Shasta College Instructor Raises Guide Dogs for the Blind

​Last year Shasta College ADN Nursing Instructor Charles Doherty and his wife, Marla, raised a puppy for Guide Dogs for the Blind of San Rafael, CA.  The pup, Goldie, often accompanied Doherty to work at the Health Sciences Building downtown, learning basic etiquette of being a working Guide. Doherty credits the faculty, staff, and especially his nursing students with helping Goldie prepare for her career as a Guide.

Founded in 1942 to serve the needs of veterans returning from the war with vision impairment, Guide Dogs for the Blind provides services to the vision-impaired free of charge. We’re all proud that this summer Goldie was paired as a working guide with a vision-impaired community college student in Louisville, KY.

Goldie’s partner is 18-yr-old Jonathon McCarty from Louisville, Kentucky. McCarty began community college this fall in Louisville. In high school, he competed in swimming and wrestling in the Paralympics, winning a medal in wrestling. During college, he plans to coach swimming and wrestling and to continue working as an internet radio sports announcer.

According to McCarty, while he and Goldie were training one day, crossing a busy city street, a car illegally cut a tight turn in front of the pair. Goldie immediately intervened by blocking McCarty, stopping him as she had been trained to do. “She was protecting me,” McCarty said. “When we got safely across the street and it was all over, she started wagging and wiggling like crazy. She knew she’d done something good and was asking, ‘Do I get a kibble?’”

When asked why he decided to get a Guide, McCarty said he would feel more confident when traveling. Also, “When people see a white cane, they shy away from you…, but when you have a dog, they want to talk.”

Doherty said, “It was hard to say good-bye to her again at their graduation, but seeing Goldie leading Jon and hearing how she’d already protected him from one near-miss reminded me that it is more important for her to be with him.” 

Shasta College is proud of the civic involvement of all of our faculty and staff and applauds Charles Doherty and his wife for their efforts towards helping the visually impaired.