Mikayla and Candy

Meet Graduate Mikayla

Graduate Team:  Mikayla and Candy
About the Team: Candy, a female black Lab; Mikayla’s 1st guide dog
Location: Chandler, Arizona
Training: March 2025 On-Campus

Mikayla works as a massage therapist. She is married, a mother of four, and resides in Arizona. Candy is Mikayla’s first guide dog, and she is helping Mikayla travel more independently, navigate complex places, and find building entrances more easily. Mikayla’s hobbies include knitting, crocheting, exercising, running, biking, and exploring the outdoors. After the hot Arizona summer, Mikayla looks forward to hiking and exploring the outdoors with Candy in the fall. A fun fact about Candy? She was featured on the annual Guiding Eyes Valentine’s Day email in 2023 when she was 4 weeks old!

How would you describe your guide dog? “Candy is the sweetest, most loving, and affectionate dog! She is never away from me for very long. She’s happy, easygoing, and a calming presence. I tend to be a type A person and Candy helps calm me down and allows me to relax a little more. Candy is able to guide me around obstacles effortlessly, which helps me feel like I can take on more when I’m in a new place. Recently, we went to the main road and crossed our first intersection by ourselves. This was a big step. We are starting to become extensions of each other and I’m starting to trust her in places that I know are difficult for me.”

What made you decide to apply for a guide dog from Guiding Eyes?  “I’ve had progressive vision loss since I was a child and had been looking into getting a guide dog for a long time. However, I was unsure about it because I thought maybe my vision wasn’t bad enough or I didn’t go enough places to justify it, and others might need a guide dog more than I did, so I waited. Over the past five years, I’ve started to lose more of my vision, so it became something I needed to consider, especially when we moved to a city. I initially found the Guiding Eyes running program online, read through the website, and immediately felt so comfortable and at ease. The website is so personal and friendly, and this made such a difference in helping me feel ready to take the next step. Every step of the way, the people at Guiding Eyes have been amazing. It’s not only the training, but more importantly, how they treat you outside of that. They treat you like you’re a person living with blindness and not like a blind person.”

How has having a guide dog impacted your life?  “Some areas in my neighborhood are difficult with a cane, including a parking area with a lot of pathways leading off of it and several benches around the perimeter. Even though you can find all the obstacles with a cane, you still might hit them, which can be frustrating. Candy is able to bring us right through without worrying about where the benches or people are. The other day, there were people on the sidewalk of the parking lot, and if I had been using my cane, I might have turned back to avoid bumping into them. With Candy, I could let go and allow her to keep moving us along. I felt like a normal person. I feel more able to move freely in places I might not have visited with my cane. She’s so smart and she impresses me every single day!”

Were there any training highlights? “The most special thing was how well the trainers were able to read their students. My trainer, Kat, could immediately figure out when I was overwhelmed or needed a break. Something I realized about myself during training is that I need to feel oriented to a space to feel comfortable. It was very challenging to go to a place I didn’t know and be told to move around in that space. Since I’ve always been able to stop if I felt like something was too much, it was very challenging to be in a new environment, pushing myself to learn all the commands while working with a dog to navigate. Kat was able to help me through it every step of the way and we could do it with jokes and laughter. She made it fun and light, even though we knew what we were there for. Another highlight was being able to watch a puppy-raising class! I got to see all the puppies and talk with the raisers after class. It was so great to experience where the puppies start and the process they go through to become guide dogs. This was very special.”

Meet Guide Dog Candy

DOB:  12/19/2022
Litter ID: 2C422
Color/Breed:  Black/Labrador
Gender: Female
Brood: Eloise
Stud: Hamilton
Littermates: Chance, Cliff, Clancey, Canyon, Crosby
Region:  Columbus
Regional Puppy Instructor: Leslie Stephens
Puppy Raiser:  Megan Tracy, Alex Gregory
Facebook: Columbus Puppy Raisers

From the Puppy Raiser…

Candy was the perfect first puppy to raise and I learned so much from her! From the day I picked her up I knew she would be an incredible guide dog. She proved that over and over with her confidence and spunky personality whether in college classes, shopping trips, or even the zoo. Candy adores everyone she meets and never misses a chance for cuddles. Best of luck to Candy and her partner. I know you will love her as much as I do!  ~ Megan Tracy 

Photos of the Team…