Sask. woman and her guide dog graduate from CNIB program

In 2011. Luseland's Jodi Laycock started losing her vision and was diagnosed with normal-tension glaucoma.

“Your optic nerve is damaged, regardless of the pressure in your eyes, so no matter what my optic nerve is continuously just being damaged,” she said.

“They can slow it through different things, drops, lasers, those types of things, but they can't stop it, so at this point, I'm left with an approximately 10 to 15 per cent circle of vision right in front of my eyes.”

On Wednesday, the 52-year-old was one of a handful of people to graduate with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind’s Guide Dog’s class of 2022, for her work and dedication with her guide dog Shadow.

“It's just a reward for the hard work that we've done, the dog has done, a celebration just like any other graduation is,” she said. 

“Today's graduating dogs are changing the lives of Canadians with sight loss from coast to coast to coast,” said Diane Bergeron, president of CNIB Guide Dogs.

“As we celebrate CNIB Guide Dogs’ fifth anniversary this year, we have more than 150 dogs in the program, with 52 guide dog teams and 19 buddy dog partnerships across Canada.”

The graduation represents years of work and training for both Laycock and Shadow — just one of 16 such graduations in the class of 2022 according to CNIB.

“When you get the guide dog, it's not this perfect little robot package that just does what it's always required to do,” said Laycock.

“It is a tremendous responsibility on both parts. That dog isn't just forever now trained, it is a lot of work and consistency to make sure that that continues for you if that's your true partnership.”

Without the help of a guide dog, Laycock says her daily life would be incredibly difficult.

“Without him, if I try to walk to the store by myself, I’ve fallen a few times, broken legs. I landed in a shrub one time and spent about an hour there because I couldn't get out of the shrub and my phone had fallen,” she said.

“As humorous as that might sound, it's not when you're laying in the shrub for an hour. So with him, I don't have those fears and worries.”

Laycock says Shadow, a three-year-old black lab-golden retriever cross, is just like any other dog, aside from the years of intensive mobility training.

According to the CNIB, the cost of a guide dog for its working life is $50,000, including training, veterinary bills, and food delivered to the owner’s door.

“As soon as he gets that vest on, he knows it's time for work, and you put the vest on he stands there, it’s time for work, he's he's in work mode now,” she said.

“The vest comes off, he's back to normal dog. It's quite amazing actually how that works, but he's been trained enough now to know.”