Joyce Ken showers a little affection on Corey. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

She sat in silence at the feet of her ?pupil?, alert and ready to guide her to the next room or help her cross the next busy traffic intersection.

Corey may well be just a nine-year-old German Shepherd guide dog, but for Joyce Ken, she has been her eyes for the past eight years.

?Corey allows me to travel, stops for me at kerbs, takes the steps slowly for me? I have taken her to theatres, sporting events and even college classes,? said Ken, an American who lost her eyesight at age 46 during a bypass surgery.

?My greatest loss wasn?t in going blind but losing my independence,? Ken said at a seminar on Disability: Rights and Issues, at the American Center on Thursday. ?I realised I had a choice ? to sit and let my family take care of me or to work hard and learn what I could. I chose the latter,? said the president of the southern Connecticut chapter of the National Federation of the Blind.

And that?s where Corey came in. The puppy was raised in a school that trains and provides guide dogs for the visually challenged. As part of her training, Corey was taken to restaurants and parks to negotiate busy places.

When Ken opted for a guide dog, she had to undergo lessons on how to handle Corey. ?She even has disobedience intelligence. This means that even if I give her the ?forward? command at a traffic intersection, she may not move if she sees a car coming suddenly. And she really knows her right and left, which even a lot of people don?t.?

The pair has travelled all across the US together but this is the first time that Ken and Corey have stepped outside the country and come to India.

Ken?s trip to India covers the four metros, where she is highlighting the Americans with Disabilities Act and spreading the word about use of guide dogs and other service animals.

At the American Center interaction, when Kanchan Gaba, an advocate of Calcutta High Court and secretary of National Association for the Blind, suggested that given the disorganised roads of the Indian cities, it was impossible to use a guide dog, Ken disagreed.

?If people cross the roads here, I think we can as well,? was Ken?s triumphant answer, with her ?eyes? by her side.