04/29/2026
Today is International Guide Dog Day! Here is the story of Isla, a retired guide dog and ODS office celebrity! 🐶
Our very own Jamie, Isla's owner, shared her story with us:
"Isla and I were matched as a team in January of 2018, she was my first guide dog and worked for just shy of eight years. In the time Isla was my guide, we traveled the US together for sports competitions, conferences and of course, to our favorite place, the beach here in Virginia. I was a freshman in college when we were matched, and she was shy of turning two years old. Together, we worked as RA's on the Shepherd University campus, co-founded the Disability Advocacy Group at the University, conquered college, moved to a new state together and worked as camp counselors for a summer camp. Since moving to Harrisonburg, Isla and I have worked in two different departments at JMU as well, and she was promoted to "big sister" in 2023 when my son was born (aka. Baby brother). She even has her own "honorary lifeguard" badge from UREC, as well as her own graduation regalia and RA badge back in college.
Together, Isla has helped me achieve so much more than just independence. She has led me down every path, from some of the hardest moments in life so far, to the best and most exciting ones. From a young age, I always knew that a guide dog was for me. The moment I was handed Isla's leash, I knew my life had changed forever. We bonded so quickly, and I will never forget our first walk in with her guide dog harness on. I felt confident, like I was flying and nothing could stand in our way. My small amount of vision fluctuates due to both indoor and outdoor factors (lighting being a big one), and although with a cane I had always felt independent - having Isla has always made me feel unstoppable!
Although Isla was trained as a guide dog for my blindness, I knew she was extraordinary and we were a perfect match from the moment I met her.
I wasn't diagnosed with POTS syndrome until almost a year after I got Isla, but she would alert to my fatigue and heart rate changes that I would have on the regular, and would perform DPT consistently. She was cross-trained for two tasks, DPT (deep pressure therapy) and item retrieval... but not cardiac alert. When I asked our former trainer at the Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind about her specifics during training as a guide, both the program and our trainer told us that she wasn't trained for cardiac alert at all. Our former trainer said that if she was consistently alerting to me, that she must've picked up on my symptoms quickly, and that she was a "one in a million" girl. After she officially retired as my guide dog, Isla went on to enjoy her retirement as the goodest girl. When my second guide retired, Isla began immediately alerting to my heart rate again. Although she did this when my other dog was there if we were at home, (my second guide was not cross trained and wasn't in-tune with my cardiac symptoms), when I would leave for work and she sensed a flare, she would wait by the door all day for me to come back home. On days I would leave for work/go out and she didn't alert to me before I would leave, or if I felt "better" she would peacefully sleep on the couch until I returned home from work/an outing.
Since last November, almost exactly a year after she retired as being my guide dog, Isla has been working as specifically my cardiac alert dog. She is unable to physically continue being a guide dog due to her pace significantly slowing down (this means I walk faster than her now naturally, so she wouldn't be able to affectively be my eyes). She will forever be the best first guide dog I could have ever asked for, doing so much more than what has been expected of her. Our match was made so perfectly and she is extraordinary.
When I officially get the call for my next guide dog, Isla will go back into retirement indefinitely and will continue living with me and my little family."
Fun Fact: Guide Dogs were the first ever service dog in history, with the first school in the US opening in 1929 known as "The Seeing Eye inc."
Images: Photos of a black goldador, Isla, wearing an orange guide dog harness and leading her owner.
