Sarah Blake LaRose

While I was in training with Elli, I decided to solve the problem of my voice loss by teaching her to work in response to hand signals only. During times when we were not practicing routes, we walked around the building, and I gave her hand signals corresponding to my verbal commands, praising her with hugs and strokes when she obeyed.

My voice problems eventually improved. Elli’s ability to work in response to hand signals proved to be an advantage when I took her onstage during musical performances. She led me onstage for a year and a half during my time as a member of the choir at my university in Texas; and she also lay quietly beside me while I sang and played the piano in churches.

I grew so confident in Elli’s ability to lie quietly at the piano that I stopped attaching her leash to the piano bench before beginning my performance. People ccommented on her good behavior as often as they thanked me for singing.

So it was that I discovered Elli’s greatest distraction.

In the spring of 1993, I planned a mini concert for the Easter season with four songs. My mother traveled from home, two hours’ drive away, to visit and play one of the songs for me.

When Mom was finished playing, she sat in the congregation, a few rows from the front. I sat down to play and sing; and Elli lay down as usual.

A few notes into my song, I heard a great noise. Elli had left my side and bounded off the stage, into the congregation, and up onto my mother’s pew. She was greeting my mother with great joy. I could hear slurping and snuffling sounds over the sound of the piano.

Rage boiled up inside me. I heard the trainers at the Seeing Eye, telling me that bad behaviors should be corrected immediately. Otherwise the dog would repeat the behavior.

Then I saw myself in my voice teacher’s room at the university. “You have to overcome distraction,” she was saying. “Otherwise you will not be confident with your singing.” She told me a story about how her master class was tested in their ability to deal with distraction. One student was carried across the stage on her back, and she kept singing.

I supposed that I was given the ultimate test in distraction on this day. What was the worst thing that could happen now? My mother had Elli in hand. Elli would not go anywhere that my mother did not control. My bruised ego would heal.

I kept playing, and sang. Elli became quiet.

At the end of my song, I moved as close to the microphone as I dared, and I did not use hand signals.

“Elli, come.”

Elli bounded up to the stage and came straight to me, landing at a sit next to the piano bench. I moved to the front of the stage for my next song. “I’m sorry for the disruption,” I said. “My eyes are acting up.”

Dogs can often develop the ability to sit quietly while the blind person is occupied with a task. On the other hand, it is important to respect the fact that various things can serve as distractions. Over the years, I have learned that all of my dogs have limits where distractions are concerned. It is my responsibility to help the dog keep herself in check.

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About Sarah Blake LaRose

Sarah Blake LaRose teaches Biblical Hebrew and Greek at Anderson University School of Theology and Christian Ministry in Anderson, Indiana. She is one of three blind academic scholars who received the Jacob Bolotin Award from the National Federation of the Blind in 2016 in recognition of innovative work in the field of access to biblical language texts and tools for people who are blind. In addition to her work as a professor, she provides braille transcription services specializing in ancient languages. Her research interests concern the intersection of disability, poverty, and biblical studies.

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