Every dog has his day

This morning, as I wait to head off for what I hope will be our qualifying walk, I have found myself reflecting on just how amazing Guide Dogs are. 

 

When I have worked with any of my dogs for a long time I can become complacent – a good working partnership becomes almost effortless and it is easy to forget just what remarkable work our dogs do.  Jay’s arrival has served as a powerful reminder for me of the resources, commitment and hard work which have shaped the fantastic dog I now have:

 

Research into animal behaviour and health

Careful breeding

The volunteers who care for the brood bitches and stud dogs

The puppy walkers who must have opened their home to a little black bundle of energy who, thanks to their love and care, left them a happy and well-socialised dog

Everyone who sponsors puppies or contributes to the charity in other ways

The Trainers – for early and advanced training

The boarders who offer the dogs a home while they are in the final stages of training..

And others I have forgotten to mention, including me, I suppose!

 

Guide Dogs for the Blind is an amazing charity whose work has hugely enriched the lives of many blind people over the past 80 or so years.  While I can manage to get out and about without a dog my dogs have taken so much of the stress out of and added so much enjoyment to daily life for me.  I will never forget someone I met when I was training with my first dog – he had lost his sight very suddenly and had totally lost his confidence and ability to leave home unaccompanied.  Yet, after four weeks’ training, he was heading home with his head held high, full of confidence and determination to start again.  Years later I met someone who knew him, and they confirmed that he was a changed man when he returned home with Molly, his little yellow Labrador.

 

Today’s photo is an action shot taken this afternoon – just me and Jay, for the first time.  We have qualified! 

 

I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it, and that it will have given you a glimpse of all that goes on behind the scenes in developing new partnerships between Guide Dogs and their owners. My particular thanks to Roy for taking and editing the photos for me – I know they have been greatly enjoyed.

 

Although we have reached the end of our training this is just the beginning for Jay and me – I have no idea what I will be doing  or where I will be in 7 or 8 years time, but I hope that Jay will be working with me and contributing to my sense of freedom and independence, throughout this time.  

Just Visiting

I am running out of ideas for interesting photos, but thought This one is worth including because it shows what I hope, by this time tomorrow will be reality and not simply a staged photo. 

 

All being well, Jay will be an official Guide Dog within 24 hours.  Over the past few days, as the training has been less intensive, I have focused on other areas of life which are important if Jay is to be the kind of Guide Dog I can take anywhere without concern about his behaviour.  He has had several runs – his recall is excellent, also visits to a couple of dog-friendly homes.  I find that he is very excited when we first arrive but quickly becomes calmer and able to settle.  He doesn’t seem unduly distracted by biscuits or cakes I am offered – I could tell you a few tales about two of my dogs in particular and the way they helped themselves to things they were never intended to have.  My first ever dog, Yvette, once pulled over a Christmas tree to get at the chocolates!! 

 

I have to say that, since Jay’s arrival my personal habits have improved.  Jay, like another of my dogs, loves to pick up socks and knickers – clean or dirty, if they are left where he can reach them.  Next weekend we will be staying with friends and I must warn them about this habit to spare them potential embarrassment!

 

This morning we practised our usual route into the centre of Worcester and then did a local route for part of which I can safely let Jay off the lead.  His confidence is clearly increasing.  This means that he is beginning to test the boundaries – slowing down to sniff interesting things and veering slightly to the left when crossing the road (if he believes we will be going that way anyway).  These are minor things which I can easily correct; he is a sensitive and willing dog and only needs gentle correction to remind him of what is and is not acceptable.  Poor dog – he doesn’t know I have been a Guide Dog owner for more than a quarter of a century and that there is no way he is going to get away with anything much.

 

Tomorrow we will use the route from here to County Hall as our test route – I do hope it isn’t raining as I haven’t yet worked Jay in the rain and some dogs are not too keen in the wet and can be aware of the increased noise of the traffic on wet roads.  We have been so lucky to have trained while the weather has been good – it has been a pleasure to be outdoors. 

Nearly there!

I must buy another bed –Today’s photograph shows just how much competition there is for Jerry’s.  He usually wins but is clearly prepared to compromise, at a push. 

 

As I start to write today’s entry I have both dogs nearby – Jay is chomping noisily on his Nylobone and Jerry is just lying quietly by my chair.  In some ways it is strange having the two dogs – one is special because of the time he has been with us and the close partnership I have developed with him, and the other because he is very engaging and because I know we will work well and have a lot of fun together. Somehow I have to make them both feel equally special.  With Jay this is easy because he now works with me and because he loves to play – Jerry is a much gentler dog and I tend to find him  standing nearby waiting to be noticed.  I make sure I take plenty of time when I groom him because he enjoys this personal contact.  Jay is surprisingly good at understanding that I don’t want him poking his nose in.

 

We headed off as planned this morning with Karen shadowing us in the car, she tells me that she gets a few funny looks doing this!  The only slight glitch was in the Tesco Express car park when Jay took me to Karen’s car rather that back onto the pavement – he meant well!  The route we take to our church Centre was very successful today.  The first time we did it Jay was very excited because of all the dogs running in the open area we work through on the way.  By now, although there are still plenty of other dogs, he has become much steadier – and that is only in a week.  He is a very responsive dog and is far too willing to please to be stubborn – unlike Jerry who can be very stubborn.  This has always surprised people who don’t know him really well because he always seems so easy-going – which in many ways he is

 

Tomorrow we will do some consolidation work in the City Centre and on Friday, if all goes to plan, we will Qualify.  For the next few months Karen will still be checking how we are doing, advising on the best way to tackle new routes and just checking that all is well. Although our training has taken very little time I am already missing the freedom which comes with harnessing my dog and heading out whenever I want to, so I will be delighted when we do qualify. 

Bus Jaunts and Bionic Jaws

Today’s photo shows Jay with a durable but soft toy fish I chose with great care an hour or two ago.  He seems to take great pleasure in dismembering any toy he is given (apart from Nylobones, Kongs and  rubber rings).

  I now realise that the greater the challenge of the toy the more he will delight in dismembering it  and revealing the innards.  Sadly, the fish lasted very little time before he had succeeded in removing it’s nose and unearthing the stuffing inside.  Oh Jay!!

This morning, after a day off,  I think Jay was keen to have his harness back on.  We still had some bits to fill in on the route to the Learning and Development Centre, so we caught a bus part of the way and then tackled a complex crossing.  Most Worcester crossings have little knurled cones on the posts which rotate when it is safe to cross, so it isn’t the crossings themselves which cause us some difficulty -  it is the positioning of the posts themselves.  In theory this is simple - they are supposed to be positioned on the side of the crossing where the nearest traffic is coming from.  The problem is that in places they are on the same post as stinky rubbish bins or else are so far away from the actual crossing (often on a kind of plinth) that it can be difficult to locate them.  Also my arms aren’t always long enough to stand at the kerb and have one finger on the little knob to check when it is turning.

The final bit of the route is also tricky because it involves crossing a car park at an angle and picking up the pavement at the other side.   This is one of the hardest things to do if you can’t see much or at all, because once you are in the middle of an open space it is easy to become disorientated and miss the gateway or other landmark you are trying to find.  For me this situation is where my dogs really come into their own and both Jerry and now Jay take me safely to the Centre entrance. 

Tomorrow Karen is going to send us off sort of unaccompanied, although she will be following in the car.  It will be interesting to see how Jay works without her reassuring presence. 

I haven’t given my contact details anywhere on this blog, but if you have any questions or comments please do post them and I will answer anything which comes up in tomorrow’s posting.

"Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon"

Today’s photo has no particular significance, it’s just cute.  Both dogs enjoy pottering around the garden while we do a spot of clearing up.

 

For the past week I’ve been able to train in the mornings and the afternoons, but Karen will begin training with a new partnership this week, so we will do mornings only – apart from tomorrow when we have the whole day off while she spends time settling the next dog. 

 

Today we revisited the route we have developed into and around the centre of the City; Karen is beginning to step back more which means that Jay has increasingly to use his own initiative.  There is quite a difference in his work when Karen isn’t offering as much support, but that is entirely normal and he will gradually learn to rely on me for direction and himself to get things right.

 

We have now completed our first week’s training and have covered a lot and made very good progress.  Jay enjoys his work and is pleasingly settled and happy at home with us.  In the coming week we will fill in a few gaps on routes we have been practising and Karen will increasingly step back as we work – eventually following in her car.

 

There will be no update tomorrow. 

 

Friends and Fun

We have had a fairly energetic morning so Jay was happy to relax when we got home.  Jerry had a less energetic morning but decided to relax with him.

 

Yesterday was an exciting time for Jay.  My sister and my daughter have both come to stay for the weekend – two new people to play with!  Last night he twice whined for the first time at my door (this shows how sensitive he is to changes in his household pack).  When Karen arrived we repeated the route to work because this will be one of the most important routes for Jay.  He was a little reluctant to leave his new friends and the toy he had been playing with, but he soon settled and worked well. Once at County Hall we carried on to the Countryside Centre.  This involved a trip along a path just outside the woods – lots of interesting smells, other dogs and open space.  Not surprisingly this is a very exciting route for Jay and he is inclined to pull.  Every so often, when I feel that he is pulling more than I am prepared to tolerate I have to get him to sit for a moment to help him to calm down and understand that he mustn’t pull.  I am always surprised that this helps the dogs become more calm, but it does.  It takes time and patience but is worth doing.  We caught the bus back.  So that’s another route practised. 

 

The best bit of the morning for me was letting Jay have his first run.  Because I have a partner who can drive and shares my enjoyment of country walks our dogs get lots of exercise as well as their work.  I have always thought that it is really important for the dogs to be able to let off steam and have a good romp.  It’s also fun to take well-behaved dogs out as they come back when they are called – this always impresses!  Jay did come back when he was called, even when he had just dived into an ornamental pond – lots of other dogs do it too.  He is half Water Spaniel after all. 

 

Jay, Karen and I now have the rest of the day off - I think that  we could all do with it! 

"Who's been sleeping in my bed?"

For the first time since his arrival Jay is beginning to chill, as you can see.  He has found a place he loves to settle – the only problem is that his chilling-place is Jerry’s bed.  So far this hasn’t been a problem because Jerry stayed over in Cardiff last night with Roy, but I am in no doubt that Jerry will, rightfully, lay claim to his bed on his return.  While it is not entirely certain that Jay and I will qualify together in due course, I think you could safely put money on it, so this weekend I am going to buy him a bed of his own. 

 

Today has been varied and very satisfactory.  We started by doing some traffic practice.  It’s widely assumed that Guide Dogs decide when it is safe to cross a road and lead their owners safely to the other side.  In general this is a myth!  Dogs are reckoned to have the traffic sense of the average four-year-old child.  I reckon that my traffic sense, as someone who has never had sight, is far better than that of a young child, so I make my own decisions (or ask for help if I’m not sure). Traffic practice involves team work between me, my trainer and a carefully-briefed car driver.  All we can really do is reinforce Jay’s traffic sense by praising him when he takes a decision, in certain circumstances, to stop.   This is one of the situations when he is allowed to disobey my “forward” command.  Our practice involved a car pulling across the pavement and out of a drive in front of me.  When we are close to the car Jay should stop until the car has passed; I then have to tell him to carry on.  We also did road traffic where a car comes towards us from the left or right once we are on the road.  Again, Jay should stop until told to carry on.  I’m sure you will agree that driving at blind people and their dogs is not generally considered acceptable behaviour, and I know from speaking with our instructors that they sometimes incur public outrage or even police interest when carrying out this exercise.  Anyway, that is another thing ticked off the list of things we have to do before I can qualify.

 

We have also fitted in a trip to the Vet to get Jay registered and a visit to the pet shop to check out the dog beds on offer.  I couldn’t leave without buying Jay something, so he now has a yellow rubber ring – great for tugging!! 

 

This afternoon we retraced our route into town – taking in the dentist, etc, along the way.  There was a lot of noisy traffic, a busker (Jay really found him distracting) and groups of pedestrians everywhere, of course.  I am delighted with Jay’s progress – he learns routes quickly and he clearly remembered much of what we did the last time we went in.  This is easy to tell because he finds the doorways, counters and steps without much hesitation.  The way it works is that, when I know we are roughly where we need to be I give Jay a “find” command.  He will then know what I am looking for because he will remember what we did last time we were in the same place – that’s how it works.  At this stage I need to be very consistent in the routes I take and the shops I visit.  As Jay becomes more confident I will be able to vary what I do, but not yet. 

 

Tomorrow will mean work as usual for us, though we will start a bit later in the morning.  I am hoping to give Jay his first free run; he deserves a bit of frolicking in the woods and squirrel-chasing.  I don’t think I’ll be taking him near the river for a while yet, though.