Seeing Eye days 11 and 12 - finishing up routes

Hello all,
On Tuesday, we did the route in town two more times in preparation for
our solo on Wednesday morning. Both times went excellent; the instructor
said Navajo and I looked excellent together.
Tuesday evening we got are dog's new harnesses. We had been using old
training harnesses up until this point. These new harnesses are brand
new; the leather is stiff and new until the oil from their skin and my
hands from use gets worked into them.
Wednesday morning was a clear, beautiful morning. We worked through the
route at a steady pace, working flawlessly. He ignored the dog
distraction totally, so much so there he just stopped and held his
ground until he could pass it by. Kris, the instructor, had warned me he
might get hit on the nose by the driver of the car doing the traffic
check because he was so confident he wasn't always fully stopping (not a
bad thing, they just like to see them fully stop at a safe distance at
this point in training). However, he stopped plenty far away and did a
magnificent check. We made it through with much ease ending an important
part of training.
This afternoon, we began freelance. We went into a department store and
worked escalators. This only took a few minutes; he handled them easily.
After that we worked through the park a bit before calling it a day.
This evening, we had a lecture from the veterinarian. She talked about
the stuff we needed to do to assure the longest working life for our dogs.
In the morning, we will work on bus travel with the dog. We will be
taking the train on Friday into New York to work through the city for
the day.
I will keep you posted and hopefully have some more pictures soon.

Seeing Eye Days 9 and 10 - A happy Valentines Day

Hey all,

Yesterday, Sunday, was as I said before our day off. Navajo and I went
on a couple of walks and sat outside for a while. It was in the 40's and
then today it was in the 50's! The unseasonably warm days are very nice,
making training a lot nicer. In the afternoon we did work on some
patterning/targeting with the dog in finding a chair in the dining hall;
he is very good at this so it was only a short exercise with a lot of
good results.
This morning we started a new route in town; this route is a lot longer.
It is about 15 blocks (give or take some?) and takes Navajo and I about
30 minutes to walk depending on traffic. We worked it twice, both times
being remarkably flawless. In the morning he did have a dog distraction
that he paid a little attention to but after a correction he worked
through it. We will work this route again tomorrow and then I will solo
it on Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon we begin what is referred to as
freelance where we go to stores, trains, New York City, escalators, etc.
to cover as many scenarios as possible. That will obviously be a fun
time to write about!
Tonight was a lecture on dog food. Navajo eats 1 1/2 cups of dog food a
day. Most people are shocked that these dogs eat so little but we aim to
keep the dogs fit; as was said tonight, a healthy dog is a fit dog. Of
course I will keep track of his body shape and weight and raise and
lower his food to assure he maintains his body condition.
Anyways, off to bed to be rested for 5:30 wake up!

Day 8 - a week in and solo time!

Hello all,
It was one week ago today I arrived here on a cool, Saturday morning,
unsure of what the future held in regards to my next dog. I was full of
questions--can I really move on from Phil, will my new dog be able to do
this or that as good as Phil, what will he/she look like, etc.
Uncertainty let to anxiety. Only five days ago I received Navajo, a
marvelous dog who works so hard at everything he does; he's intelligent,
loving, determined, and always ready to work.
This morning we completed our first solo trip in town with ease. He
worked flawlessly. He moved with grace and determination as if he had
been guiding for years. I am so proud of him and no that he really gave
it his all and hit a home run.
The rest of the day we had off from training. We went on about a half of
a mile walk in the afternoon around the school and then took a long knap.
I did find out today that he is 26 inches tall at the shoulders (by far
the tallest dog I've ever had), he weighs 74 lbs, and was born February
18, 2009. Friday he will be two years old!
We again have a day to rest tomorrow and then will be back to training
on Monday. It is good to have a little down town to catchup from this
first week.
Anyways, I'll write again soon!

Seeing Eye day 7 - A successful day

Hey all,

Today was a very good day. Navajo, or as he is nicknamed by the trainers
and in turn me Nava Joe, worked amazingly on route both this morning and
afternoon. He has worked so flawlessly. He continues to show his amazing
skills everyday.
He is also becoming more and more playful. He loves to play with his toy
bone, he will throw it and run and try and catch it as it slides across
the room. Scheduled play times are the best way for us to reduce the
stress levels in the dogs; work can be stressful as work is stressful
for us; they have a lot of weight on their "shoulders."
Tomorrow is our solo trip in the morning and then we have Saturday
afternoon and Sunday off. We can work them around the campus on our own
starting tomorrow so that will allow us to still get out over that day
and a half. Tomorrow we will also find out their birthday, weight,
height, etc. so stay tuned for that info.
Anyways, I have posted a pic of me and Navajo for you!
I will have more exciting details for you tomorrow!

Seeing Eye days 5 and 6 - ups and downs

Hi all,

I hope this post finds you all well. The last few days has been a series
of major ups and downs, a normal occurrance for dog guide training.

I'll start with one of the saddest stories I have to tell. I found out
Wednesday evening that the vets ended up having to put Phil down after
his health failed him. Not long after he came back to Seeing Eye he was
sent to a specialty hospital that did determine he was in the advanced
stages of liver disease. His prognosis wasn't good; a vet tech at Seeing
Eye took him home to take care of him as long as possible but soon after
his health went into a quick decline. To prevent him from suffering he
was put to sleep. This was very hard news to hear but news I am glad I
got. Phil was my world as I've said before. I can't even put into words
the emptiness hearing of his passing left me with, the bond a person has
with his guide is only describable as comparable to that of human and
his family. I had every intention of posting an article that one former
graduate wrote back in the 1970's for the New York Times but I haven't
found it in softcopy yet. It so elegantly described the answer to the
question, "does that dog really do anything for you?" An instructor put
it so well tonight, these dogs work for one thing--love. They aim to be
loved and to love in return. They love through working their heart out
day after day, block after block, simply to please their master in the
expectation that they will be loved in return. Every opstacle they move
us around, every car they move us out of the path of, and every
destination they bring us too, they do it through love.
Navajo is truly bonding with me. He is such an amazing worker. The last
two days I have seen nothing but improvement. Every opstacle, whether it
be a barrier or a trash can, he has worked through it as if he is the
master of the situation. He has the confidence that he knows his purpose
and can accomplish anything. He has shown absolutely no attention to dog
distractions and has worked through countless traffic checks thrown at
him flawlessly. He loves attention; I can walk across a large room from
him and he cries for me to come back. He really has stolen my heart and
we will be a great team.
Our lecture this evening was on dog control and behavior in social
situations. It was a lecture concerning controling a dog in different
social environments and a reminder to not let others pet and interact
with the dog to keep them focused--even out of harness for the most
part. I didn't do as well with Phil in this area especially in college;
people loved to pet him, he was just a friendly dog. With Navajo, to
help keep him at the top of his game for years to come, I intend on
reinforcing no petting and interacting so that I know he is always
having his mind in his work and getting me around safely. Please help me
be successful with this by not making eye contact with him, not petting
him, and not making me feel guilty for not letting you pet him; its for
my safety and our success.
Tomorrow, it is back to town to work the same route we worked today
(Thursday). Saturday morning we will solo this route--our first time
without an instructor over our shoulder in town. It will really be a
testament to how far we have both came in four short days. I know we
both can do it; the hardest part if there will be one is memorizing the
route and such in regard to how many blocks in each direction. Keep us
in your thoughts.
Anyways, I'm going to atempt to update tomorrow. Until then...

Seeing Eye day 4 - First trip into town!

Hello all,
Note: Even though this was posted on Wednesday morning, it corresponds
to the training day of Tuesday, February 8.
In the morning and afternoon, we went into town to work routes with the
dogs for the first times. Navajo did awesome. He ran a few curbs and was
a bit nosy but overall it was great. One might ask, why does he have
work errors? Well, the short answer is I'm a new person giving him
commands and that he is leading; he mmust gain respect and an
understanding for me through me giving him praise when he does things
right and through correction when he does something wrong. It is a team
relationship, at the same time it is a learning process on my part to
get acclimated to a new dog who walks, "talks",, and reacts differently
than the last one.
In the afternoon we did our first session of obedience
training--something that is done everyday to just "keep their mind in
the game" and keep their basic skills sharp.
After dinner those of us who chose to began work with clicker training.
A short explanation of this being that when we praise our dog we are
often times seconds late--a life time for a dog. We in fact are praising
their next action which might be eating that piece of trash on the
ground after they've stopped at a down curb or being distracted by that
squirrel across the street just after a traffic check. A clicker allows
for a precise click, a marker of sorts, to indicate that precise
millisecond in time that we are praising. These dogs have been
conditioned that a clicker is a marker of something good. They were
trained to target with a clicker; when they rang the bell they got a
click and then they new a piece of food was to follow. So, the use of
this? We will use it in conjunction with a small target to pattern and
target. For example, if i am in Chicago and need to find a certain door
to the hotel during my vacation along astreet, I will use this target
when I arrive for the first time and use clicker training to target him
to the target. Over a matter of about 15 minutes, I will take him from
the target to just targeting the door. Therefore, the next time we walk
down that street, he will target that door in anticipation of a click.
Maybe that makes sense!
After that was bedtime! More to come tomorrow!

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!