Canada, it was also around this time I started noticing inappropriate relieving issues, severe left veering, stopping in the middle of streets, and other things with Padgett. After a vet investigation and the school it was determined that part of it was behavioral, and part of it was something to do with her thyroid. Padgett had been out with another handeler, and had picked up some bad habbits from that. She was retired to her puppy raiser on 06/13/2008. In August 2008 I applied to Pilot Dogs. In September 2008 I was accepted to Pilot dogs. On Sunday 10/26/2008 I traveled from Toronto Ontario to Columbus Ohio to Pilot Dogs. The next couple days were spent on Juno walks and learning different ways of doing things. On Wednesday 10/29/2008 I met Nelson an extremely large male black lab. We worked together for a few days, but Nelson was determined to be a mismatch due to pace, pull, dominance, and personality so on 11/07/2008 I was rematched with Rolo a female chocolate lab. Rolo and I worked hard and after failing our first solo due to weather and misjudging a crossing on 11/19/2008, we passed our second solo on 11/20/2008. On Friday 11/21/2008 Rolo and I traveled home to Toronto and then the next day we traveled to Miami. A few weeks later we flew from Miami to Raleigh North Carolina where I got an apartment in Goldsboro North Carolina. In May 2009 I began noticing bumps on Rolo which became more frequent and larger. It was determined that my sweet girl had cancer. In early August Rolo retired to her puppy raiser and I returned to Pilot Dogs on 08/16/2009. On Monday 08/17/2009 I was matched with Owen a male brindle boxer. We passed our solo on 08/26/2009 and returned home to Raleigh North Carolina on 08/28/2009. We flew to St. Louis a couple weeks later and stayed for 3 weeks. After that we flew to Seattle on 10/09/2009. In late October 2009 I brought up my concerns to Pilot including that Owen couldn't tollerate otehr dogs, or cats, and was extremely unsafe. Eventually it was determined to retired him and he went back to Pilot Dogs in early November 2009. In early 2010, I applied to GDA Guide Dogs of America. I also went through a miscarriage in February 2010. I returned to Pilot Dogs on 03/14/2010. On 03/15/2010 I was matched with Pepsi a tiny female black lab. On 03/19/2010 Pepsi was pulled from the program due to aggression to a male trainer. I was then matched with Hank a male black lab, but couldn't emotionally, so returned home without a dog. On 03/20/2010 I traveled back to Seattle. During this time I was also attending the Orientation and training center OTC in Seattle. In July 2010 I was accepted to GDA and given an October class date. On Sunday 10/03/2010 I traveled from Seattle to Los Angeles. On Wednesday 10/06/2010 I was match with Kip a male black lab after saying no to a dog with a heart condition. Kip and I worked hard, he was the only dog in the class to need a prong collar. On 10/28/2010 Kip and I traveled home to Seattle. We struggled with dominance issues, and after working with the school Kip was returned to his puppy raisers in March 2011. I also found out I was pregnant on 02/03/2011, and in May 2011 we moved from Seattle to Goldsboro North Carolina. On 09/27/2011 my son Noah was born. In March 2012 I was told we were moving to Florida, and in April we drove down to look for a house. In May 2012 we moved to Florida. At first I lived with my mom. In August 2012 I reapplied to Pilot Dogs. I was reaccepted to pilot dogs in September 2012, and returned on 10/21/2012. I was matched with Bailey a female black lab on 10/22/2012. I had my solo with Bailey during hurricane Sandy on 10/31/2012, and we traveled back to Florida on 11/02/2012. In early April 2013 we moved to Southgate Apartments, to get out of my moms house. In early June 2013 the person I was with and I broke up, and he left. Also during this time it was found out that Bailey had an issue that she could not see well in bright light, like sunlight. A couple months later, in September I met and fell in love with Derek. A bit after that, I had my home interview with The Seeing Eye and Derek moved in. Derek and I were married in February 2014, and just a little over a month later I was winging my way from Orlando to Newark on 03/24/2014. My instructor was Shawn. On Wednesday 03/26/2014 I met Garbo a female yellow lab. During class we noticed she had to pee a lot and had accidents, but no one knew what it meant. On Thursday 04/10/2014 I traveled home with Garbo. Her urinary issues kept getting worse, and in late June it was decided she should go back for evaluation. Garbo was returned to TSE on 07/04/2014. On 08/05/2014 I was notified that they couldn't fix what was wrong, and would take me back. So on 08/18/2014 I traveled back to TSE and met Erin my instructor, Shawns wife. On 08/20/2014 I was matched with Lindy a female Golden retriever. This was my heart dog. We just, clicked. Unfortunately she had severe allergies, and they were afraid to send her to Florida with those allergies. On 08/25/2014 Lindy was pulled for the allergies and I was rematched with Wren a female yellow lab golden cross. I couldn't bond with this dog, and so went home the next day without a dog. Later that year, Derek left for a separation which turned into a divorce, sadly. I then was remarried stupidly. I ended up giving birth to Lilyanna on 12/10/2015, Lisa on 02/20/2017 and Sofia on 05/12/2019. I also got a privately trained German shepherd in 2020. He was born in August 2017 but was not what the trainer said he was, and ended up having a major genetic eye condition, so only was able to work even somewhat from May 2020 to November 2020. As things deteriated with my marriage, I began putting things together more in my head, and in December 2021 decided to try and put things in place to move to Denver. In January 2022 I came to Denver, originally to visit and look for a place, and ended up staying permanently.