Testimonials
“Ellie’s training with me and my guide dog has given me my life back. I now have the confidence to go out and do things again. Before Ellie I struggled even to go to the store and now I am going shopping and enjoying my favorite activities like traveling, going to ballgames, kayaking and hiking. She has prepared me well for the challenges one in my position may encounter. Under her advice while on a solo walk with my guide dog I was able to successfully handle the approach of an aggressive dog without incident. I can always count on Ellie for support when needed. There is no one but Ellie that I would want to prepare me and my guide dog to learn how to enjoy life again and handle every situation and challenge we may (and have) encountered!”
Mark Weber, WI
“I highly recommend Ellie! I used her services years ago when working for a nonprofit. I contracted with Ellie to travel all over the country and work with clients and their dogs. While most of the work was problem solving, I also used Ellie for in-home trainings as well as applicant assessments. Ellie is highly skilled and I always found her work to be of the highest quality. Her communication back to the school as well as her reports were always detailed and on time. Ellie is professional and talented. I highly recommend her services in problem solving and working with clients in the field.”
Will Henry, GDMI, COMS
“Ellie was my Guide Dog Mobility Instructor when I recently received my first guide dog. Ellie was extremely professional, courteous, and knowledgeable. I appreciate her patience with me as a first time guide dog recipient with little formal orientation and mobility training. She equipped me with the tools, skills, and confidence needed to become part of a successful guide dog team and prepared me for the challenges we would face upon leaving school and returning back to our real world environment. Getting a guide dog has been an amazing, life-changing experience and I would highly recommend Ellie and her services for this!”
Mandy Mathews, GA
“When I came here, I didn’t like it so much. My new Boss was an older blind fella. He never worked with a guide dog before. Silly man didn’t even know how to put on my harness! Dog, did I run him through the ringer, I tried to drag him into next week! We were really having a hard time. Boss would get all frustrated. You have to understand my Boss is, well, let’s just say it, very impatient. He thought I should know everything that he didn’t even know. I mean, that was ri-dog-ulous! Boss just didn’t know how to provide the emotional intelligence and team leadership we needed to become great! I heard he might be sending me back. And then, one day a very nice woman named Ellie came to the house. She stared walking with us. She helped my Boss become a better team leader. Unlike my Boss, Ellie was very, very patient. But, gosh dog-it, she could be strict! Sometimes I think she even put the fear in Boss. Silly Boss didn’t even know that he could slow me down when I wanted to go 60 miles an hour in a 35 mile an hour zone. He didn’t really know how to give me good compliments. She taught him how to scratch my butt and make me happy. She made us feel proud and helped us become a real team. After working only a few days with Ellie I began to start to settle down. Now I love hiking with Boss, problem solving, and getting lots of exercise. I have to be at my best. Boss goes to a lot of important meetings. Most of the time he sits up by the podium. When we go in a room, I know that it’s my job to guide him right up to the stage. I get to lay on the floor up there with all the dog-nitaries. Now Boss is happy almost all the time! Sometimes Boss and I play, and play, and play! As a working team, we really enjoy getting better, and better, and better! do live a dog’s life. I know that Boss and I would not have made it this far without the gentle but firm and loving guidance of Ellie the trainer. Sometimes we still see her around. She is always very nice to everybody. And that’s my story. Now, if you wouldn’t mind scratching my belly for a while, I would really appreciate it.”
Onyx the Wunder Shepherd
“I’m a structured discovery-style traveler and I never thought I would get a guide dog in a million years. I traveled the world independently and considered myself a better than average cane traveler. After living 60 years as a person who is blind, I found that I was traveling less and less around my neighborhood and city. I seemed to be losing confidence for some reason. So, I applied for a guide dog and wonder of wonders, I was approved! I received a beautiful German Shepherd. Onyx was strong, fast, and rambunctious! Even though we received some outstanding initial training from the school, I remained clueless, confused, and frustrated by the experience. I knew that Ellie Carlson had a great reputation instructing blind people in both cane travel and handling a guide dog. I knew from my experience in the National Federation of the Blind that Ellie was kind, highly capable, and patient. I hired her to spend a week with us and it made all the difference. Ellie seemed to understand how to work with dog AND man. She brings a reassuring quiet yet sometimes stern presence to her work. I think that at her core, Ellie is a teacher’s teacher. She is firm and fair. It’s clear from the work she did with us, and all of the volunteer work she does that she brings a big heart to her work. She taught me so many little tips and tricks to help me and Onyx become the effective, proud team I think we are now. I appreciate her very much, and I would highly recommend her. She is just the best!”
Kevin Worley, CO
“Working with Ellie changed my entire view of how I would live and greatly increased my confidence that I will be able to function in the coming world. I have RP and have lost all but some of my central vision. Soon I will lose that. I had the great fortune of meeting Ellie and have her prepare me for a life without sight. It is a scary thing when you find out as a 20 year old that you will be blind with when being the only question. I have lived for the last 40 years with my sight slowly vanishing and not knowing how to prepare for the day when I am blind. I met Ellie last year and she worked with me for several months teaching me new life skills and how to cope with the uncertain future. She asked me lots of questions and got a very clear understanding of my needs so she could shape my training to address them. The primary focus of my training was keeping my mobility after I lose my remaining vision. We started with improving my use of the cane and Ellie taught me how to combine the cane with my other senses in ways I would never have considered to safely navigated streets, crosswalks and even taking the bus. One example was using the sun on my body to determine my direction of travel. Ellie also allowed me to spend an hour with a beautiful guide dog she was training so I could understand the benefits of having a trained canine companion to help me navigate a very scary world. I would highly recommend Ellie’s services to anyone who needs help with improving their mobility. She is extremely competent and skilled and has the empathy needed to work with anyone who is unsure how to function with low or no vision”.
Herb Satterlee, CO