Wednesday, October 3, 2012

2nd Week, Beginning of October!


 

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….

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