Breaking down barriers—our way
by Princess Zena Stark (and Marie Laporte-Stark), Human Resources, NHQ
2002
I am a minority, unpaid employee of Citizenship and Immigration Canada, working as a mobility specialist. My partner Marie and I have been employed by CIC for more than a year now. Our office is in the Diversity Unit at NHQ, where Marie works as a program advisor.
Most of my work is done before I get to the office, during lunchtime and breaks, on the way back home, during evenings and on weekends. At the office, I’m told I’m a good employee if I sleep on the job, lie down on the floor to get my tummy rubbed or give kisses to colleagues who like me. Have you guessed yet what I do for a living?
Yes, I’m a guide dog. My partner can’t see and I help her to get around more easily. Before I met Marie, I lived in Vancouver for a year with a nice family, my puppy walkers. They taught me to be a well-behaved dog, took me to public places to be socialized and loved me a lot. Then, I had to leave them and spend the next five months in a kennel at the guide dog school in Ottawa, where I passed an intensive guide dog training course with flying colours. After that, I met Marie and we trained at the school for three weeks. We’re a great team and have been together for over two years. We take good care of one another!
As part of my job, I had to learn the meaning of some very specific words like “Forward,” “Left,” “Right,” “Follow,” and “Find the door.” I stop at obstacles so Marie knows there’s something in our way or something to be careful about, like curbs at street crossings, stairs, doors, construction sites and many more. Then Marie gives me one of those commands and I do what she says, unless there’s something dangerous and then it’s OK if I don’t listen.
I’m good at remembering places we’ve been before, so I can find elevators, washrooms and bus stops for her. I have even been trained on escalators and I’ve taught Marie not to be so scared of them. Although people often think I’m smarter than I really am and can see the colour of traffic lights and know when it’s time to cross a street, I don’t really, because dogs are colour-blind. Marie listens to the noise of the traffic and decides if it’s safe to cross and I do what she says unless she makes a mistake or a vehicle suddenly comes in our path.
I’m very proud of wearing my uniform—a white harness—when I work. I wag my tail and “Forward” we go, toward more adventures! Although I sometimes forget and look at people with my sad eyes to ask to be patted, I know they shouldn’t pat me when I’m wearing my harness, because it might distract me and cause an accident.
When my harness is off, I’m just like any other pet. At home, I like to play with my friend Quincey, who is Marie’s husband’s guide dog. I’m not always an angel—a few times, I’ve dug under the fence to go into the neighbours’ yard to chase their cat!
I’m just three years old and I had my first performance appraisal not too long ago. I was told I do an excellent job. I get lots of praise and pats because I’m a very hard worker.
As a performance bonus, I went on a cruise in the Caribbean for a week during the cold winter. Marie, her husband and two friends took me and their three guide dogs on a big ship, and we had a ball. Although I still had to work (sometimes even harder than at home because we were in unfamiliar places), I also got to smell the fresh sea air, warm my hide in the sun, swim in the waves, dig in the sand, meet lots of people and visit new places. I wasn’t even sea sick, and they had a nice big wooden box with sod in it for me to do my business.
I hope to work for another seven or eight years and then I’ll retire, which means that I’ll stay at home like Marie’s previous dog Luna, who lived with us until she was 13 years old and did nothing but sleep all day and bark at the letter carrier!
Marie is the president of an organization called Guide Dog Users of Canada. This means that we do a lot of work on awareness-raising and access issues. We deal with different concepts like diversity, equality and equity, and we try to lead by example, break down barriers and work hard to make the world a better place to live for new guide dogs and their partners.
That’s a dog’s life!
Photo captions:
Photo Zena-1:
Zena guides her partner Marie Laporte-Stark around some obstacles that were deliberately put in their path for this photo. Even indoors, Zena is always alert to possible dangers. Five minutes later, though, after her harness had been removed, Zena was lolling happily on the floor of Laporte-Stark’s NHQ office, having her tummy rubbed.
Photo Zena-2:
A very special assignment for guide dogs Quincy (left) and Zena was accompanying their partners Chris Stark and Marie Laporte-Stark on a Caribbean cruise last winter to celebrate the Starks’ 25th wedding anniversary. All dressed up for dinner, Quincy sported a blue bow and Zena a pink one.