After such a wonderful weekend it was hard to get back up at 6am and have
two routes a day. Monday morning we had a route that is totally escaping my
memory at the moment. If I remember I’ll write about it further down. Monday
afternoon, we went into Smithtown. And worked on the backwards P. Which means
we walked up the main street in Smithtown, then took a left into a more
residential area, took around left for a few blocks, then turned left again. On
these trips and others as you will soon read, the instructors are working us
down the block with some obstacles, and then straight to the curb. We walk
right to the curb even if we have to turn right or left. This is because this
will orientate us, keep our alignment correct and to keep the dogs from taking
short cuts. There are times where we will go rolling, or moving turns, but at
corners we do not. For this particular we invaded a small diner in the middle
of Smithtown. One of the instructors said that they had not used this diner.
But they were very nice and accommodating. In the afternoon I went last. Going
last in the lineup stresses me out, but I am told over and over to take my
time. On this backwards P, we did encounter some uneven sidewalk. My girl was
great with it. If I remember correctly this day was the only one in a while
that has been sunny. It’s very depressing, so I am hoping for sun. Our lecture
was on the mechanics of the harness. One of the instructors takes your harness,
takes it apart, and asks you to put it back together correctly. I of course had
no issues with it. One note of interest here is that GDF has the best quick
release harness handles. The part that is quick release is called the panic
clip. We were told it is used with horses. This means that I can leave the body
piece on Missy, but take her harness handle off. This is helpful when in small
places like the bus, airplane, and cars. I am so in love with this harness;
wish other schools would do this too! I
can’t think of anything else noteworthy.
Tuesday, was much of the same. On this day, it was rainy and humid. We had “artificial
dog distractions”. You’re probably asking yourself, how does that work? It’s a little
dog that one of the instructors has a pet, who can bark on command, which will
come in and distract our dogs. They take us out on to the campus, walk us
around several blocks, and run the little dog in front of ours. They run it in
front, on the side, and behind us. This dog is barking and barking up a storm. They
even have some of the little dog’s things, out in plain view for us to navigate
around. So when it was my turn, they tell us to correct our dogs. We always use
a voice correction first, and then go to a leach correction if needed. It’s not
a hard correction, but just to remind the dog to keep on working. When it was
my turn we walked by it, she, my pup looked at the little dog, but kept on
going. She actually did well, better than I expected. I didn’t think I did
well, but both instructors said I did well. The one with the little dog has
been training guide dogs for the last 28 years, so I guess she knows what she
is talking about. We also on this day got dog beds for our rooms. It’s a huge
dog bed from Costco, its soft with lots of padding. We also received our dog
tags. The tag that says the school information and the tag with our information
on it.
In the afternoon on Tuesday, we went to KingsPark area. In the afternoon it
was raining, so I got wet. This again was a route that had more dog distractions,
and more obstacles. We walked down a street that was the off main street that
had the library, on to a residential street, back on to the main street through
town. This route was very uneventful for us.
Our lecture for the day was leash corrections. Very simple. I was so tired
I went to bed at 9pm.
Wednesday October 3rd
The morning route was KingsPark again. Those that went one way went the
opposite direction. I stopped at the ATM for cash. This ATM was accessible.
What I mean by accessible is that if the ATM has an ear phone jack, if you plug
in ear buds or head phones, the ATM will talk. It will tell you which buttons
to push to get to the transaction you want. This would have gone faster but I
cancelled out the transaction like 3 times, and then got it right. Luckily it
did not rain, and the sun even came out. Again uneventful.
On the way back to campus I noticed that Missy was bothering her hind legs.
She is itching a lot. A few days back I decided to change her food. She is on
Natural balance, but she is now being switched to Taste of the Wild. Taste of
the Wild is a non-grain food, it’s a little more expensive, but I think it will
cut down on her itching and her gas issues. On this day I was doing half and
half already. She likes it.
Hubby also told me that Emma is having major stress issues. She is not
eating all of her food, nervous about being outside and just overall depressed.
Poor puppy lost her mommy, me *frown* I talked to an instructor about it here.
They said it was going to be hard on her for a while, because of the separate,
because of the break-up of our relationship, and because we were so well
bonded. Even to think about her not working, despite that I have a new pup now,
I will cry. Emma came to me on birthday, so we have a special bond. Oh how I
love that puppy. The instructor said that hubby now has to be her Alpha, has to
be the one to feed, take her out to park, and to care for her. I can, and will
still love her, but now I have another puppy. I hate it has to be that way. No
one thus far has stepped up to wanting to take Emma. With her being sick again,
with her stress and nervous issues, I am thinking about what we should do.
Should I send her back to the school? Should I continue to find her a home? What
do I tell the people that might be interested in taking care of her? How can I
make this transition the least stressful for her? So much to think about and
perhaps I am not thinking about it well. Because I am so close and so emotional
around the issue.
Back to my training with Missy. In the afternoon on Wednesday we worked the
horseshoe route. I know it sounds strange. It’s a quiet neighborhood area that
is in the shape of the letter D. There are house on the inside of the D, so we
walk around that. From what the instructors say the neighbors do not mind us at
all, and are in awe of how the dogs work. We have been told that we will be
doing one of our night routes in the area. A night route is one that we go out
at night and do. It’s dark and can be totally different from the day. It’s an
older area, with the sidewalk totally broken up, covered in grass, with cars
parked across the sidewalk, dogs barking lots of things going. We walked it
once with an instructor, and then we were allowed to walk it by ourselves. I
walked around twice. It felt great on the second time around to walk alone,
without an instructor on my side the whole time. I wanted to see how Missy
would react on our own. She did great. We would have walked around again, but
on this day it was extremely humid and hot. Hotter than it should have been for
September. When we walked this route, some of us, 4 students, went one way, and
the other 4 went the opposite direction. So at some point we all crossed paths.
This was good to get the dogs use to having distractions. While walking by
another student and their dog, we would use the “leave it”, “hop up” “Straight”
and “find the way” commands. Sometimes the dogs had to pull us off the sidewalk
to pass another student without hitting each other. We finished early, and did
well per the instructors say so, that they treated us all to ice cream at
Carvel’s.
The lecture on this night was about learning ears and picking up poop. I
wasn’t required to attend this lecture, as I already know very well how to do such.
I worked on a paper during this time. At around 8, I groomed Missy, as tomorrow
is our class and individual pictures.
I do now remember what we did on Monday morning; we went to an area called
PatchOgg. Busy area with main street and quiet residential area. My route was
uneventful for the exception of construction that forced to go a different way.
A lot more people than in others we have been lately. I have been told we will
start working more inside but have to get the outdoor work down.
I am terribly home sick. I love my pup, but I am so ready to be home with
my own bed, my own things, with my hubby. We are almost at the half way point
of class. I love my classmates but there is a different class dynamic going on.
There are some strong personalities, who can be very bossy. In some ways we all
get along, but at the same time, being with the same people all the time can be
annoying. It’s like living in a room, like we are at college, thank goodness we
are not. We have some serious drinkers in class and have gone out a few times,
they come back a little more intoxicated than I *think* they should. One person’s
dog has barked a lot, and even woke me up, and I didn’t have my hearing aids in.
I guess what I am saying is that I want to go home. I really do hope I keep up
with these people afterwards, but it was nice for now. Sorry if that sounds
mean. Anyone who has lived in a dorm, or been in a class like this will
understand.
Enough of my ramblings for tonight. Until next time….
No comments:
Post a Comment