Forward, Saiders!

In April of 2021 I was matched with my first Seeing Eye dog, and the process was not just all smiles and wags. In fact, there were times throughout the training process I firmly believed I would not be going home with a dog, and it wasn’t until much later in my partnership with my dog that we began finding our way and loving each other. Now, my heart belongs to this sassy bouncy girl and I would never go back as she is my entire world and my eyes in this beautiful big world we walk through.

This past semester I took a non-fiction writing course, and one of our assignments was called the portrait assignment. Students had to write about a living being in their life who they believed to be the most sustainable in their eyes using writing and literary techniques that would paint a portrait of this living being and allow the reader to picture them and who they are. Being that I am a creative writer and didn’t want to choose a single person, I chose my Seeing Eye dog since sustainability is a give and take process in my mind and no one can be one hundred percent sustainable on their own.

Saidi is going to be five in just over a month, so I thought this would be the perfect time to share this piece I wrote in her honour. Thank you, Saidi for enhancing my independence and your unconditional love, and to the Seeing Eye Guide Dog School for the work that they do.

Forward, Saiders

She holds my life in between those dainty four paws of her’s just as I hold her’s in my hands. My half black lab and half golden retriever seeing eye dog sustains me just as I do her. I feed and relieve her while making sure she has the immense amount of love and playtime she deserves. She by making sure she guides with precision and comforting me on those rough days through this dance we call life. Yes, she is certainly more than just a pet.

It is an intricate dance we both have perfected since we met. In harness, Saidi walks with the shimmy of her butt and swish of her bushy tail. It appears as if the harness separates us, when in reality, brings us closer in a way that nothing else can. I move my right arm swiftly and smoothly to give her directions, and she two steps left and right to pull us around a tree. Saidi’s body promptly stops at stairs and curbs as I instinctively stick out my foot to tap the edge. Each movement she makes a signal about the environment—each move made in my best interest to sustain me from harm.

Even outside of guide work we speak through our dance moves. Saidi wiggles her cold, slimy nose under my arm and without question I reach out and pet that midnight-black fir—silky and smooth on her head and ears, but shaggy near her tush. She stretches her neck all the way back and my hand instantly scratches her chin as she looks up at me with liquid brown eyes that remind me of of hazelnut coffee—cozy, and comforting on a blistery day just as she warms my heart even though I can’t physically look into those eyes—sustaining me by filling me up with the soft joy she carries in her presence.

Behind any good dance, though, there is music. For us it is Saidi’s nails on linoleum and the jingle of her tags. There is the metronome of her snores that keeps time during the night, and her guttural groans as she flops down for belly rubs. There is a crescendo as she crunches kibble and chomps on a carrot or the bubbly yips as she dreams about chasing squirrels. Each of these tunes are more beautiful than the one before. She sustains her own self by making sure she has enough sleep and food to be energized to do her job.

As with all things, though sometimes our moves fall out of sink, and the beat of the music falls out of rhythm. Saidi stops to sniff or reaches for a tomato on the ground, and I don’t listen to her when she refuses to move and discover obstacles in our path. Sometimes she gets too excited and I get unrealistic. But even the best dancers fumble and it is what you do with it that matters so we go back to the dance of obedience—sit, down, rest, come.

But I wouldn’t have it any other way as I navigate this dance we call life, so I continue to say

“Forward, Saiders!”

by Harjinder “Jinnie” Saran