Adventure Buddies: Sammie and Sofie
In honor of National Service Dog Appreciation week, Sofie the guide dog and her owner, Air Force Veteran Sammie Clay, share their story.
Air Force Veteran Sammie Clay was serving in the Pentagon when she started struggling to see things clearly. Words on the computer screen were unreadable and she started stumbling into things, but Sammie was convinced that her diminishing eyesight was a temporary issue.
“I would walk into people on the metro platform when I was commuting home and one day, I almost got knocked over by someone trying to exit the train, but I still didn’t think I needed a cane,” said Sammie. “Then I walked into an open safe at work and knocked myself out. My Colonel said it was time for me to go to medical.”
Physicians at the Walter Reed Medical Center told Sammie that her vision wasn’t coming back. They gave her eye drops to help slow the decline, but it was confirmed that she would eventually lose her ability to see the world around her.
“The worst thing in the world to me, at that time, was losing my vision. What do you do when you can’t see? You can’t drive your car or walk safely down the street. You can’t cook food. You can’t do anything,” said Sammie. “It felt like my life was over.”
Sammie began drinking to deal with her loss, and for about a week, she became suicidal. Then, one day, she woke up and chose a new outlook.
“I said to myself, ‘Sammie, you’re the stupidest woman in the world. If you kill yourself and they cure blindness the next day, you won’t be around to take advantage of it.’ So, I got up and started learning to live with my disability,” she said.
She learned how to maneuver her neighborhood with a cane and discovered braille at the Center for the Visually Impaired. But the most impactful change for Sammie happened by chance, as she was hailing a cab home after work one day.
“This woman came up to me, she saw me with my cane, and she asked me ‘how would you like a guide dog?’,” said Sammie. “Now I didn’t know what a guide dog was, but I said sure, thinking that she was just being nice. I never believed I would hear from her again but the next day she showed up at my office and offered me a spot in guide dog school.”
In 1995, Sammie went to Michigan to attend the Leader Dogs for the Blind school, where she met Josh, a black lab-husky mix. After 35 days of learning how to care for and trust Josh, the newly bonded pair headed home to Washington DC.
“He was a fantastic dog! When I first got Josh, I could still see enough to teach him where to go in my neighborhood. I could say let’s go to the bank and he would guide me there and take me straight to the front of the line. Everyone loved Josh,” she said.
Josh was a faithful guide dog for Sammie until his retirement in old age. Sammie, who is now 88 years old, has had three guide dogs: each a different breed and personality, but each a great guide and companion. Her current guide dog, Sofie, is a standard poodle who has been with Sammie since 2013.
“Sofie is amazing,” said Sammie. “I was fully blind by the time I got her so I couldn’t teach her the neighborhood like my other dogs. We don’t go out walking as much because drivers are in too big of a hurry these days, but she always keeps me safe. If she sees a car or an obstacle in my way, she won’t let me proceed.”
Crazy DC traffic might limit their daily walks, but it doesn’t keep the pair home. Sammie and Sofie like to travel and most recently returned from a National Association of Black Military Women Convention in San Antonio, Texas.
“Even in new environments that she doesn’t know, Sofie helps me. If I want to go to the front desk at new hotel, I just say Sofie, find the desk. Now, she may find the wrong desk, but she finds a desk and someone who can direct us where we want to go,” said Sammie.
Sofie enables Sammie to live an active and independent life, for which she is very grateful.
“I don’t want to have to live with anybody and Sofie helps me stay independent. Because of her, I can live alone, cook my own food and take care of myself. But I don’t feel alone because I can talk to her and she understands me,” said Sammie. “She is my best friend.”
No one has discovered a cure for blindness yet, and Sammie knows that might not come in her lifetime. But she’s grateful for that change of heart that carried her through suicidal thoughts and to the guide dog school in Michigan. For the past 27 years, her service dogs have enabled her to live a full, independent life, full of love.
“I have met some of the most amazing people who are all blind. They inspire me to keep going, and Sofie enables me to do it,” she said. “She is the most important thing I have now. When people want to pet her, I let them know that she is working but then I have her sit, which signals to her that she is done working, and she can shake hands and enjoy the attention. She deserves it.”
But as soon as the pets are over and the harness is back in Sammie’s hand, Sofie is all business. Alert and ready to guide Sammie safely wherever she wants to adventure next.