Calliandra and Khaki

Meet Graduate Calliandra

Graduate Team:  Calliandra and Khaki
About the Team:  Khaki, a female yellow lab; Calli’s 2^nd guide dog and 1st Guiding Eyes 
Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan
Training: May 2025 On-Campus

Calli is an Exercise Science student at Western Michigan University, concentrating on Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy. She is interested in pursuing further studies in these fields in graduate school. In her free time, Calli enjoys singing at church and with her online choir group, hanging out with friends, cooking, and baking. When she’s not at school, she lives at home with her dad, brother, aunt, and her aunt’s mixed terrier, Peony. She and her guide dog Khaki are frequent travelers between Michigan’s east and west sides. Calli is looking forward to taking Khaki to North Carolina to visit her foster parents, who cared for her in China and now live in the United States. They have a golden retriever around the same age as Khaki, and they anticipate the two will become fast friends!

How would you describe your guide dog? “Khaki’s very chill compared to my previous guide dog! I found out recently that she doesn’t like water, but she let me walk her into a lake! She would only walk in up to her chest. She showed her displeasure, but she wasn’t unwilling to try it! She seems to be a fairly go-with-the-flow kind of dog, which is really nice. She loves to cuddle! She’ll hug you and lie down with her top half on you. She loves lying in the sun, too. For her birthday, she got a bowl of pumpkin and peanut butter mixed together and some homemade treats that I made! She’s been treated very well!”

What made you decide to apply for a guide dog from Guiding Eyes?  “I always wanted to get another guide dog after my first guide retired. I applied to Guiding Eyes, but I needed to become more familiar with my college campus. Then I was involved in a car accident, and some medical issues were unveiled, so I had to take a couple of years to get that figured out. When I was supposed to have my home interview for Guiding Eyes, I was having trouble walking. I finally made it through the third time and received Khaki.”

How has having a guide dog impacted your life? “Walking without a cane, I have enjoyed the freedom and independence of having a living being that I could talk to. I make them happy, and they make me happy. I really think the partnership between a guide dog and me is cool! I’m very happy to have a dog by my side again after 8 years of not having one. Traveling with a dog is different from traveling with a cane. It’s easier to walk through crowds. You get a different level of attention with a dog than with a cane. She’s brought joy into my life, and I hope I’ve brought joy into her life as well.”

Were there any training highlights?  “I think one of the highlights was that they were willing to accommodate my summer schedule, doing half the training on campus and half at my school. It was really unique and very nice. In my group, there were two female guides and four male guides. Of the six dogs, three were black and three were yellow. In our class picture, we made sure we stood in the pattern of ‘yellow, black, yellow, black, yellow, black.’ I thought it was so cool!  I’ve also never had a dog as vocal as Khaki. She groans when lying down or rolling over, sometimes during my class times. Everyone laughs! She loves her toys too. I bought her a fuzzy fox, and it has three squeakies in it. Oh my, she loves those toys! Her puppy raisers got her this ‘Y’ shaped bone to chew on as well. They told me she was a great traveler, and she has proven that to be true so far. I’ve taken her on the Greyhound bus, on the train, as well as the airplane when we first flew home. I do a lot of traveling from the East side to the West side of the state. She’s getting the traveling part down. Now I’d like to take her in a canoe!”

Meet Guide Dog Khaki

DOB:  5/30/2023
Litter ID: 8KK23
Color/Breed:  Yellow/Labrador
Gender: Female
Brood: Emblem
Stud: Kisco
Littermates: Kite, Kahuna, Kingdom, Kenai, Kimpton, Keeper, Kimmie, Koi
Region:  Westchester County
Regional Puppy Instructor: Monika Conrad
Puppy Raiser:  Sara Buswell, The Spreitzer Family, Dawn Gayer
Facebook: Westchester NY Puppy Raisers

From the Puppy Raiser…

Khaki came to me at 7 months for a 2-month puppy-sitting stay, but when her original raiser was unable to take her back, I was happy to team up with Dawn Gayer to co-raise our sweet “Khaki Pants”. Khaki adjusted easily to life between our two homes where she got double the love and a wide range of experiences. Always curious and playful and eager to learn, Khaki found her perfect match in Calli. Can’t wait to see what the future holds for this amazing team!  ~ Diane Spreitzer

Photos of the Team…