A Blind & A Stray Dog

Book excerpt: For many years, humans have been using dogs as tools to help mitigate disabilities and handicaps. Dogs can provide a number of invaluable services including medical alert, PTSD assistance, and mobility support. But the most prominent of these types of jobs is that of the ever important guide dog, raised and trained for the purpose of being a working partner to a blind or otherwise vision-impaired individual. These dogs are best known for being in a harness and striding ahead of their handler, keeping them out of danger and steering them clear of obstacles. Rejecting the standard method of obtaining a guide dog, the author, a blind woman, sets out on a quest to train her own dog as a guide. With a deep desire to combine her joy of dogs and her soul's need to come to terms with the most secret, never confessed, doubts about her capabilities as a blind person, she chooses Monty, a stray, who tries hard to become a respectable guide dog. Together they set out on a year long journey to find trust in each other and in themselves. The pair struggle to find their way, delighting in the triumphs and trying not to be overcome with doubts they experience in the year leading up to the day Monty accompanies the author to work for the first time.