Visiting the Guide Dogs for the Blind Campus!

Saturday, April 17th I went with my family to the Guide Dogs for the Blind campus in Santa Rafael, Ca. We went to a graduation which is where blind people of all ages graduate with their dogs from the training program. The family that originally trained the dog as a puppy is also there to officially "give" the dog to the person. The class that we saw had ten people in it that were all older then thirty I would guess. The people that received the dog as well as the family that trained it made a little speech that was very moving and brought tears to many of the audience's eyes. The dogs were mainly labs, but there were a few golden retrievers, my favorite! After that my mom and I went on a tour with an older gentleman, who knew Mr. Freeman, a history and the Blueprint teacher, at my school! He was really nice and told us that he got involved with the organization because his daughter got a guide dog when she became blind from type 1 diabetes. He showed us all through the dormitory where the present class stays and trains with their dogs. Next was my favorite part! We got to go into the training kennels where there were tons of labs and goldens! The dogs were so cute! Especially the puppies who we got to pet because they have not been given to their training families yet. Overall it was a fun trip and I would love to get more involved in their organization volunteering but the campus is a bit far away to travel. Hopefully I can go back and visit again!