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Catching Sight: How a Guide Dog Helped Me See Myself
An in-depth account of training and working with a guide dog--and the radically honest story of a visually impaired woman facing her own internalized ableism
For years, renowned ethics scholar Deni Elliott lived with her own moral though severely visually impaired since birth, she spent decades attempting to "pass" as sighted, often finding ingenious but problematic workarounds in the process. Everything changed in her 40s when an ophthalmologist diagnosed her as legally blind and she could no longer hide her impairment. To maintain her independence, she would need to use a guide dog and openly present as disabled - a label she had rejected for decades.
As Deni begins work with Graham Buck at Guiding Eyes for the Blind, she takes us into the fascinating world of guide their elite breeding, their training that starts at birth, their exceptional focus, their ability to act as decisionmakers when need be, and more.
Enter Alberta, a two-year-old yellow Labrador retriever. As Deni and Alberta begin their work together, Deni realizes that having a guide dog—far from being a mark of shame and dependence—in fact means that she is joining a uniquely empowered community of canines, trainers, and owners. What began as a practical solution soon became something far deeper - a powerful relationship that challenged Deni’s internalized ableism and reshaped her understanding of herself and the world.
With warmth, insight, and surprising humor, Catching Sight tells the story of one woman’s journey to embrace her full identity, and the guide dog who helped make it possible.
For years, renowned ethics scholar Deni Elliott lived with her own moral though severely visually impaired since birth, she spent decades attempting to "pass" as sighted, often finding ingenious but problematic workarounds in the process. Everything changed in her 40s when an ophthalmologist diagnosed her as legally blind and she could no longer hide her impairment. To maintain her independence, she would need to use a guide dog and openly present as disabled - a label she had rejected for decades.
As Deni begins work with Graham Buck at Guiding Eyes for the Blind, she takes us into the fascinating world of guide their elite breeding, their training that starts at birth, their exceptional focus, their ability to act as decisionmakers when need be, and more.
Enter Alberta, a two-year-old yellow Labrador retriever. As Deni and Alberta begin their work together, Deni realizes that having a guide dog—far from being a mark of shame and dependence—in fact means that she is joining a uniquely empowered community of canines, trainers, and owners. What began as a practical solution soon became something far deeper - a powerful relationship that challenged Deni’s internalized ableism and reshaped her understanding of herself and the world.
With warmth, insight, and surprising humor, Catching Sight tells the story of one woman’s journey to embrace her full identity, and the guide dog who helped make it possible.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 16, 2026
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June 16, 2026
The magic of the human-guide dog partnership (Yorktown Heights and White Plains, New York, also Missoula, Montana and Tampa, Florida university campuses; 2012 to present-day): Emotionally affecting, Catching Sight: How a Guide Dog Helped Me See Myself is a deeply moving, unique memoir meant for all of us, not only people who are legally blind.
You’ll find yourself hooked by this specialized world filled with the respect, kindness, compassion, dedication, sense of purpose, and trust we wish surrounded our daily lives. A world in which certain breeds of dogs, mostly Labs and German Shepherds, are genetically bred and rigorously trained from the time they’re three weeks old to twelve weeks to begin the process of being matched to a person who is legally blind, aimed at developing a partnership that will transform lives.
Deni Elliott calls her memoir an “ethics book.” Then stuns us with brutal honesty admitting she felt “like a living example in one of my lectures on deception” since no one in her outside world knew she struggled with her vision. Coming from an ethics scholar and national ethics advocate for ethical studies in higher education as the co-director of the National Ethics Project, you’ll be taken aback by the courage it took to fully accept and embrace what she could no longer deny.
Born with low-vision, she was lovingly taught and nurtured by her parents and older sister that she could do anything, be anything, as long as she was willing to put in the hard work, persistence, and spirit to learn the foundational building block accommodations of reading, writing, ambulating to not only overcome but excel at leading a fuller life than most of us.
How she managed to keep her low-vision so well hidden for decades is striking, to include driving to work under the right conditions she’d worked out herself having spent most of her adulthood living alone, making her own decisions. Her voice comes across as fiercely independent and driven.
Trying to put ourselves in her shoes when she was told by an ophthalmologist when she was a professor at the University of Montana-Missoula teaching ethics and philosophy that her vision had progressed to becoming “legally blind,” a life-changing diagnosis she says was “overwhelming,” speaks volumes about her attitude: “simply to continue to overcome the obstacles that had always been there.”
