I received this moving email from a friend, Dawn Pilatowicz, who administers the Cape Town Community Exchange and relies on her "service dog", Shyann, to help her through her day. Read on to find out about Dawn's braveness and willingness to overcome, the amazing difference these animals make and how you can support the .

Dawn and ShyannDear friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances,

Last year we raised a record R53,000 for S A Guide Dogs! Thank you thank you thank you.

What can we achieve this year? Why should you help Guide Dogs? Who are Dawn and Shyann?

Shyann is a service dog, from the ‘S’ litter of 2008. S A Guide Dogs breed their own puppies and each litter is given a letter of the alphabet. They then get ‘puppy raisers’ to name them, by submitting three name choices using the letter of the litter. Each name is unique and never repeated. The puppy raisers raise the dogs for a year and a half. The dogs then go to the training centre to be matched with a recipient and trained for that recipient’s requirements, be it Guide dog for the blind, or Service dog for the disabled. At around 2 years old, the dogs are shipped off, to be trained with their new owners. These new owners then have to commit to their dogs for the rest of the dog’s life. Guide Dogs keep a watchful eye on their dogs: via monthly reports from the owners, regular vet visits, and frequent visits from the trainers. If there are any issues with a dog, Guide Dogs are there to help.

My life changed completely in January 2010 when Shyann came into my life. I applied for her a year before I got her, never knowing quite what I was getting myself into. Because of Shyann, I am out and about in my neighbourhood every day. I have met the children, dogs and people who live here. They all adore her and she adores them. I have got used to people coming up to her and greeting her and then only greeting me or introducing themselves to me. She is just so adorable. We have been to old age homes, pre-schools, impoverished areas, malls, restaurants, movie theatres, festivals, meetings and flea-markets, and wherever she goes, she attracts old and young, people and animals, to her like a magnet.

Apart from the things she was trained to do for me: pick up things, fetch and carry, bark on command, it’s the things she was not trained for that endear her to everyone. Her delightful smile, her gentle nature, her adoration, her patience and acceptance of all. Those are the joys which I could never have expected.

Who is Dawn? To view a little movie of Shyann and I (from last year), click on http://tinyurl.com/MyServiceDogShyann or read my story about “Living with Polymyositis” to get a better understanding of how Shyann has changed my life.

I thank SA Guide Dogs every day for the joy they have brought into my life via Shyann, and I want to help them bring this joy to as many other people as possible. It costs around R10,000 to sponsor a dog, so last year, with the R53,000 we raised selling raffle tickets, we had a hand in bringing joy to 5 people. How amazing is that?

Please buy a raffle ticket at R20 a ticket. The prize is a Polo Vivo, the raffle closes on 1 November 2011 with the draw taking place on 24 November. The name of the winner will be published on the SA Guide Dog website

Thank you
Dawn and Shyann