Ellington

Rebecca Floyd got her first guide dog in 1964. Blind since birth--doctors believe she had the measles while in her mother's womb, which caused vision impairment--Floyd has not only learned to cope, but to thrive without the sense most people rely on most.

Now, Floyd, 66, is passing the gift of guide dogs on to others. Since 2009, Floyd has worked to raise and train guide dogs for others as founder and executive director of Gallant Hearts Guide Dog Center.

"I have always wanted to start a guide-dog school. But, unfortunately, I had to work for a living until I retired," she says. 
 "So now, I have the freedom of being able to do something I wanted to do."

Before starting Gallant Hearts, Floyd was executive director of then-called Mississippi Protection and Advocacy System (now Disability Rights Mississippi), which protects the rights of people with disabilities.

Small in stature, Floyd is a calm, self-sufficient presence, matched by her sedate and well-trained guide dog, a red Doberman named Lucy. Floyd's optimism and giving spirit is contagious.

Most guide dogs trained at schools can cost from $35,000 to $50,000, but Gallant Hearts provides dogs to their applicants free of charge. Floyd estimates the organization spends between $17,000 and $18,000 per dog by the time they pass him or her onto a new owner. Nearly all the cost comes from donations and volunteers. Gallant Hearts only has one paid employee, its dog trainer.

Gallant Hearts mainly works with Doberman Pinschers and German Shepherds. "They are originally working dogs," Floyd says. "They are dogs that love to please their owner. They have a serious work ethic, they want to work, and they are very smart."

Floyd's husband, Gary Collins, is also visually impaired. Floyd says her family includes Kathy Curtis, who, although not biologically related, lives in an apartment at their home and helps Floyd and Collins with day-to-day matters, as well as with the dogs.

At home, Floyd has between five and seven dogs at any time, both her own dogs and those they are housing or puppy-raising for Gallant Hearts. "They are just so honest and so responsive. If they are handled properly, they are just so responsive. It's so easy to train them, they love to please and they love to be with people," she says.

Floyd says being able to give guide dogs to people in need is one of the most fulfilling things she has done. "Of course, I love it because I know how much a guide dog meant to me, and I want to be able to provide the same opportunity to other people," she says.

"It's really a terrific experience. I've enjoyed the last two years of my life probably more than any two years of my life."