Setting in motion this detailed, compelling account of how she learned to adjust, adapt, train, and fully accept what lies ahead, Elliott’s journey is profoundly moving and far more expansive than an insider’s demystifying the extraordinary partnership she entered into – though her trajectory was not immediate or straightforward – with the Guiding Eyes for the Blind program in New York.
“Moral development is a lifelong journey,” Elliott says. At the core of her messaging are ethical questions: Did she have a “duty to disclose her situation?” And, “To Whom?” The candor and clarity of the prose makes for a powerful read.
In addition to what Elliott tells us about her professorships (today a distinguished professor emerita in the Department of Journalism and Digital Communication at the University of South Florida), along with her constant professional traveling engagements, the list of all her professional roles, accomplishments, writings reads like the Energizer Bunny. An example of how elements of her personality were matched to her guide dog who needed to “thrive on a lifestyle more intense than most people could tolerate.”
A few months after her diagnosis, Elliott could no longer deny her condition. The reader may perceive one of her obstacles (or at least lack of encouragement) was her later-in-life husband, a professor who taught in California. Leading separate lives during the week perhaps a factor, but you may still not react well to his not wanting to be seen with her using a white cane, an indicator of blindness, especially knowing when he’s not around she begins to use it.
At this stage of her journey, Elliott had no idea “what made a dog a guide dog?” Neither do most of us until we read this book. Googling, I learned that for all intents and purposes the terms “guide dog” versus “seeing eye dog” are interchangeable. Differences come from two of the oldest, internationally respected non-profit schools in the country: Guiding Eyes for the Blind, where Elliott’s story takes place, and The Seeing Eye, the oldest.
It helped enormously that Elliott had been a dog lover since she was a little girl. When she received her startling diagnosis, she was raising a yellow Lab puppy, Oriel. Which is why she began to consider replacing the cane with her pet dog. Able to carry out her plan for a while, until she discovered having your own dog trained by a professional at your home is NOT the same as being admitted into the Guiding Eyes program.
Not an easy concept to accept because keeping your pet dog in the same house as a highly-trained guide dog is unacceptable. Confusing, it’s viewed as not fair to both dogs. The needs of dogs are seen as just as important as human needs. Heartwarming to all who care about animals.
It’s a big deal getting accepting into the program, which assesses a person’s emotional strength and commitment to its approach. Not for the faint of heart as the strict routine is non-negotiable.
When Elliott’s “tears dropped onto her [Alberta’s] muzzle” and she says, “Thank you for coming into my life” to a magnificent yellow Lab fitting Elliott’s high-octane life, you’ll feel the author’s awe, joy, gratitude, calm. “I would never understand why my journey to this dog had taken so long. Everything about her felt exactly right to me.” (See Elliott’s testimonial when she graduated the program, along with Alberta’s picture.)
Graham Buck wrote the Foreword explaining his pivotal role in Elliott’s journey. (After spending thirty-one years training for the Guiding Eyes, he opened his own practice, Buck’s Best Dogs.) In the Author’s Note that follows Elliott tells us the book is mostly written from her “perspective.” Her original intention was to write about the “astonishing capabilities of dogs professionally trained to guide people with visual impairments,” an area of research she’s involved with. For all dog owners, there’s much wisdom to gain.
Another standout feature is how incredibly hard these dogs work at communicating to their handler. There are times when it’s the dog who makes the decisions, overriding the human’s judgment on where to walk, what to pay attention to.
Partners are seen as functioning as one. The rewards are as big as life itself.
You’ll find yourself hooked by this specialized world filled with the respect, kindness, compassion, dedication, sense of purpose, and trust we wish surrounded our daily lives. A world in which certain breeds of dogs, mostly Labs and German Shepherds, are genetically bred and rigorously trained from the time they’re three weeks old to twelve weeks to begin the process of being matched to a person who is legally blind, aimed at developing a partnership that will transform lives.
Deni Elliott calls her memoir an “ethics book.” Then stuns us with brutal honesty admitting she felt “like a living example in one of my lectures on deception” since no one in her outside world knew she struggled with her vision. Coming from an ethics scholar and national ethics advocate for ethical studies in higher education as the co-director of the National Ethics Project, you’ll be taken aback by the courage it took to fully accept and embrace what she could no longer deny.
Born with low-vision, she was lovingly taught and nurtured by her parents and older sister that she could do anything, be anything, as long as she was willing to put in the hard work, persistence, and spirit to learn the foundational building block accommodations of reading, writing, ambulating to not only overcome but excel at leading a fuller life than most of us.
