Guide Dog Days Messages
Introduction
Saturday, July 31, 2004 2:34pm Subject: hey all
Hey all! I'm so glad you've all joined my list! I hope you will find it interesting, informative, and maybe even fun to read. There is an interesting mix
of people here, people who have used guide dogs forever, and sighted people who know little about training with and using guide dogss. I hope I provide enough information
so that nondog users aren't totally confused and lost, and yet don't bore the experts that are here. Feel free to email me with any questions and thoughts.
My email is
[email protected].
The school will keep us pretty busy so I can't promise to reply, but I will try.When I get to school I will try to write everyday or every other day.
I've been meaning to write for a while now just to share some of my thoughts with you all, but there are so many emotions its hard to sort out. I will try to
get something down though as maybe it will help me.
On June 22 a member of the addmissions department from Southeastern Guidedogs Inc. SEGD from now on called to tell me they'd found the "perfect dog" and
they had a place for me in the august class.
The time since then has gone so slowly, and yet so fast!
I've waited for so long and it seems hard to believe that a week from today I will be matched with my first guide dog. I�m not sure I should admit to countless
hours of daydreaming about having a dog. But now that its about to become reality its really quite scary! Its such a wierd mix of emotions being excited
and terrified at the same time.
What if my dog and I are a bad match or it develops health problems and I have to send it back after I get home, or can't even complete training with it?
What if the school decides that my difficulty with spatial and movement related skills is worse than they thought and they send me home? What if I just
can't learn everything? What if I make too many mistakes and screw up my dog? What if this choice to get a dog doesn't help as much as I thought it would?
But I'm so excited to meet and bond with, and learn to work with my dog.! i can't wait to bring another animal to love in to my life.
So how can those of you who believe in it pray for me?
well, pray that I make it through training in one piece grin. Really a month feels like so long to be away from home. I will miss my kitty! Iwill miss my church,
my friends, and going riding, My kitty LOL sorry friends the cat comes out on top LOL. Oh for those of you wondering she will be at my parents house.
I just hope she can readjust to coming back to me with a dog here too. I get overwhelmed when I think of all I'm presented with, of all the change all at once and this next
month will certainly qualify. When I'm overwelmed I get depressed and that can't happen now! so pray that I stay calm. That God gives me the peace I've felt
so often in these last few months. That I learn well, stay strong both physically and emotionally. And please pray that with all I'm going through that
I will still somehow manage to show the love of Christ to the people I encounter.
Ok that oughta keep you all busy for a while grin.
oh if you want to, You can check out segd's website at
www.guide.org
http://www.guidedogs.org/
For those who don't already know my travel plans. I leave this Friday. I will be spending the weekend with my brother and meeting some internet friends
who live in St. petersburg. Class begins on Monday. i don't plan to write until then, but if several of you ask the same question, or I think of anymore
what if questions to write I will post again.
Week 1
Monday, August 9, 2004 10:10pm Subject: a surprising start
Hey all, My journey has begun very differently then I thought
it would. Right when I got to my room my instructor Heidye said "since
we've prepicked your dog. You get to meet him today." I was
surprised all I could say was "oh my gosh!!" But I think I was even
more surprised when a few minutes later they brought me not the little female lab I was expecting but a big roughcoat collie. His name is Radar. He has long fur and is a couple different shades of
brown. I'll try to get a better description. So while the 2 retrains are calmly walking around with their new dogs and the others are walking around with leashes I'm being pulled around by an excited Radar. He really wants to be around people especially his trainer
Heidi. I spent the afternoon alternating between petting him and
unpacking.
Its never taken quite so long to unpack.
Heidi took me out and showed me how to relieve him and then it was back to my room
until dinner which was chicken or ham yams, greenbeans and applepie.
After dinner we had a lecture on rules and procedures here at the
school. Radar kept getting up during both events. he goes down pretty
quickly most of the time. And the whining!! The trainers say don't
worry he'll slow down, stay down and stop whining in a few days! I
hope so! He's not what I expected, but he seems to be a sweet boy and
everyone who can see says he's handsome. I'd better head for bed.
It's after 11 and 6 o�clock comes early although I have nothing to do
tomorrow since I don't have to juno walk or anything. I just reached
down to my soft boy and got a little lick. I'm happy but tired. Please
keep praying this is going to be quite a journey.
