Jackie Schiemann enjoyed wading in Lake Michigan on Friday at Indiana Dunes National Park’s Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk. Her guide dog Tyrus, not so much.
“I’m legally blind,” Schiemann, 37, of Mayfield, Ohio, said. When she realized she would be in Indianapolis to visit a specialist, she decided to visit the national park just 2.5 hours away.
Schiemann has achromatopsia, a condition that makes her see the world in shades of gray, not colors. She has no depth perception, either.
Having a guide dog has changed her life.
Schiemann doesn’t drive, chauffeured to the national park by her mother, Joanne Schiemann. Tyrus, a 5-year-old yellow Labrador, doesn’t drive, either, but he’s remarkable in other ways.
Before Tyrus, stairs were a challenge because Jackie doesn’t have depth perception. Tyrus helps her navigate them.
He also has helped Jackie walk safely around her neighborhood, including a busy street she has to cross to get to the grocery. Joanne lives 1.5 miles away and can drive her daughter to distant places, but Jackie has plenty of shopping available within walking distance of her home.
Joanne said Jackie nearly got hit by a car that wasn’t watching for a pedestrian before turning. The car missed Jackie by about a foot. The white cane would have been hit by the car. That was before Tyrus came on the scene three years ago.
Tyrus enjoys going to the grocery but, like Jackie, likes to explore new places. She lets the dog take different routes home from the grocery to relieve boredom.
Jackie enjoys exploring national parks now that she has a guide dog. “He’s given me so much confidence that I can actually travel on my own,” she said.
Great Smoky Mountains, she said, “was actually the first time I ventured out on my own.” On that trip, she and Tyrus took the Gatlinburg aerial tram for a panoramic view of the mountains.
More Top Picks Robot Vacuums
They’ve been to Yellowstone, Grand Tetons, Everglades, Acadia and twice to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Memorial, Devils Tower National Monument, Old Faithful, Cuyahoga Valley and more.
“I don’t think we’re going to hit all of them, but as many as I can. This is number nine.”
Hawaii is out of the question. Tyrus isn’t much of a seafaring dog. Jackie found that out when they went together on an “all paws on deck” cruise with about 40 guide dogs.
“He’s not the best cruiser, because he does not like the potty box.” There’s no grassy area on the ship, so dogs have to do their business in a designated area. Tyrus went 2.5 days without going potty.
There’s a Paris trip coming in November, too. She’s training Tyrus to use a muzzle as required for public transportation, although she feels bad about doing so. He’s a gentle dog.
Jackie started to say he wouldn’t hurt a fly, then corrected herself. “Actually, he would hurt a fly because flies bug him. He snaps at them.”
Jackie got her wanderlust from her parents. “They instilled a love of travel at a young age for me.”
“When I was young, my parents and I and my brother took an eight-week motorhome trip out west,” she said. That was before she and her family had a good diagnosis for her condition.
“Everything was lost on me. I only knew bits and pieces,” Jackie said.
“When I hiked the Grand Canyon, I was in tears because I thought I was going to fall off the edge,” she said. That was the lack of depth perception playing tricks on her.
When Jackie was born, the doctor believed she had a brain tumor before ruling it out, Joanne said.
Now Jackie has red contact lenses that help with her extreme sensitivity to bright light, like ordinary daylight. She wore red-tinted sunglasses at the Indiana Dunes.
“I have pretty good night vision compared to most people,” Jackie said. “Bright sunlight is worse than pitch black. For me, it’s bright sunlight that gets me.”
Before Tyrus, she had a rescue dog to help her. “He was literally a dumpster diver. If you couldn’t find him, look for the nearest dumpster.”
Then Dogs Inc., a nonprofit service dog school, matched her up with Tyrus. “I call him my soul dog. He’s just so in tune with me.”
“It was love at first sight between the two of us,” she said.
At Dogs Inc., animals are matched with owners and get used to each other, learning cues and adjusting to each other. “He ended up slowing his pace down” during their first week, she said.
More Top Picks Best Inflatable Boats
That first week is supposed to be spent on campus in a controlled environment. Jackie and Tyrus had to break free. “Take us off campus. He’s bored. Something made me say that,” she said. That was the magic that helped them bond even more than they already had.
“Guide dogs are not robots. They make mistakes. They’re dogs,” Jackie said.
“He loves playing tug. That’s one of his favorite things.” He also likes the “find Grandma” command, which leads Jackie to her mother regardless of where she might be.
But traveling is a favorite, too. “That’s why we also like to travel together. He loves new places.”
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.