Yesterday I had the pleasure of photographing a perfect dog in the making. What is a perfect dog? A dog that meets all of the critieria needed to become a guide dog. It starts with careful breeding and hand selection with a series of tests and eliminations. Once a pup has been given the ok to proceed he finds himself sent off to a volunteer host family. This family provides constinuous specific training over the next 18 months in a controlled and pre-approved environment. No rough-housing games for this pup. Always kept on a lead, this future leader must learn to be calm under chaos and follow a routine flawlessly and be a perfect citizen when in public places such as stores, riding on airplanes, and visiting restaurants. A few years of strict training will produce a perfect guide dog or maybe a perfect career change dog (as is what they call it when the dog fails to graduate). Nevertheless, guide dog or career change, these dogs are perfect in every way.
What a gift - the gift of sight.
What a tragedy it must be to lose and be without.
What a gift - a perfectly loveable pair of eyes to see in your stead - a guide dog.
What a gift - the families that train and love these dogs only to say goodbye to them a short 18-months later.
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