UMR Communications is offering the latest headlines in the RSS format.
Q & A
Q&A: Children’s book educates on guide dogs, church life Amy Forbus, May 1, 2008
The Rev. Diane Winters Johnson is pastor to children and families at The United Methodist Church of Wooster, Ohio. Her new children’s book, The View from Under the Pew (Abingdon Press), is based on her ministry with Walter, her first Seeing Eye® dog. It is the first religious book to be translated into Braille by the National Braille Press.
She spoke recently with staff writer Amy Forbus.
Tell me about your call to ministry.
I’m the mother of four children, and I volunteered in the church before I entered the call to ministry. I had worked in the church as a Christian educator and answered the call to ministry from there.
Did you have Walter before you answered your call?
No. I used a white cane for years, and I made a decision to switch to using a dog for travel, because I had answered the call to ministry and didn’t have the freedom of mobility that I needed with a cane.
How long does it take to make that transition?
Making the decision took me several years. I wrestled with it. Once I made the decision—“Yes, I’m going to do this with the help of family and friends”—I called my mobility instructor and got some advice on different options. I then applied to The Seeing Eye, and they evaluated my situation and invited me to Morristown, N.J. I was out there for a month to train with Walter.
After we came home, we “fell in” together. It only took us a few months to become a working team.
I’m very much a dog person, so this book got my attention right away.
Even people who aren’t “dog people” warmed up to Walter very quickly—and to my other dogs that I’ve had since Walter. These dogs just seem to have a way of speaking to people.
So, in their own way, they’re also ministry dogs.
The dogs do have their own ministry. They have a very definite purpose: to guide. That’s what they’re here for. You can see it in them when they work—they’re different. When they’re out of harness, they’re just like any other dog: They play, they run, they get into things. But once their head goes into harness, you can see a change in them. They’re all business.
But also one of the things my dogs very quickly pick up on is they begin recognizing what things and people I might be interested in. It’s amazing how quickly the dogs begin to recognize regular people in my life. They recognize regular attenders of our church and alert me to those people in the grocery store or in a restaurant. The dogs will let me know there’s someone over there I might want to talk to—they’ll give me a little tug. And I come to depend on that, because I don’t want to miss saying hello to somebody. All of my dogs have done that, and I haven’t had to teach that.
I learned that Walter had almost a pastoral care instinct in him. As I began to call on people in hospitals and nursing-care facilities, as I would hold people’s hands, I’d notice that Walter would rest his chin on the bedside as I was talking to them. I don’t know if he was taking a cue from my behavior. That just became a way of him, and they began to rely on his visit as much as my visit.
I noticed in the book where a chaplain greets Walter and gets a reminder not to touch a guide dog.
That has been for me one of the big distinctions, because in our community we [also] have an active group of therapy dogs. When [people] see me with a dog, they think of a therapy dog and their instinct is to come up and love on them. And that’s why I put the chaplain in the book, to remind people of the difference.
When did the idea for the children’s book emerge?
Initially, I didn’t plan on doing a children’s book. I started writing a journal about my experience as a blind woman in ministry to help people understand that disabled people can be in active ministry and not just objects of ministry.
My primary focus in ministry is with children, so that’s my voice. It came out as a children’s book. And I thought, that’s the place to change the church—with children.
Besides educating readers about guide dogs, your book can also educate non-churchgoers about church life. Was that one of your goals?
Yes, it was. I also wanted to help unchurched children understand all of the things that happen in ministry between Sundays. What do pastors do? What happens in a church building besides just worship? What happens in a church office? What are things called? All the different kinds of things that might go into “church.”
Tell me about your guide dogs.
Walter and I worked together for 9 years, and he simply got to retirement age. When it got to be that time, The Seeing Eye and I decided together. Walter had a big retirement party at the church! Walter retired with a family that belongs to this church. They provided a wonderful home for him, and I flew off to Seeing Eye and spent a month training with Grant.
Grant and I worked together about three years. We did pretty well together, but Grant had some difficulties with traffic, and after some consultation with The Seeing Eye, it was decided that Grant needed to do something besides guide work. Grant is now living with my oldest daughter.
I just got Amber in January. She is so smart! I cannot describe how amazed I am at how quickly she learns. I’m in awe. The transition went really well.
I have loved every single one of these characters. They’ve all been unique, they’ve all been individual and they’ve all had their own gifts, just like people. They’ve given their all to their work and we have worked well together as teams. And I have thanked God for each one of them. They have made it possible for me to be in ministry. I could not have answered God’s call to ministry without these dogs allowing me the independence of travel.
Did you have Walter before you answered your call? 
When did the idea for the children’s book emerge? 