Tuesday, August 10, 2004 6:44pm Subject:just a bit to say
Wow what a crazy day! The morning was in some ways boring since
everyone else was getting their dog matching tests. I sat in the day
room and alternated between listening to my tape and talking with
classmates. And telling my dog to sit or down or both. It felt like
it was happening every 2 seconds. rick encouraged me to try healing
Radar around the building but he kept pulling me everywhere. About an
hour before lunch I decided to head back to my room with Heidi's
help. Radar pulled me hard one time to many and I tossed the leash at
Heidi and told her to take him. I was crying by the time she got me
in the office. I got a pep talk about not giving up too quickly. Then
she took me back to my room put the dog on tie down and told me to
rest for a while I ended up resting until 2 PM. I listened to some
music there are 3 very similar Christian stations in this town. I
slept and took a long shower. The rest of the class was given dogs
after lunch. My roomate got a golden retrever named Neecdra. There is
Sparky, Jessie, Dolly, Reeta, Roger, Electra, Gage, Micah, and a
couple others. Oh, and there is Robby Radar's brother. The house mom
owns his sister Kally. I was talking to the coordinator of the puppy
program and she told me about his parents and a bit more about the
breed in general. After all the dogs were matched Heidi came to see
how I was. I said I was feeling better so we went for our first in
harness walk! Oh wow! He stopped and the speedbump found the gate, and the
bench, and moved at a really nice pace.
He did get a bit distracted at the kennels but she
helped me get him under controll. She was holding the leash. It was
about a 5 minute walk. We experimented with 2 different lengths of
harness handles. I think I like the long one better. After that I hung
out for a bit, then came here to check email, and tryed to releave Radar. I
had another overwhelmed moment but didn't lose it completely. I was
trying to stay oriented in the relieving area, keep Radar moving in a
simicontrolled way and Kate reminded me to keep telling him to "busy
busy." the command to releive. I was thinking oh man to much to do!! Dinner was
cube steak. I had an eggsalad sandwich left over from lunch and
a blueberry pie thing which was good! The lecture this morning was
just about the days activities and Tonights was about how to bond with
your dog and some do�s and don't�s. She read it right off the paper. It
could've gone much faster if she'd just handed me a braille copy!
Gee, I hope she's not standing right here. i know she just walked
through. He stayed down good during lecture and dinner. In fact he's
done well this afternoon. I forgot to mention that before dinner
Heidi worked with me on controlling him I used her arm for balance so
I could figure out how much to pull. And I think that helped. On the
way to our room tonight he got involved with another dog and I spun
him around! Didn't think I was that strong! So I'm not sure how to
describe today as it was such a mix. And we've got 3 more hours to
go. We have a relieve time at 8 and 10. So there's no real point in
heading for bed. Anyway, think I'll go find something to do.
Shelly, The tired turtle!
Wednesday august 11, 2004
My morning wasn't the greatest. After obedience I got confused about
how to get back to my room from the lecture room. So Kate was trying
to help me by asking me questions about what i remembered about the
routes and the setup of the building. I was so frustrated because I
didn't remember and embarrased because there were several
people in the room listening. So I displayed what Heidi called
an "attitude." I stomped off to my room and Heidi came and lectured
me about being more positive, and how they were willing to work with me
but I had to shape up and get my butt back to the lecture. I
appologized later and she seemed cool. She said it was part of her
job to be a buttkicker sometimes LOL.
My routes went pretty well. He
missed alot of the places where he needs to stop like raised places
in the sidewalk and stuff. So I learned the command "watch" which u
use when your dog has made an error. And I learned the command over
which is followed by which ever direction Radar needs to take me when
he walks off the sidewalk.
Todays obedience was practicing the sit and
down stays and the lecture was on hand signals and voice inflection.
It was good.
