This is Golden Guide Dog Lilly with her loving partner, Rebecca Albarran. Lilly actually helped her human to gain a college education! Rebecca has trained Lilly so she only needs to name a class and this Golden girl will lead her to it. "When I say, 'Go home,' she knows to take us to the spot on campus where we catch the bus that brings us home."

On a busy campus, crowded with students riding skateboards, scooters, in-line skates and bicycles, Lilly remains calm and never gets nervous or skittish.

Here are Rebecca, John and Lilly experiencing the Rose Parade Floats. Entitled, "Hands-On Experience!", this photo appeared in the Los Angeles Times on January 3, 2000.

Rebecca and John Albarran who are blind, were among the 225,000 to visit the Rose Parade Floats on Sunday. "We get to feel the textures, and smell the details," Rebecca said.  

Blind Couple Finds Way of Giving Back: Brentwood Walk-a-Thon will Raise Needed Funds for Guide Dog Classes
By Lisa Faught, Staff Writer, July 18, 2000

PASADENA -- John and Rebecca Albarran wear their hearts on their sleeves. And carry them in their pockets. The ones in their pockets are cut from quartz, and the Albarrans carry them wherever they go as a reminder of their other half. Since they are blind, they cannot see each other, but they know their hearts are made from the same stone.
  
On Sunday the Pasadena couple will bring their quartz hearts along when they take part in the L.A. Dog, Jog and Walk to benefit the Guide Dogs of America. The event raises funds to train guide dogs that help those who are blind to navigate their lives. Walking in the event is the Albarrans' way of giving back to the organization that gave them sight through their own guide dogs Lilly and Gabrielle.
   
The dogs are extensions of their owners. Lilly, a Golden Retriever, is rambunctious and outgoing, much like her handler Rebecca. Gabrielle, a black Labrador known as Gaby for short, is calmer and more laid back, just like John.
   
"Our dogs are with us 24 hours a day," said John, 30. "They're like our shadows." The dogs work all day long -- they steer their handlers through crowded restaurants, busy streets and bustling shops. They weave around obstacles and deliver their owners to their destinations unharmed.  "Sometimes I second-guess Lilly, but she's always right," said Rebecca, 34.

The guide dogs are constant companions to John and Rebecca, even standing in as ring bearers when the couple tied the knot in May 1999. The dogs -- in keeping with the theme of yellow roses and hearts -- each wore heart-shaped pillows with rings secured to their harnesses.
   
The two met while pursuing their educations -- as they continue to do -- at Glendale Community College during a time when Rebecca was trying to decide whether to work with a guide dog. John, who had handled a guide dog since 1986, was a source of knowledge and adviser for Rebecca. The romance budded when Rebecca purchased two quartz hearts -- one to keep, one for John -- as a way to stay together when apart.
   
While blindness for the Albarrans is not debilitating, it does have its challenges. The two are constantly educating other people about the etiquette of handling guide dogs. No feeding. No petting. And no catcalls. These are a distraction to guide dogs hard at work. But the challenge of educating people comes with the territory, and the Albarrans make the extra effort. "Blindness is a nuisance," Rebecca said. "But it's just as fulfilling a life."

Canine Companion Helps Blind Woman gain College Education
By Emanuel Parker, Pasadena Star News Staff Writer, September 12, 2001

PASADENA -- For years, Rebecca Albarran refused to admit she was going blind. She refused to use a cane, learn Braille or rely on a guide dog. Now Albarran, 36, admits that without Lilly, her guide dog, she couldn't attend Cal State Northridge, where she's a junior working on a bachelor's degree in business.
  
"This may sound strange, but the biggest benefit of having a guide dog is people will come up and talk to you," Albarran said. "People don't do that when you use a cane. But when they see you with a dog, they want to know you. You can make friends and your dog is a star."
   
Lilly, a 5-year-old golden retriever, has been with Albarran for three years. Albarran has trained her so she only needs to name a class and Lilly will lead her to it. "When I say, 'Go home,' she knows to take us to the spot on campus where we catch the bus that brings us home," said Albarran.
   
On CSUN's campus, crowded with students riding skateboards, scooters, in-line skates and bicycles, Lilly remains calm and never gets nervous or skittish, Albarran said.
   
Albarran has a birth defect -- she has no iris behind her cornea. She also has had secondary eye diseases such as glaucoma, ulcers and cataracts. Her vision steadily worsened and she lost it completely six years ago.
   
She worked as a floral designer for 10 years at Pasadena Floral Company, but knew she couldn't continue without sight. It was time, she said, to re-evaluate her life.  "I always pretended I wasn't blind. I pretended I didn't need help. I tried to fit in. Then when I was in the mall one day, I fell down the stairs. That scared me and I realized it was time to stop pretending," she said.
   
"The funny thing was, all that pretending made my life two or three times harder. It was so easy once I accepted my blindness." She called the Braille Institute, learned Braille and coping skills, then called Guide Dogs of America in Sylmar about a guide dog.
  
Lilly is her second dog. The first, Litany, was retired for medical reasons and lives with her aunt and uncle.  "They have to match you up with a dog," Albarran said. "They consider your occupation, where you live, are you a fast or slow walker, your height, voice characteristics, do you have children or pets. I wanted a dog that likes to be talked to, touched, is affectionate and likes animated people."
   
It took her a year for her to trust Lilly completely, she said. Now, Lilly uses her body to block Albarran's path if there's an object in her way. "They didn't teach her that. She just started doing it," Albarran said.
  
Her greatest danger now, she said, is Lilly's popularity. People distract the dog by petting and trying to feed her. "They don't understand that when she's guiding me, she's working," Albarran said, "and distracting her endangers me. Fortunately, she's trained to ignore human food."
   
Her husband, John Albarran, 32, also is blind. His guide dog is a black Labrador named Gabrielle. When the couple married two years ago, their dogs served as ring bearers. "I want to work in human resources, perhaps doing training seminars," Albarran said. "I like to deal with people. When I was a florist, I liked talking to customers and wheeling and dealing with vendors."
   
But she said the sighted still place obstacles in the paths of the blind. "When I go on interviews, they don't talk about my qualifications. They're afraid I will trip in the elevator, or they ask me how I got to the interview or how I manage to get dressed".