Orvis (posing with best friend Jody)

Animal Breed
Black Labrador

I was adopted or rescued!

A little about me...
Orvis is an amazing black lab and rescue story. In this photo he is showing his photogenic side with one of his fur friends, a lively Jack Russell named Jody. But Orvis has made a lot of friends over the years and his story is far from picture perfect.

While he spends his time today as a proud community minded service dog for the blind, his story did not start that way. He was found on the side of the road as a puppy abandoned and alone. My husband brought him to the local shelter to see if anyone would claim him. After a couple weeks of advertising for a lost black lab pup, and no one claimed him, we brought him home to live. And within a short amount of time he was doing everything we did. If you were watering the flowers outside or working in the shed, he would come and stand right next to you and watch. If you were in the kitchen making dinner or sweeping floors, he would come in and stand with you, almost as if to say, "...can I help you in any way with what you are doing?"

There was something about him, an aura or karma that suggested to us he was here for a higher calling. I know that may sound crazy but both my husband and I felt it and talked about it all the time. After a while, we agreed we should take him to the dog school for the blind to be assessed as a guide dog, it just felt right. And so we did and after he was tested, evaluated, and eventually trained, he became a state certified blind seeing dog.

Today we are very proud to say he is a working and awarded blind seeing eye partner. The current owners send us a photo every now and then and we are still moved by his success story. I will never forget my husband finding him, the local shelter staff nursing him, and opening the door for this Labrador to experience a full life, a new home, a loving purpose. We like to say, he went from "rescue, to the farm, to serving the blind working community."

Orvis is strong, smart, happy, calm, loving, fun and very service minded. Well trained and obedient he lives in a big metro area with a lot of cross walks, noises and moving vehicles. He watches and listens for the warnings for his owners re: moving traffic or those who would do them harm. He seems to know the importance of obeying pedestrian cross walk lights, safety precautions, and traffic signals to be as safe as possible for his owners.

I am not sure why we thought he would be a great sight dog for the blind, but a little voice in side of us said it was meant to be. He has taught us despite where you begin in life, you can rewrite the ending to your story.

Orvis touched our heart and taught us the meaning of unconditional love. He was an example of why it’s important to keep an open mind and chase dreams / that inner voice because it just might lead you to a new purpose & path in life. We cannot imagine our life without having met our Orvis, if only for a time. He touched us for the years we enjoyed each other’s company, but the heartfelt meaning of where he was called and went is timeless, almost like a Hollywood story, a real life memory we will not soon forget.