Seeing Eye day 3 - part 2 of dog day

As mentioned earlier, dog day went terrificly. The day started off with
a final Juno walk in Morristown. Kris said she had her decision made up
mostly unless she noticed anything different during this walk. As
expected, I still wanted a dog that had an enormous amount of pull while
still being able to move at an enormous speed.
Around 11:00 we as planned went into a meeting about the history of The
Seeing Eye. For retrains such as myself, it is just a repeat of what we
were lectured on in previous classes but it was okay. After lunch,
around 1:30, we all began receiving our dogs one at a time; our
instructor would call us to a lounge and introduce us to our new partner
(dog).
At around 1:45, I was called and introduced to a fabulous boy that has
stole my heart already. Navajo is a really large yellow lab. He was very
restless at first and even a bit whiny--he really wanted Kris back,
shocking huh considering she has been the center of his life for the
last months (hah). He has settled so well however. We went around 2:45
on our first walk around a third of a mile path here on the school's
campus. While as expected a bit confused by the fact his life suddenly
turning upside down today, when the fact of the matter he woke up today
thinking he was just going into town for another day of training, he did
really amazing work! He is even faster than Phil for all of you who knew
how fast he was (I love this fact) and he pulls so amazingly hard while
still keeping the pace.
The rest of the day was not very exciting as far as details go; we had a
lecture on grooming and then spent the rest of the evening settling the
dogs in.
One must remember while in training the dogs live in a kennel so they
haven't had to have house manners since they left their puppy raisers.
They haven't lost these skills, they just must be reinforced over the
next weeks. What i mean by house manners is going to the bathroom on a
normal basis, lying under the table with other dogs, etc. They obviously
interact with other dogs and people in stores, cars, buses, on walks,
etc. but that is different than living in a dorm or house.
He is over on his mat sleeping away. Tomorrow will be amazing getting to
work him in town for the first time. I think he will be a very well
behaved dog and help me truly get independence back that I didn't have
in the last months of Phil do to distractions, health issues, and such.
Anyways, enjoy the pics and thanks for reading!