At Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, a career-change dog refers to a dog in training that doesn't qualify to continue as a guide dog. Medical issues can intervene and behavioral issues or personality types might make the dog better suited for search and rescue, pet therapy, cancer detection or hearing-dog training. What makes Morry Anne Angell's career-change dog extra special is that 8-year-old Chapin is himself totally blind.

Chapin started life as a Guide Dog puppy, but by the time he was 1 1/2 years old, his puppy raiser realized that the frisky yellow Labrador wasn't suited for the job. So Chapin was adopted by a family. However, when he was 3 1/2 years old, he was diagnosed with glaucoma in his left eye. His guardians made sure their dog received the utmost in medical care, which included outfitting Chapin with a prosthetic eyeball - a rubber ball implanted in the eye, leaving the exterior (cornea) of the eye untouched.

Shortly after he lost his first eye, his other eye was diagnosed with glaucoma as well. His devastated guardians were told it was only a matter of time before their dog would be completely blind. They made the painful decision to return Chapin to Guide Dogs. His guardians were truly saddened, but overwhelmed by the prospect of caring for a completely blind dog. This is when Chapin entered our lives.

As foster care volunteers, my husband, Randall Dunn, and I fostered Chapin while Guide Dogs' Placement Department searched for a new adoptive home. But the prospects were slim. Not many people want to take a chance on a young, active and soon-to-be-blind dog. In anticipation of pending blindness, Randall and I started playing blindfold games so Chapin could learn how to navigate without sight, a skill he quickly mastered. The longer he stayed in our home, the more apparent it became that this was one phenomenal dog who wouldn't let a little thing like blindness slow him down. And in our hearts Randall and I knew: We were the family Chapin was meant to have.

After several months we adopted Chapin. The very morning that we completed the paperwork was the morning that he lost all the sight in his remaining eye. We like to think that somehow he knew that he had a permanent home, and it was OK to let that eyeball go. He was fitted with a second prosthetic eye to match his first and, as we suspected, blindness didn't slow his stride one bit.

Today Chapin is a total trouper treated no differently than any other dog: The only notable difference is the protective "doggles" he wears on hikes in case he bumps into anything sharp. But he's always there by our side, hiking, swimming, sailing and rafting. From backpacking treks to cross-country ski trips, a little inconvenience like blindness won't keep Chapin from joining in our family fun.