Meeting a Guide Dog on the Rec Trail

Today, was a truly lovely day; although the sky was overcast, normal for July, we met a lovely couple walking toward us on the Recreation Trail. The lady acted as "sighted guide, even though her husband had his Guide Dog on leash with the harness lying flat on the dog's back. As we approached each other, my husband naturally reached out to say hello to the couple and the woman said to her husband before we met, "I think I know that man". I'm not sure if she really had ever met him, but we got to talking about Guide Dogs. He had a yellow 8 year old Lab, a real mellow sweet dog. He quietly told her to sit, then touched her ear and she lay down. She was so mannered. He said this was his third dog and all three he'd gotten at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael. They were both very enthusiastic that I was going there, feeling it was a very positive environment. We didn't talk too long, but she did say over the years they have not discouraged people, especially children, to come up to the dog as they felt people needed to learn more about blindness and Guide Dogs. It certainly gave me more inspiration to my Great Adventure!