Evelyn and Molly: An Alumni Story
A person and a guide dog form a partnership it is impossible to describe. Every partnership is different, but impactful. To both members of the team… and their communities, too! Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of the big picture… that guide dogs and people form partnerships that have a rippling effect of positivity within their communities. Each time a guide dog handler has an interaction with someone, the dog becomes just as much a part of that story.
Read this story from Evelyn, a GDD graduate, and how together her and Molly were able to work as a team to help someone in need.
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My name is Evelyn Drewry, and on November 18 2023 my 6th guide dog and I were graduated from Guide Dogs of the Desert. I received a female black labrador named Molly.
Over the past nine months, she has managed to worm her way into my heart and I know how lucky I am to have such a sweet and loving partner with me as I go to work, shopping, and countless other places.
I work as an instructor at the San Diego Center for the Blind which is a nonprofit agency where adults who are experiencing vision loss are taught the necessary skills to reach their highest level of independence.
Molly has become a favorite of the staff and students, and everyone is very respectful of the fact that she has an important job to do. When she is wearing her harness, in order to avoid distracting her, they refrain from interacting with her.
Yesterday morning Molly had the opportunity to briefly step out of her role as my guide and become an emotional support dog.
I was teaching a group class when one of my students told us she was not feeling well and was having problems breathing. Because I knew she had recently experienced a heart attack, I quickly summoned help. The rest of the class along with an aid cleared out of the room while we waited for the paramedics to arrive. Our student was becoming rather agitated, so my coworker and I were trying to help her calm down.
When she told us that she would love to pet Molly, I quickly told her that Molly and I would be happy to let her do that. She offered an apology because Molly was wearing her harness, but I told her not to worry about that because we were going to bend the rules just this one time. I brought Molly over to her and of course she didn’t object to having a little extra attention from someone who was obviously an animal lover.
I felt such a deep sense of pride in my little girl for being able to so easily give comfort to someone who was going through a scary time. Thank you GDD for putting such a sweet and loving little girl in my life and that she was right at my side when the situation arose.