Thursday, August 12, 2004 6:45pm Subject: Boring day
Hey all, well today I did one route in the morning. it didn't go the
greatest. He missed every stopping point, so we worked on watch a lot
and over as he kept pushing me in to the grass. I'll have a few
seconds or so of great work where we are just cruising along and I
think "wow! I'm liking this dog thing." then I trip over a
raised point in the sidewalk, or step in the grass and think "hmmmm,
maybe not." Heidi kept me from falling all the way down. She still
says not to be concerned . We did 2 obedience sections where we worked
on moving around our dogs while they are at a sit and down stay and on
having them come to us and resume a heal position. Radar likes to
visit with other dogs when we take breaks, especially the girl ones
LOL. I learned tonight that his birthday is July 16 2002 and that he
was raised in Texas. I think I forgot to mention that we changed
Radar's collar. It's a several stranded cloth feeling thing that goes
higher on his neck, and it helps some. Sorry if I already mentioned
that. He is doing so good at staying down in the room. This afternoon
he layed by the bed for a half hour while I read. And he did his
first switch where he moves from my left to my right to get through a
door with the doorknob on the right, this evening. I missed my route
this afternoon because the staff r frantically preparing for the
hurricane. Oh, forgot to mention we had a meeting about that yesterday
afternoon. Just assuring all of us that we are ssafe. It is expected to
hit sometime tomorrow, so it is doubtful we will do any work which is
kind of frustrating. I want to get out and keep working. Several
students are aloud to do the route on there own, but not me, so I was
stuck with nothing to do and now that obedience is done there was no
lecture there's nothing to do. Boring!! I'm eating red liquorish and
boy is Radar interested. So guys if you don't hear from me for a while
just know that either we lost power, or there was nothing of
substance to write. Somebody call me I'm bored grin. Shelly
Week 2sunday, august 15, 2004 work
and playing
Hey all, Well, I walked the nature trail times once Friday morning
once saturday and again today. More of the same kinds of problems. By
the way because I guess a couple of you didn't understand what I mean
when I say he missed something I mean he's not stopping like he
should. Today was my first walk without my trainer I went with 2
other students. He missed one curb but we reworked it and he did
fine. He bumped me off the sidewalk at a higher part and my foot
started to twist. Its really hurting now but it didn't start till 2
hours ago after the initial pain subsided so I don't know if its
related but its making moving difficult. We mixed up our turn to the
bench but there were lots of other dogs and people so I wasn't
surprised. As we started back we approached where some nonclass dogs
were playing. Radar had to play!! I mean really he wanted to play!!
He kept spinning and making his play noses he makes. He refused to go
forword to heal to sit to anything I got all turned around by his
moving. I'm supposed to just drop the harness and work him with the
leash to regain controll but I was frustrated and wasn't thinking.
After about 2 mins another student came and helped me. The rest of
the route back was super. I was frustrated though. He's been pretty
hard to control l today. Yesterday and today we had playtime alone
with our dogs. The trainers dropped a bunch of toys in a bucket.
Radar a squeeky carrot yesterday. I'd throw it and he'd sort of bring
it back Today he wasn't interested in much of anything just wanted me
to throw things so he could run to them and not pick them up just
met Radar's sister a smooth coat collie. Nice little girl who didn't
make the program. he was happy to I've never seen his tail wag like
that grin! Our playtime tonight was cut short by dinner so with
trainer permission and since my roomy is gone with her parents for
the weekend I took off his leash and played with him. He loves to
slide and toss his bone or to have me toss it for him. He likes to
spin and jump and run, but he is very gentle when he plays he got
hyper a couple of times, but calmed quickly when I sofften my tone of
voice and tell him "easy" I groomed him tonight and we got
disoriented o when he spun after getting off the grooming table I was
standing for some dumb reason with more weight on the hurting foot and
it got me spun around. Yes, he's strong! So I was confused where I
was and hurting so I told him to find the door. He did! Then he found
the door in to the hall! We aren't supposed to command them out of
harness, but that was really cool. I want so badly to feel safe with
him, and to know that I will be able to develop the skills to handle
him. I worry about my orientation and how that might impact our work
and about his guidework. People tell me it will come, just give it
more time, and I hope they are right. Even if it isn't going to work I
need to give it more time before I or the trainers decide it isn't
going to work. I
don't know where my mind is tonight and since I'm on webmail I can't
edit. I have quite a job of editting when I get home. Any volunteers
grin! Tomoro I will have had him for 1 week and what a wild week its
been! They said there would b peaks and valleys. I think I've had
slight hill and steep dropoffs! Thank you all for your emails and calls there I spelled it right LOL it means a lot to me. So do all
your prayers and positive thoughts. Sorry about the pic the second
one should work. Ok, just so youu don't think its all been emotional
here is a hilarious moment I had yesterday. Actually it began earlier
in the week. I should tellyo u that our building has a guys and girls
hall which have 3 rooms to each side and feel identical. There r
braille lable on the door jam right after you pass if you go down the
hall. So earlier this week. A gi guy named Charles walked in my room
