GOLDEN RETRIEVER HAS HER OWN GUIDE PERSON.

Byline: Dennis McCarthy 

Turnabout's only fair play.

On any given day in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, hundreds of guide dogs - most of them golden retrievers - help blind people make it through the perils of daily life.

So, how about a guide person helping a blind golden retriever puppy do the same?

Meet Mindy Levine.

With a husband, two kids, two horses, four dogs and a full-time job as a schoolteacher, Mindy apparently didn't have enough to keep her busy, so she adopted a blind pup and named it after one of the kids in her kindergarten class.

Meet Savannah.

She's the 14-week-old pup Mindy's been teaching the ropes to these past three weeks at her Agoura Hills home.

Savannah's as beautiful as her name. With her head held high and nose in the air, she waddles into the living room and steals your heart.

She's not stuck up. That nose in the air isn't for show. She may not be able to see you, but she can smell you.

And, after she does, Savannah's just like any other puppy. She nestles up real close, and wants to be cuddled and loved.

You don't need eyes for that.

Darryl Levine is a warm, gregarious man, but there are limits to even the warmest, most gregarious husband, and his wife was testing those limits.

The last thing they needed in their hectic life was another dog - especially a blind dog needing a lot of extra attention.

But deep down, Darryl knew a couple of weekends ago they'd be making that drive to Thousand Oaks to check out this blind puppy Mindy had heard about.

Both Savannah's parents were show dogs, but something had gone terribly wrong with their last litter. Three of the four puppies had died. The one who lived was blind.

The breeder was looking for a good home for the puppy, but blind dogs - even beautiful ones - aren't in big demand. No one was coming forward.

``We'll just look, honey, I promise,'' Mindy said. ``I just want to see her.''

Darryl smiled. Sure, he thought.

When you've been married for 23 years to the softest touch in town - a woman with a big heart who devoted the first 10 years of her career to teaching deaf kids - you don't just look.

You get involved. Big time.

But this time was different. This time, Mindy didn't have to do or say a thing.

It was her husband who took one look at that blind puppy waddling into the room with her nose stuck up in the air, and his heart was stolen.

``We'll take her,'' Darryl Levine said, as his wife just stood there and smiled.

``The minute we saw her we both knew there was no way we were walking out of there without her,'' Mindy would say later.

With the help of sons Jared, 18, and Zachary, 14, Mindy's been giving Savannah verbal cues to get her up and down the stairs, and around different rooms in the house.

``She knows now where she is in the house and outside by the feel under her paws - the cement, rug, grass,'' said Mindy, who teaches kindergarten at Haynes Street Elementary School in West Hills.

``It's been only three weeks, but already you can see she's so much more comfortable getting around. She's so smart.''

On the refrigerator door, Mindy has put up a warm letter from the breeder thanking the Levines for taking the puppy, and giving them some of Savannah's vital stats - like the day she was born.

Mindy smiled. ``I guess it was just meant to be,'' she said. ``We were born on the same date.''

Now, if Savannah was hoping to get some help around the house from the Levines' other dogs - Murphy, Buster, Dakota or Rosey - she could forget it.

``They don't baby her or help her get around,'' Mindy said. ``But they do play with her and protect her - make sure she doesn't wander too close to the pool.''

The Levines are having a collar made for Savannah that has a sensor in it to alert her when she's nearing the perimeter of the backyard pool.

Other than that, Savannah's on her own - treated just like any dog in the neighborhood.

Except she's the only one with her own guide person.

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Photo: Mindy Levine of Agoura Hills holds Savannah, her blind golden retriever puppy.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer