Seeing Eye - Day 2

“I live in constant anticipation of good stuff. It's not being 'Pollyanna' about things, but most stories don't have the ending we would give them right away. The better endings come later.” - Bob Goff Today began at 5:30 for me with an official wake up at 6:00. Today was about assuring the trainer understood our needs and had picked out the best match based on their knowledge by the end of the day. The day began with breakfast consisting of waffles topped with blueberry sauce and a side of bacon, followed by us going into Morristown for the first Juno walk of the day. To give you an idea of what class is like, my instructor has four students assigned to him. At this point, he works each of us separately, so we wait in the school’s down town lounge as the other students go out. I went last, and we went on a six or seven block walk. Needless to say, I like to believe I gave the lovely ‘Juno’ a good workout as I have a very fast pace and like a very, very strong pull in the harness. We did some sample leash corrections, so they can understand what our strength is like if the situation arises that they are needed and then we returned to the school. We rested a bit until lunch and then went back to town for another walk. This was a shorter walk in which I walked with the instructor and the class supervisor to reinforce they understood my needs. I might point out that they also take into consideration things such as our work environment, travel, ETC. so we also had these discussions. The rest of the evening we had a meeting with the president of The Seeing Eye while the instructors met to make final dog assignments. We had dinner followed by a wine and cheese meet and greet with our fellow students. Basically, at this point it is a waiting game—only the instructors know who is getting what dog. Tomorrow will consist of a 6:00 A.M. wake up, breakfast, two short lectures while the dogs are bathed, and finally introductions to our new dog. We will go into town after lunch for our first walk with him or her. This is only the beginning of this journey—it will consist of many highs and lows, good days and bad ones. It will be long and complex—while training over the next few weeks will be intense, it takes six months to a year for that bond to fully mature. It will consist of much anticipation and fears, but the desired ending only comes with hard work and perseverance. Stay tuned until tomorrow….