There he sat; a bone in one hand and leash in the other. Thestaff at the Seeing Eye, the oldest guide dog school in the UntiedStates, had peaked Carlos Taylor's anticipation by giving him hisdog's gear but no dog.
He was left with a million questions about the journey he wasabout to embark on.
"Will this work?"
"What kind of dog will they give me?"
"Will it be a girl or a boy?"
Those questions would go unanswered for two days, until thestudents would finally be matched with their dogs. That meant 48agonizing hours of waiting for Carlos.
Carlos has not always been blind. When he was six years old,living in South Bend, he woke one morning to find the sight gonefrom his left eye. The sudden loss of sight, doctors said, was dueto detached retinas. The vision in his right eye would ultimatelyfade away, less sudden then the left, but due to the samecause.
Numerous visits to doctors and several eye surgeries later,Carlos was left, at times, with some vision. However, because ofthe surgeries, scar tissue formed in his eyes and he is now totallyblind.
Back at the Seeing Eye, the excitement is building. The staffbrings in puppies for the group to play with. All the whileobserving how each person interacts with the different dogs. Thestudents aren't just given dogs. There is a whole science to thematching process that determines what dog is right for each person.They take characteristics such as physical elements intoconsideration—how fast you walk and how strong you are. Thisall takes place on the second day.
It had always been in the back of Carlos' mind, that he mightone day want a guide dog, but he came to his final decision in thespring of 2002, before he graduated from Ball State. Taking on theresponsibility of a guide dog was a hard decision that Carlos hadbeen wrestling with for a while.
"You can't just try it out, and then if it doesn't work, givethe dog back," he said. But going through the application processand being chosen by the Seeing Eye put him one step closer toridding himself of his cane and getting a dog.
On the third day, the day the dogs were assigned, theinstructors called each of the students down, one by one, to beassigned a dog. When it was Carlos' turn, he went downstairs to thelobby and sat quietly on the couch. Then he heard his instructor'svoice saying, "Carlos, this is Derek. If you call him, he willcome."
"[A]nd when I called him he came right to me." Carlos said.
Upon their first meeting, Carlos knew that winning Derek'sloyalty would be a challenge. "German Shepard's are very loyaldogs," Carlos began, "and my instructor happened to also be Derek'strainer. While everyone else was talking about how they played withtheir dogs all afternoon, I sat there, because Derek seemed like hewas not even interested in me. Every time he would hear or see myinstructor he would perk up and want to go with her."
Now Derek's loyalty lies solely with Carlos. They have anextraordinary partnership of master and helper. Where you see one,the other is not too far behind. This 24-year-old graduate studentand his 3-year-old dog do everything together. Derek rides the MITSbus, goes to restaurants and grocery shopping with Carlos. They flyon planes together and even take the train. Legally, wherever thepublic is welcome, so is Derek.
After three-and-a-half weeks of training and working together atthe Seeing Eye, Carlos and Derek were ready to go home. Even thoughthe dogs are fully trained when they are given to their new owners,there are still some new things that the owner can teach them.Carlos taught Derek "find a seat."
"He is pretty good at it now; he can find benches in placeswhere we have never been."
He is currently working with him to learn "find the elevator."In addition to learning new things, the dogs have to be freshenedup on their commands every day. So, for example, Carlos will gothrough the most common commands such as "sit," "stay" and "leaveit" daily so that Derek does not forget them.
Derek is much more than Carlos' pet. One is dependent on theother which reinforces their unique bond. So when Carlos walkscarefully over to where the harness lays and picks it up, Derekimmediately stretches and stands up. Although Derek looks as thoughhe would rather continue to laze on the floor — like anyregular dog — he knows it is time for work. When Carlos slipsthe harness effortlessly over Derek's head, they are ready to takeon the world, together.
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