Wild Kingdom: Blind Pet Deer and Guide Dog Best of Buddies

Three years ago, GDB graduate Brandon Foshee adopted a baby deer who was blind and named it Maple. Brandon decided to adopt the baby fawn after it was abandoned by its mother and rescued by a local forester. When Maple was found she only weighed 4.5 pounds and needed to be bottle fed.

When Brandon brought the 1 week-old baby deer home, his first Guide Dog, Salsa, a female yellow Lab treated Maple like she was her pup. In 2009, Brandon was partnered with his current Guide Dog, Shakespeare, a male black Lab. Since Maple and Shakespeare are close in age, they have a more spirited sibling relationship. When out of harness, Shakespeare and Maple run around the yard for hours playing with each other.

Maple has another unusual trait… she loves meat. If Brandon is cooking up something on the BBQ and brings it inside to eat, Maple will knock at the back door with her hoof.

Brandon is not sure if Maple thinks she is a dog or a deer.

We've Got Mail: Grateful Grad Sends Thanks

Dear Guide Dogs,

My boyfriend recently reminded me of how important it is to thank those people and/or places that have done anything that has influenced one's life. So, I was inspired to write a thank you note to Guide Dogs for the Blind, because GDB influences my life, every day.

I applied to GDB at the tender age of 17, but I had researched the topic of guide dogs since I was 8. I knew it was a lifestyle I always wanted to have, but I was terrified that I would never measure up, mobility wise. Through encouragement and through the help of some orientation and mobility professionals, I worked hard to hone my skills necessary for working with a dog. It took me a full year before I felt confident enough to attempt the home interview. Even after the interviewer left, having said kind words, I still felt that I wasn't good enough for GDB. However, when the email came stating that I had been accepted, I was thrilled beyond belief!

In August of 2005, I met my first guide on the California campus of GDB. I still kept thinking this was some sort of dream and that I would wake up, dogless. My first walks were hindered by a lack of confidence in my own skills, but through encouragement and reassurances from GDB instructors, I managed to get through those jitters. It's amazing how a professional and qualified staff can make a nervous wreck feel confident, so I have to say, thanks to them.

So now let's fast-forward to 2010. That faithful guide who I met in 2005 is still working now, leading both me and my child through whatever the physical world throws at us, with the fervour and zeal that makes her such a wonderful companion. We've been through harsh winters, multiple cities, traffic encounters, and the birth of a baby, and she is still the same consistent rock she's always been. She has a love for new challenges, a love for her work, and a love for each new day. Therefore, I want to take the time to thank GDB, as a whole, for influencing my life in such a complex way, through the dog that I trust not only with my life, but the life of my child, as well.

Forever Grateful,

Elaine Harrison with Guide Carmel

Dogs Change Lives

Submitted by Dawn Benbow

Dawn has entered the following essay about the relationship she has with her Guide Dog Baskin in a "Dogs Change Lives" essay contest. If you'd like to vote for Dawn and Baskin's story, please visit http://dogschangelives.org/index.php/stories/entry/dawn-and-baskin/

In August of 2007, I boarded a flight early in the morning taking me to Oregon to meet and train with a very special dog. When I met him it was love at first kiss. I sat down in the trainers' office, my ears straining to hear anything from the dog that I knew they had for me. When the trainer brought Baskin over to me, he sniffed me once, and then the kisses started! As he kissed me, and I hugged him I knew this was going to work.

That feeling was solidified when we had our first walk together. He guided me so well, and we worked together with a flow and grace that I had not expected to happen for months. That's when I was certain this was the perfect guide dog for me. That feeling has only been strengthened through our years together as a working team.

Because of Baskin, I am able to do all those everyday things that every mother does with her children, with just as much dignity and independence as any sighted woman. On our first days home, we began the daily mile and a half trek to and from my daughters school so that I would be there to meet her and walk her home at the end of her day in kindergarden, just as all the other parents of the boys and girls in her class did. Her father worked, so this was my job as a stay at home mom. Being there to walk her home, volunteering in the classroom, talking about dogs, and guide dogs. Baskin was my eyes for all of it, and the kids' favorite thing to see at the end of the day. I would hear them say to each other and their parents "That's Bridget's Mom, don't pet her dog because he's working. Some dogs have jobs!"

Baskin guides me every Sunday at church, and he guides me through stores, the mall, parent meetings, and everything else in my life. He's always there when I need him, when I'm not feeling well from my asthma he'll always find a way to make me laugh. He is my four legged son and an important part of the family. He gives me unconditional love, and teaches all of us what that looks like. He soothes my kids when they get upset, he makes us laugh, and above all and most important to everyone he guides me through the world, acting as my eyes, with even more grace and confidence then we had on that first day together.

Having Baskin at my side has increased my confidence to move through the world as I do, knowing that as long as I have this wonderful companion with me, I am never alone and always have another pair of eyes watching out for me where ever we go, and whatever situation life may present to us. We can travel through it all working together as a team.