Aida and Bunnie

Meet Graduate Aida

Graduate Team: Aida and Bunnie
About the team: Bunnie, a female black Lab, is Aida’s 2nd guide dog, 1st Guiding Eyes
Hometown: Saint Louis, Missouri
Training: September 2023 On-Campus

Aida lives in Saint Louis, Missouri with her parents, sister, and new guide dog, Bunnie. Aida is in the process of applying to the University of Minnesota where she plans to study marketing & product management. In her free time Aida enjoys cooking, shopping, listening to music, talking with friends, and traveling. Aida looks forward to Bunnie becoming her traveling companion as she makes plans to attend different events and conventions with her friends.

How would you describe your guide dog?  “She is an absolute bunny. That is the only way to describe her! She’s always jumping throughout the house. We put all her toys away in an overflowing laundry basket and her favorite thing to do is spread them all back out. She’s very happy and super friendly. She loves everything, everyone, and her food! She’s an absolute Lab. She loves to play fetch in the backyard and her favorite toy is a Snoopy in a Santa hat, which she carries all around the house. She knows when people are talking about her and will just sigh and lay down. She loves her harness and jumps around when it’s time to put it on.”

What made you decide to apply for a guide dog from Guiding Eyes? “I love that Guiding Eyes cares so much about the dogs. Every dog is different. I really like the training methods they use, a mixture of food rewards and verbal praise. I had done a lot of research into that. A big thing for me was also the location of the school. Living in the Midwest, our climate is very unique. It ranges from blistering hot to iceberg cold. Especially with hopes of going to the University of Minnesota, I wanted a dog that would have experienced the snow, the beach, the rain, and more.”

How has having a guide dog impacted your life? “The companionship. I travel alone, out of state a lot and stay in new cities, so it is really nice to have someone with you all the time. It’s good to have Bunnie with me, so I’m not alone when traveling from state to state.”

Were there any training highlights?  “Our class was a highlight for me. We were very unique in the sense of our age differences, 20s, 30s and 70s. Everyone got along swell. Our trainers even said that regarding our age gaps, it was nice we all got along. It was a very fun and playful class. Sometimes we’d go to dinner earlier than necessary, just to talk and chit chat. We would let our dogs play indoors together but they were all black Labs, so when they’d come up for pets, you’d have to try to figure out which one was yours.”

Meet Guide Dog Bunnie

DOB:  6/18/2021
Litter ID: 4BB21
Color/Breed:  Black/Labrador
Gender: Female
Brood: Buttons
Stud: Arnie
Littermates: Broadway, Belinda, Betty Ann
Region:  Central CT
Regional Puppy Instructor: Maureen Hollis
Puppy Raiser:  The Yang & Lee Family
Facebook: Central CT Puppy Raisers

From the Puppy Raiser…

Bunnie came to us during the covid time. She is our first dog ever in our family and brought a lot of joyful moments we will never forget. The most favorite game Bunnie likes to play is hide-and-seak with my daughter. Sometimes it took 5 minutes for Bunnie to figure it out my daughter is behide the curtain! It is nice that Bunnie has the opportunity to help people and happy to know Bunnie is loved by her new handler and family. Especially thank you for Maureen Hollis, our regional instructor, she is always helpful and gives us instructive guidance to raise Bunnie. ~ Mei-Ling Yang, Puppy Raiser

Photos of the Team…