Dear Kilroy: A Dog to Guide Us »

Nora Vitz Harrison is a volunteer puppy-raising leader for Guide Dogs for the Blind and active in animal-welfare organizations. She has been a writer for corporate America since 1979. Her human-interest essays have appeared in "The Oregonian" newspaper and other publications. She lives in Oregon with her husband and her dog, Riley. When she is not writing, she loves to hike which is Riley’s favorite hobby, too.

From a puppy raiser for Guide Dogs for the Blind, an inspirational look at how dogs reflect our human values.

Library Journal

Every year, more than 900 puppies are born in the Guide Dogs for the Blind breeding program. Only about 38 percent of them complete training and become working "seeing eye" dogs. However, the remaining 62 percent, adopted into loving homes, often touch lives in ways not planned by their breeders. The author, a longtime puppy raiser for Guide Dogs and a volunteer for humane societies in California, tells how one such "change of career" pup, Kilroy, came into her sister's life at a time when she most needed the protection and unconditional love that a dog can give. Harrison also recounts examples of how working guide dogs change the lives of the blind people whose safety and independence are entrusted to them. Finally, she tells the story of the shelter dog whose presence helped her father to cope with loss and move on with his life. Harrison accomplishes her goal in brief anecdotes and funny, heartwarming, imaginary correspondence between Kilroy and her own dog. Recommended (with a tissue alert) for public libraries.-Florence Scarinci, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, NY Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.