How she managed to keep her low-vision so well hidden for decades is striking, to include driving to work under the right conditions she’d worked out herself having spent most of her adulthood living alone, making her own decisions. Her voice comes across as fiercely independent and driven.
Trying to put ourselves in her shoes when she was told by an ophthalmologist when she was a professor at the University of Montana-Missoula teaching ethics and philosophy that her vision had progressed to becoming “legally blind,” a life-changing diagnosis she says was “overwhelming,” speaks volumes about her attitude: “simply to continue to overcome the obstacles that had always been there.”
Setting in motion this detailed, compelling account of how she learned to adjust, adapt, train, and fully accept what lies ahead, Elliott’s journey is profoundly moving and far more expansive than an insider’s demystifying the extraordinary partnership she entered into – though her trajectory was not immediate or straightforward – with the Guiding Eyes for the Blind program in New York.
“Moral development is a lifelong journey,” Elliott says. At the core of her messaging are ethical questions: Did she have a “duty to disclose her situation?” And, “To Whom?” The candor and clarity of the prose makes for a powerful read.
In addition to what Elliott tells us about her professorships (today a distinguished professor emerita in the Department of Journalism and Digital Communication at the University of South Florida), along with her constant professional traveling engagements, the list of all her professional roles, accomplishments, writings reads like the Energizer Bunny. An example of how elements of her personality were matched to her guide dog who needed to “thrive on a lifestyle more intense than most people could tolerate.”
A few months after her diagnosis, Elliott could no longer deny her condition. The reader may perceive one of her obstacles (or at least lack of encouragement) was her later-in-life husband, a professor who taught in California. Leading separate lives during the week perhaps a factor, but you may still not react well to his not wanting to be seen with her using a white cane, an indicator of blindness, especially knowing when he’s not around she begins to use it.
At this stage of her journey, Elliott had no idea “what made a dog a guide dog?” Neither do most of us until we read this book. Googling, I learned that for all intents and purposes the terms “guide dog” versus “seeing eye dog” are interchangeable. Differences come from two of the oldest, internationally respected non-profit schools in the country: Guiding Eyes for the Blind, where Elliott’s story takes place, and The Seeing Eye, the oldest.
It helped enormously that Elliott had been a dog lover since she was a little girl. When she received her startling diagnosis, she was raising a yellow Lab puppy, Oriel. Which is why she began to consider replacing the cane with her pet dog. Able to carry out her plan for a while, until she discovered having your own dog trained by a professional at your home is NOT the same as being admitted into the Guiding Eyes program.
Not an easy concept to accept because keeping your pet dog in the same house as a highly-trained guide dog is unacceptable. Confusing, it’s viewed as not fair to both dogs. The needs of dogs are seen as just as important as human needs. Heartwarming to all who care about animals.
It’s a big deal getting accepting into the program, which assesses a person’s emotional strength and commitment to its approach. Not for the faint of heart as the strict routine is non-negotiable.
When Elliott’s “tears dropped onto her [Alberta’s] muzzle” and she says, “Thank you for coming into my life” to a magnificent yellow Lab fitting Elliott’s high-octane life, you’ll feel the author’s awe, joy, gratitude, calm. “I would never understand why my journey to this dog had taken so long. Everything about her felt exactly right to me.” (See Elliott’s testimonial when she graduated the program, along with Alberta’s picture.)
Graham Buck wrote the Foreword explaining his pivotal role in Elliott’s journey. (After spending thirty-one years training for the Guiding Eyes, he opened his own practice, Buck’s Best Dogs.) In the Author’s Note that follows Elliott tells us the book is mostly written from her “perspective.” Her original intention was to write about the “astonishing capabilities of dogs professionally trained to guide people with visual impairments,” an area of research she’s involved with. For all dog owners, there’s much wisdom to gain.
Another standout feature is how incredibly hard these dogs work at communicating to their handler. There are times when it’s the dog who makes the decisions, overriding the human’s judgment on where to walk, what to pay attention to.
