The honorable, rewarding, delightful, unbearably sad experience of raising a guide dog.

Take one look at Isaac. Go ahead. Stare into those trusting brown eyes and tell him you'll care for him, feed him and spend so much time with him that you won't remember what it was like going to the grocery store without him trotting by your side.

Say this, but remember that in about a year he will be gone, living in another home, loving someone else. You might get the occasional phone call, but it won't be the same. He will have moved on. And so, too, must you.

Isaac: