Graduate Team: Mikayla and Tally
About the Team Tally, a black, female Lab; Mikayla’s 2nd guide dog
Location: Chandler, Arizona
Training: October 2025 On-Campus
Mikayla works as a massage therapist. She is married, a mother of four, and resides in Arizona. Tally is Mikayla’s second guide dog, and she is helping Mikayla travel more independently, navigate complex places, and find building entrances more easily. Mikayla enjoys a variety of hobbies. Her creative side shines through in her love of yarn crafts, including knitting and crocheting. Along with being a busy mom, she stays active by exercising, running, biking, and exploring the outdoors.
How would you describe your guide dog? “Tally is a rock star! She has great endurance and is fast, energetic, and spunky. She also has quite a personality. She’s very opinionated and communicates her opinions by sighing and huffing! For example, if she’s displeased or if someone cuts us off while we’re walking, she’ll just make this huffing noise to show she’s annoyed. She takes her work seriously! She also really enjoys playing when she isn’t working. She loves stuffies and squeaky things. We throw things, and she likes to bring them back. She loves to be chased as well; not chasing you, you’re chasing her!”
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. Initially, I found the Guiding Eyes Running Guide 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? “Because Tally has such great confidence and endurance, she allows me to explore more new places than I would otherwise want to go. There’s something about Tally and her confidence that boosts my own confidence. Even if I’m in a totally different environment that I’ve never been in before, I don’t feel nervous about exploring it. With a cane, I probably would decide not to explore as much. We have some canals nearby, and we recently went exploring one. Before going with Tally, I couldn’t even find it. I just feel like no matter what, Tally and I will eventually figure it out. Even if we initially get lost, and I don’t know exactly where I am, it doesn’t ever feel like I’m lost because I know we’ll figure it out together.”
Were there any training highlights? “I was nervous going into the training this time. When I got my first guide dog, Candy, I initially spent two days with another dog, but we weren’t the right fit. Then, in her first six months, Candy showed difficulty with endurance in the Arizona heat. When they introduced me to Tally, they told me she was independent, and that’s not usually what I would gravitate towards. I thought I would match best with a cuddlier guide. It was a totally different experience, and we didn’t hit it off perfectly at first! Tally was extremely loyal to her trainer, who happened to be our trainer in class. We started switching it up with different trainers, and I had to be more assertive with her to help her start building a trust with me. I feel like working those few months with Candy provided the opportunity to learn how to be a guide dog handler with a more independent dog like Tally. Now she’s the perfect match for me!”
DOB: 11/21/2023
Litter ID: 4T323
Color/Breed: Black/Labrador Retriever
Gender: Female
Brood: Ziti
Stud: Denny
Littermates: Thimble, Taco, Teagan
Region: Richmond
Regional Puppy Instructor: Madeline Bruggeman
Puppy Raiser: Lora Caputo, Rich McGuinness, Eva Klenner & Logan Shelman
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GEBRichmond/
Tally was the most inquisitive puppy ever. Sweet and cuddly one moment, curiously processing some kind of sensory input the other… tuning out everything else. She analyzed everything. If things don’t make sense to her she won’t do them! Tally is vivacious and beautiful, just the right amount of smart and fun. I still think of her often… ~ Eva Klenner