Partners are seen as functioning as one. The rewards are as big as life itself.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
One of the most refreshingly unselfconscious, uplifting memoirs to come down the pike, with or without the succession of charming and gobsmackingly perspicacious service dogs that grace its pages. As professor Deni Elliott’s eye condition worsens to near-total blindness, she can no longer disavow her disability professionally or in her personal life, and she commences to educate herself in sharing everyday life with a meticulously trained canine. Her esteemed career on campus and overall optimism are stymied by turns, nonetheless, given the limits and character quirks of her first service dogs Oriel and Wylie, until gifted trainer and human-canine matchmaker extraordinaire Graham Buck of Guiding Eyes for the Blind pairs and trains her with yellow lab Alberta, finally the truly perfect match and navigation partner for Ms. Elliott in every way: temperament, instinct, and affection. Each of Deni’s dogs has been a loyal companion, but Ms. Alberta hits every mark with ease, acuity, and adoration. Ms. Elliott’s book (co-authored with Mr. Buck) gives a fascinating frontline window into the all-too-ignored world of blindness and the myriad ways that guide dogs uniquely widen and enrich that world, as well as why we should all care. These canines may be angels on earth, but they require society’s support and approval to do their blessed work. The professor here painlessly and thoroughly schools us all—long live Ms. Elliott, Mr. Buck, and their well-oiled expertise!
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
Deni has had limited vision since birth, when many infants received oxygen needed to survive, but were left with damaged or no vision. She was encouraged to just do her best and not even really admit that there was a problem. So the ethics professor was basically lying to herself and others. When her vision worsened so that she could no longer pretend it was ok, she made a bad decision in trying to get someone to train her dog as a guide rather than going to a guide dog school, assuming that they would be patronizing. The dog finally burned out on her intense schedule of frequent flying to several different jobs, and she got another dog privately trained, who turned out to be afraid to fly. She finally decided to turn to Guiding Eyes for the Blind, where she met trainer Graham and was introduced to Alberta, the yellow lab, and success.
I would have liked to hear more from Graham, who although an involved Guiding Eyes trainer, was only heard from tangentially. As someone who raised Seeing Eye puppies, I was less interested in her personal life, and more interested in the training program. The information about Alberta's training, though interesting, sounded as if it came from a promotional brochure rather than from someone who was there. Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the ARC.
I would have liked to hear more from Graham, who although an involved Guiding Eyes trainer, was only heard from tangentially. As someone who raised Seeing Eye puppies, I was less interested in her personal life, and more interested in the training program. The information about Alberta's training, though interesting, sounded as if it came from a promotional brochure rather than from someone who was there. Thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for the ARC.
May 30, 2026
Thanks Beacon Press for the gifted ARC book.
Catching Sight by Deni Elliot, coauthored with Graham Buck, offered great insight into the world of guide dogs. I was particularly interested in this book having previously researched the possibility of puppy raising for Guiding Eyes as their program is in my home state of New York.
A wealth of information is presented about the process from breeding to training, matching to working, retirement and beyond. There’s a science behind the choices being made as much as there is intuition and trust in experience. The writing has an inviting tone and is accessible. Things are explained with enough detail to impart knowledge but not so much that the narrative becomes bogged down. Elliot’s personal story is open and vulnerable, sharing her struggles with internalized ableism and journey to self-acceptance. The dogs completely stole my heart.
Catching Sight is a compelling read recommended for those interested in the intersection of dogs, disability, partnership, and identity.
Catching Sight by Deni Elliot, coauthored with Graham Buck, offered great insight into the world of guide dogs. I was particularly interested in this book having previously researched the possibility of puppy raising for Guiding Eyes as their program is in my home state of New York.
A wealth of information is presented about the process from breeding to training, matching to working, retirement and beyond. There’s a science behind the choices being made as much as there is intuition and trust in experience. The writing has an inviting tone and is accessible. Things are explained with enough detail to impart knowledge but not so much that the narrative becomes bogged down. Elliot’s personal story is open and vulnerable, sharing her struggles with internalized ableism and journey to self-acceptance. The dogs completely stole my heart.
Catching Sight is a compelling read recommended for those interested in the intersection of dogs, disability, partnership, and identity.
June 24, 2026
I received an Advance Reader's Copy of this book.
In this memoir of sorts, Deni Elliott tells the story of her visual impairment and her journey to accept it and partner with a guide dog. This is a tribute to these remarkable dogs and the community that trains and supports them. Elliott describes her experience with her own guide dogs, Alberta in particular. I fell in love with Alberta. I'm grateful to have read this book if for no other reason than to now know how to behave around these fantastic animals. This is a book that all dog lovers will appreciate.
In this memoir of sorts, Deni Elliott tells the story of her visual impairment and her journey to accept it and partner with a guide dog. This is a tribute to these remarkable dogs and the community that trains and supports them. Elliott describes her experience with her own guide dogs, Alberta in particular. I fell in love with Alberta. I'm grateful to have read this book if for no other reason than to now know how to behave around these fantastic animals. This is a book that all dog lovers will appreciate.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews