guide dog school – Opportunity Unleashed

Guiding Eyes Training (September 2017_, Day 10|Pretzels!

Wednesday it was rainy and wet the entire day. We were scheduled to go into white plains, but no one wanted to work outdoors while it was pouring, so we stayed inside. The trainers set up a makeshift obstacle course in the hallways, then worked on targeting and revolving doors, followed by a mall route in the afternoon.

There isn’t much to say about the obstacle course as it went flawlessly for Prim and I. In targeting, the class split up into separate groups. Some worked on teaching their dogs to show them the elevator buttons, some worked on landmarking the hall intersection, and others (such as myself) worked on finding chairs. Prim was, of course, brilliant with it as she has been every time we have

with targeting since the very beginning. I am looking so forward to the day that she can take me to an empty chair in a meeting or on a train. Oleta got to that point but it took a little while and a lot of practice. First they have to generalize what a chair means in different situations. Chairs can look different depending on where you are. Some are in a line against a wall, as in a waiting room or lobby area. Some are pushed up against a table, as in a restaurant. Some are wooden, some are soft, some have arms, some do not. Once the dog gets an idea of what I mean by a chair, learning that I want an empty one is another layer of the process.

After finishing with our chair activity some of us learned how to go through a revolving door with our dogs. Guiding Eyes has a revolving door on campus so it was easy to practice. I was a little nervous to do this, as there was one occasion in high school when Oleta and I were forced by a crowd unknowingly into a quickly moving revolving door, and Oleta came very near serious injury. It was very scary, so I tend to avoid revolving doors at all costs, but if I didn’t do the training here Guiding Eyes asks that we refrain from using them in the future, so I opted to complete the training, just in case it proves unavoidable at some point. She did fine and did not get her tail stuck in the door as I had feared. She even helped to push the door along as we went with her nose. Haha, thanks Primlet!

In the mall we worked on escalators, elevators, and suggested turns, but mostly the “steady” command. As we have been discovering, we cannot safely travel at our normal pace indoors. It was definitely a challenge for the both of us. It doesn’t help Prim that I don’t really want to walk slower either, but I know we have to, so I have to be the responsible party and show her what is acceptable pace-wise in that situation. We will get there, but I’m definitely anticipating having to work a lot on this when we get home. Honestly I don’t think I could ask for a better problem to have.

At the end of our route, I slyly persuaded one of my instructors, who had finished with her students, to snag me a pretzel and a strawberry lemonade from the Auntie-Anne’s downstairs before we left. My classmates really appreciated me, I know, because they got some pretzels out of it too. No no, don’t thank me… really, thank our instructor, dear classmates.

Seriously though… she’s awesome. All of our instructors are awesome. They have great senses of humor, are crazy about dogs, love people, are willing to snag pretzels for students at the risk of possibly getting in trouble later, and generally are a joy to work with. Just another reason to love Guiding Eyes.

Guiding Eyes Training (September 2017), Day 9|Chocolate

Tuesday we worked some different routes in White Plains. The first one we worked with our normal instructor to and from Dunkin’ Donuts. Prim made a clearance error around a trashcan, but in all fairness, it was a super tough situation. There was a woman coming at us with a baby carriage walking at a good clip, and at the same time there was a trash can on our left, part of which stuck out above Prim’s level, so although she could get around herself and she thought she had me cleared, I wasn’t quite. The funny part was the trash can was on wheels, so of course it started rolling away when I ran into it and my trainer had to grab it and get it to stay still again. She had to repeat the process several times, as it would not stay still! Oh the strange things that happen out on route!

Prim did really well getting through a non-linear area with a fountain and some trees, and slowing down for the door into Dunkin which wasn’t all the way open. Rather than just trying to run us through the small opening, she stopped to show it to me so that we could squeeze through together. At the counter, I used the “touch” command to position her in front of me and against the counter so that she was out of the way. I got a chocolate donut, then we scampered off back to White Plains to consume the deliciousness. As a side note, my classmates tell me I’m not allowed to have chocolate, because it has caffeine, and sugar… but I don’t think my trainer was aware of that rule so I got away with it! *Insert evil laugh here* Chocolate chocolate chocolate!

🙂

During our route in the afternoon, we worked with a different trainer who was filling in for our class supervisor that day. She is so chatty and funny. She described Prim’s body language as we worked. Her ears were pinned a little bit back, tail in the middle and out, she said she looked very relaxed and confident, and a bit like an arrow. We walk fast enough to be one, she said. Haha.

Prim full on ran me into a pedestrian, so that was awkward. We were coming up from a street crossing and, from what our trainer said, she had seen the pedestrian, thought she was going one way, but turned out she went another and we collided. We made our way to a bus shelter and used the clicker to teach her to target it with the word “bus”. She had it down in no time. I seriously can’t wait to get this dog home and start learning targets around our home environment. She is going to be fabulous.

Prim was right on with curbs this time. She is a quick learner, and we have ended up with our feet in the street far less frequently in recent trips. Our guest trainer said we looked great—much more like we were in the third week of class than in the beginning of the second. That’s very exciting to hear!

Guiding Eyes Training (September 2017), Day 8|A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White Plains Building

There are days I just have to step back and marvel at the incredible phenomenon that is the guide dog team. Dogs don’t naturally walk in straight lines. They don’t naturally refuse to chase other animals or deny themselves food lying on the ground. Most dogs don’t want to spend their days forging a path through pedestrians on crowded sidewalks, locating curbs, and playing in traffic… and yet these dogs do. They love their job, and most, if not all guide dogs, seem to realize at one point or another that they aren’t just doing this for the food reward. These are the sort of dogs that Guiding Eyes breeds, raises, and trains, and I feel so blessed to be able to experience life with now two of them.

Prim had a number of things thrown at her today. It is only our sixth day together and we had two major traffic checks, plus a skateboard check (yep, skateboard. You read that correctly), escalators, crowded, narrow sidewalks, indoor work, and major distractions in the dog food isle at CVS. That “major distraction” took the form of my class supervisor (who is also Oleta’s trainer and my instructor from 2011) tempting Prim with all sorts of very appealing squeaky toys while we did puppy push ups (sit, down, sit, down, sit, down, sit). It was pretty hard not to look, and she definitely did struggle to listen to a couple of my commands, but we got through it well enough. Honestly… can you imagine trying to concentrate while people danced around you with Chic-Fil-A and gift cards for pedicures and the latest technology gizmos, or whatever tempting treat might strike your fancy, and be expected to keep working at the same high performance without ever lunging for one of those waffle fries or gift cards or iPhones? Mm… Chic-Fil-A… I discovered today that Chic-Fil-A doesn’t exist in this area, bless their hearts. Anyway, what was I talking about?

Prim handled it all very well. I was impressed with the way she dealt with the traffic checks. One was on the left side of the street with a legal right turner. She saw it coming ahead of time and stopped about ten feet away from the car. The second was a car turning very illegally on the wrong side of the road. That was slightly more startling to me as it was completely unexpected, but Prim just came to an abrupt halt, let the car pass, and continued to the curb. It didn’t seem to throw her at all. She got a cookie and lots of praise upon reaching the sidewalk. She did her job very well.

Prim loves escalators. I am sure that her trainers used a great deal of positive reenforcement with them, as they can be scary for some dogs at first, but I think Prim also just likes the ride. She did very well pulling me to the edge of the metal plate and showing me exactly where the escalator started. She is brilliant with targets. When she hears the name of a familiar target (like the steps in this case) and recognizes it, she is there and fast, and she doesn’t stop pulling until we are all the way on top of it. Since I have practically no vision, this is extremely helpful for me, because she makes it very clear where whatever I am looking for is, whether it be the curb, the escalator, the door, etc.

We are still working on slowing down a tad in certain situations. For example, when we entered the CVS in the afternoon, we were moving so quickly the automatic doors didn’t quite have a chance to open all the way, so I got clipped by the still slightly closed sliding door. We also had to slow in the isles so as not to knock any displays or innocent bystanders to the floor. On our way back from CVS, we had a slight sniffing distraction with some trash cans (which, in her defense, did smell very strongly!), but as my instructor observed, Prim seems very responsive to my voice and a “Prim, leave it” was all she needed to get going again.

Shortly after that we crossed a street, made a right, and then I felt Prim angle over to the left a bit toward a building. She approached the wall of the building, then made a quick right and continued along the block. I wasn’t sure what had happened, until my instructor came up from behind to inform me that Prim had seen herself in a glass wall. Apparently, Prim got all puffy and upset like, “who’s that over there?!”, until she realized it was her own reflection, got embarrassed, and quick changed her direction like, that didn’t just happen. We laughed all the way back to the White Plains building. There are days you have to marvel at the incredible phenomenon that is the guide dog team, and then there are days you just have to laugh… and with Prim, that’s every day. This dog cracks me up.

Guiding Eyes Training (September 2017) | Meet Oleta’s Young Padawan!!!

And now the post you have all been waiting for. This is Oleta’s Young Padawan. She is a black lab female named Prim! Prim in my Lap

So far, her nicknames include Primrose, Primie, Prie, Piglet, Primlet, and Wild Woman upon occasion. She may be small, but have no doubt, she *IS* mighty. There is an incredible amount of power, personality, and intelligence packed into that little bundle of fur on my lap. My class supervisor (and Oleta’s trainer) told me that she had “hand-picked a nice one” for me. She wasn’t kidding. She did pick a nice one!

She has big paws to fill as Oleta’s successor, but so far she is doing brilliantly. I was immediately in love with her name, and I’ve totally fallen for her. How could you not?! ❤ ❤ ❤

Guiding Eyes Training (September 2017), Day 7|Rest Day

Sunday was our rest day. That meant we got up at 6 Am, cared for our dogs, attended obedience, attended breakfast, took our dogs for a mandatory play session (I know, how terrible to be required to play), and lecture in the evening. For Padawan and I, that meant we wandered around aimlessly looking for an activity, since we both have a bit too much energy to stay still all day. I was blessed to be able to spend four wonderful hours with a close friend of mine who came to visit, but before and after that, we occupied ourselves talking to our classmates, walking the halls, playing various and sundry instruments, cuddling (Padawan and I were cuddling I mean), and talking on the phone. It was a very relaxing time, and the food was particularly delicious for a rainy cold September day. We had grilled cheese with tomato soup for lunch, followed by spaghetti, meat sauce, and garlic bread in the evening. Comfort food.

Obedience in the morning went quite well, even with a dog wandering around the room as a distraction. At one point, Padawan was in a stay, nose to nose with the distraction dog and she didn’t move. Very nicely done. Distractions during obedience will continue to increase in difficulty as we go along. I might not write about obedience every day from here on out, but I may mention it if something particularly impressive happens.

Guiding Eyes Training (September 2017), Day 5|My Tiny Mack Truck

Friday, Padawan and I were first to go out at White Plains. She was happy to get her energy out first thing rather than wait an hour or more before hand.

For the preliminary few days, a trainer usually works beside the team on the left with their own leash attached to the collar of the dog. This gives the dog a confidence boost and keeps the trainer close so that they can easily communicate with the handler. Our support leash came off halfway through our morning route

There was an immediate difference in the way it felt to work together. It was a little bit freer and required more trust that Padawan would guide me safely. She did some excellent podestrian avoiding in a couple of street crossings, including an entire family with grandparents, children, and squeaky cart. There was also a small dog disraction. A dog passed behind us. Padawan looked, but quickly turned her attention back to me, and I got to reward her for her calm demeanor and attentiveness. Immediately after that was the right turn… we have had a bit of trouble with this right turn every time. There are multiple other obstacles in the way, so that we cannot turn directly to the right. Padawan first has to curl a bit around me to get us around something to our left, and then avoid something on the right in order to continue on our way. It took a little bit of finagling for both of us, but we figured it out.

A lot of what I am working on during our routes is learning to understand her movements in the harness. Oleta was a gentle glider. She was very calm and moved in a way that reflected that. Padawan is more aggressive. She’s a city traffic driver, not a country Sunday driver. Her pul is very firm, and her movements are decisive. At our best pace, following her feels easy and clearly defined. At our fastest, I feel like I am trying to keep up with a tiny mack truck (as my trainer referred to her once) plowing around curves down a mountainside. The Mountainside Mack Truck pace is fine when we are out for a joy run on a track or something with no obstacles to avoid and no curbs to find, but on a busy city sidewalk it’s less desirable as it makes accurate obstacle avoidance a bit more challenging, if not impossible. That means we are utilizing the “steady” command to slow her down at some points and refocus her attention when she gets a tad too excited, especially in areas with a lot of pedestrians. I may have used “steady” a grand total of one time with Oleta, so it’s kind of new to me, but I think we are both getting the hang of it.

In the afternoon route, we encountered a 2 year-old, and thankfully didn’t knock him over, although I think it was close. Children are difficult obstacles in some cases because they are unpredictable, so we did a bit of a dance with the child and the mother before we could go on our way. We also had a small distraction with some men loading things into a van. Padawan was briefly curious about who they were and what they were doing, but got right back on task with a leash cue.

Other than that, our routes were fairly uneventful, and we returned to GEB for our lecture and some time to rest. Saturday, we have the same route again in White Plains in the morning, followed by individualized mystery work in the afternoon. Can’t wait to discover what the mystery might be.

Guiding Eyes Training (September 2017), Day 4|A Day of Firsts

Thursday morning I got to do obedience with a real dog! And it was great. Padawan did wonderfully. She was remarkably responsive and didn’t make any mistakes. Granted, it is a low distraction environment right now and we are working individually with instructors at this point, but it’s still been less than 24 hours. SHe’s a pro.

Healing up to breakfast was a tad bit challenging, because she was so excited and she got up quite a lot during the meal, but in the van and at lunch she laid quite positively still. We had our first walk around 10 this morning. Padawan was on it. She found every curb perfectly and navigated around people and carts and cars flawlessly. We even had a mini traffic check. We were crossing one street when a car turned in front of us. She slowed to allow it to pass then sped up, got to the curb, and all was well. She started out a bit quick even for me, but we ran it off and got a little bit slower as the morning went on.

On our second route, Padawan’s pace was perfect. She found every curb and the only thing I could fault her for was stepping into the street a bit too early. She did slow to look at a pigeon at one point, but looked back at me quickly and kept working just fine. There was another car that pulled in front of us at an active driveway. She stopped for it, then waited for me to listen and give the command to continue.

I really was not expecting to have such smooth routes today. I am sure we will run into challenges, but when my trainer asked if I had any questions at the end of our second route, all I could think of was, “where are her flaws?”. Apparently she has them… but all I can see so far is that we need to work a bit on staying and waiting. She is go go go all the time, and I love it, but sometimes we do have to stand still for a little while, unfortunately.

In the afternoon, I attached Padawan to her tie down so that I could lay down for a few minutes between lecture and dinner. Padawan saw me lay on my bed and immediately leapt to join me, only to find that the tie down was a little too short. So, she settled for standing with her front paws on my bed, bouncing at me and licking me. My heart melted. I wasn’t expecting her to want to be with me that badly… so I got up and sank to the floor with her. She wiggled and jumped to put her paws on my shoulders. I got face kisses, and she rolled and wriggled herself around until finally coming to a rest draped over me with her bum on one of my legs and her head on the other. We cuddled like that until we heard the announcement to go to dinner, and even then I took my time getting up. It was too sweet!

Later that evening I got to play with Padawan for the first time. We went with our instructor into Alumni Hall and I got to sift through a crate of various toys to see what she might like. The bone wasn’t of interest to her, but she ran joyfully after the tennis ball and played soccer with a big bouncy frog that did not really fit in her mouth. It was absolutely adorable. She makes me laugh.

I also heard Padawan’s bark for the first time. She was laying comfortably still beside me in the student living room as I worked on blogs. Padawan saw/heard a fellow classmate and her dog in the hallway and suddenly leapt up with a loud “woof woof woof!”. It scared me at first because I was so focussed and she had been so calm, but she was, I think, just excited to see her friend and wanted to play. With a firm “quiet” and “down” command she went easily back to resting, and I got back to work.

Friday (Friday already?) we have the same routes in White Plains and a lecture on grooming. We’ll check in with you then.

Guiding Eyes Training (September 2017), Day 3 Part 1|Meeting Oleta’s Young Padawan

I have split day 3 into two posts, because there was just too much to say. Find part two here.

Dog day!!!

Juno obedience Wednesday morning went well. After breakfast, I had a deep philosophical conversation about life in the lobby with one of my classmates. It was very enjoyable and passed the time quickly. Before I knew it, it was 9:00 and I was rushing to puppy proof my room before the big reveal at 9:15. We gathered in alumni hall and listened as the list was read. I was the first on the list. I must disappoint you in reporting that I cannot publicize any identifying information about my new guide just yet, not until the match is a bit more certain, and not until the puppy raisers have been notified that their puppy has been matched with a person and is in class. Our puppy raisers work so hard and give so much of themselves to these dogs, and we want to ensure that they find out about their puppy’s placement through the proper channels, and not through a third party like social media.

That said, they announced my dog’s name, breed, and sex. For now, I will refer to her as Padawan, as in Oleta’s Young Padawan.

I spent a few minutes in the coffee room with a snack, chatting with my classmates, then went back to my room to wait. It wasn’t too long before I heard the knock on my door.

“Coming!” I called out, then hurriedly gathered my treat pouch and leash from my bed. My trainer came in with our instructor assistant and “somebody else”, as she announced as I opened the door. “Somebody else” came excitedly in, sniffing out the entire area. My instructor walked me through giving her five high value food rewards, which she very much enjoyed for the approximately 15 seconds that it took her to eat them, gave me a few last bits of information, then left us to snuggle. We did not do much snuggling, though not for lack of trying on my part haha. First we explored every inch of the room, then she spent the time getting up, laying down, staring at the door, and whining for the trainers. This is perfectly normal. She has spent the last six months training every day with them, and she doesn’t understand yet that I am going to be her person now… so she cried, and cried, and I fruitlessly attempted to distract her with petting, talking, her bone, and singing, which eventually did help her some. As I sang, she finally laid down for more than a minute next to me. At one particular song, she got excited and rolled over on her back, wriggling back and forth and batting me with her paws. It was so cute, and I thought I had her well-occupied, but she was soon back at the door whining.

Eventually we were escorted up to lunch by a trainer. Padawan was very excited and we only walked a few steps at a time before I had to ask for a sit to remind her not to pull on the leash. Lunch was hectic, as I expected after spending two hours trying to get her to stay still long enough to pet at all hahaha. She was up and down the entire time, but I did get to eat bites of my sandwich in between commands to “sit” and “down” and “stay”. The other students at my table had to do so a couple of times. It seemed their dogs were much more interested in chilling out. Personally, I’m glad I have my ball of energy. 🙂 ❤

Guiding Eyes Training (September 2017), Day 1

So, let’s start with the basics. I am blind, and as a blind person, I use a cane, but I, for many reasons, choose to live my life with a guide dog in addition to having the option of my white cane.

If you are curious about some of my reasons for choosing to be a guide dog user, see

this post.

A guide dog is a live animal. They are not machines. They go through two years of training before ever laying eyes on their blind partner, and then 2 weeks to a month of training with their human. At Guiding Eyes, the standard training program is 21 days. During this period of time, the student learns verbal commands, hand signals, and training techniques in order to work effectively with their trained dog. The dog and human both have to become familiar with one another’s body language, and learn how to work with one another in a variety of different environments, including indoor and outdoor, urban, suburban, and rural areas, as well as public transit. This is what I will be doing for the next 21 days at the Guiding Eyes campus in Yorktown Heights, New York.

So, without further introduction, (drumroll please!) I have arrived in New York! The trip to and through the airport was a breeze. Our flight went incredibly quickly, as we arrived 30 minutes early. I met two Guiding Eyes staff near baggage claim and met some of my classmates as they arrived. As we waited and later as we traveled to guiding eyes in the vans, we chatted about our guide dog experiences, blindness, canes, and our home lives. It’s funny how an experience like this draws a group of people together so quickly. My classmates are already teasing me for being hyper, giggly, and speedy. I even had someone tell me they could hear my southern accent, which surprises me since I did not think Tennessee had affected my accent at all. We have representatives in our class of 13 students from at least 8 states, according to my research thus far.

When we arrived to campus, we found our rooms and met our instructors. We have three instructors, as well as a class supervisor (who happens to be the same person that trained Oleta and myself in 2011), a special needs instructor, and two instructor assistants. The last time I came, there were only two main instructors, a class supervisor, a special needs instructor, and one instructor assistant, so the trainer to student ratio has improved.

I first went to lunch, because I was starving, and got to see and converse with some people I remember from July 2011. I took the 30 minutes or so after that to explore my room. There is an empty crate, hooks on the door for a harness, and a container with dog food, two bowls, a measuring cup, and a bone. There will be a puppy after all! I cannot believe it!

At 3:00 Pm, we had building orientation, followed by dinner at 5:15 and evening lecture. The building has changed a bit since I was last here, but I was happy to find the baby grand piano still in it’s corner in Alumni Hall. That, I think, will be the way I distract myself from the waiting Tuesday evening. Lecture covered GEB expectations for student conduct, the general daily schedule and other house keeping info, and equipment. We received orientation to the harness, martingale collar, training collar, and leash. I will explain equipment for y’all more in detail in another post. We also received our very own new leashes! They are shiny and much stiffer even than I remember. Soon I will be clipping that leash to an actual real live dog!!! I wonder who it will be!

Puppy Poll!!! — You Tell Me, Who will It Be?

Getting a new guide dog is rather like having a baby… there is a long period of waiting, and then that exciting moment you realize it’s actually happening, and then more waiting, and all the time, you are wondering… will it be a girl or a boy? What will she look like? What will her name be? Will he be calm or energetic? Clingy or independent? Focused or playful?

In this case, I can’t help thinking about whether he will be like Oleta, my retired guide. Will he knock me over with kisses the first time he meets me like Oleta did, or be a bit more reserved? When we go out for training, will she step daintily into the van like Oleta did, or leap enthusiastically after me, like some of my classmates dogs did in 2011?

At the moment, I can’t answer any of these questions… but what I can do is have some fun with it. So, let’s speculate.

What’s your vote?