on accident. I just laughed and was glad I wasn't the only one who
walked down the wrong hall. Well, last night, I did the same thing
walking in to his room! I laughed so hard! We sit at assigned tables
for meals just to make it less confusing. i sit with a guy who has a
great sense of humor. I think I laugh more than I eat! I should
record, some, as he is a retrain and will leave this friday or early
next week. I had two other funnies involve the harness. I was putting it
on for the first time and I clipped it around his leg enstead of his
belly lol. Hiedi was like "um feel that real close and tell me if it
looks right." LOL The second time I tryed to put the chest strap over
his head! No wonder he won't guide me LOL! "why should I work for
someone who can't even quit messing up the harness!" ROFL! Now the
only problem I have is remembering to pull the leash through. Ok,
well a few people have ordered wings and I'm gonna go eat a couple of
garlic ones, not what the tummy needs but hey its good stuff. Then
its out to relieve and falling asleep to listen to DMLive. I have
found a neat christian station here that plays southern gospel. There
are 6 christian stations its crazy LOL. Hey at least there is some
variety. Ok, Ok, this novel is over. Love, Shelly
,Monday August 16, 2004 7:55pm Subject: Better routes but a stubborn dog
today we
went to a nearby town to what they call the DTC the downtown training
center, a comfortable place really well they took us out on a 2 block
more like 4 since they were long city blocks route. Radar did not
want to stay down today. i was trying to put him down, following a trainer�s
suggestion between my chair and a table. he had enough room, but just
didn't want to go down or stay down. I spent the day fighting with
him. It was the battle of the wills I tell you!! Its very hard to push a
dog backwards when its deadweight. However our routes were good. The
first time he missed one curb it was for a real street this time but
we reworked it and he got it. He kept me in the middle of the
sidewalk the whole time. The second time out he didn't skip a
single curb and even slowed down for some broken sidewalk again
keeping me right in the center. I was starting to enjoy my
walk! Maybe there's hope for us yet! Tonight we did our own
obedience. he does so well when its just me. We played a bit, and i
groomed him. Oh forgot to say that while we were waiting to go on our
routes Reda wrote up the biographies we wanted to have read to our
puppy raisers on Saturday. And there was discussion about how to
interact with them when they come and stuff. Lecture was this
afternoon instead of evening and it was really 2 lectures since we
missed Fridays. The first part was on handling suspicious or
agressive behavior while working your dog and intelligent
disobedience, where the dog stops for danger. The next was on safe
street crossings. This mornings obedience session we learned about 4
commands where we do not use the dogs name heal easy no and stay. I
have some counfusion on this. I guess its because those commands r
followed offten by a correction, but any command could be followed by
a corection. Hidy wasn't really sure either. "That's just the rules
they created." Supposedly it has something to do with them associating
nagativity with their name. Wierd! I've not been mentioning the
dining menus because I decided it wasn't important, but I must tell u
about tonights dessert because it rocked! It was called dirt pudding.
Vanilla pudding with orios smashed in it and cream cheese and sugar.
Oh my gosh that was the best dessert! Breakfast was too egg and cheese
sandwiches yum! But I'm getting tired of the same old chicken salad
for lunch. Guess that's itfor today.
Shelly the tired turtle and the sleeping boy, crap he hasn't gotten up in 20 minutes Radar dog!
, Tuesday, August 17, 2004 7:21pm Subject: todays journal
Hey all, the morning route was a repeat of yesterdays with
only one missed curb, a blended one, and one he sort of
stopped at which I decided not to rework because he did
sort of stop. The afternoon route was around the block and
then a repeat of the route from the day before so about 6
blocks. It went very well! He took me around things. I
would feel him pull me and then Heidi would tap something
behind me and say "poll." Sign." It was cool! I did trip
on one piece of sidewalk he was trying to get me over but
it wasn't a hard enough pull and I started to trip. So
Heidi showed me how to use him and balance to keep me from
going all the way down. He's also going slower down steps.
He's listening to my "forward, down, & easy" nicely.
oh and I complained about chicken salad well today it was eggsalad
but it was arm! Yuck! Dinner was good I've never had
chicken and dumplings before. I hope we have that again
and more dirt pudding! Kyle and I were happy! Lecture today
was on getting in and out and riding safely in various
types of transportation. They gave a couple of different
ideas for getting on buses. Healing your dog up the steps,
or putting your dog in a sit/stay positionat the bottom going up
and calling it to u. What do you dog users do? Then because
we were having a thunderstorm we talked about dogs and fear a bit. One sort of sad thing happened today. One man decided to change to a different dog. Gage just wasn't
working out for Frank. He wasn't moving quickly enough and
he was too cautious. He now has a new dog named Royal, a
sweet white lab and they seem to be doing well. He was
pleased with her work. Gage will go out in the next class.
I'm sure he will make someone a wonderful guide! But it
was sort of sad to see him go. They seemed like a good
match. He was a very calm loving dog! I hope Radar and i
can work together for a long long time! Shelly
, Wednesday August 18, 2004 9:02 pm Subject: wal-mart and an energetic dog
Hey all, Guess you can tell where I went shopping today. Radar was excited at first sniffing at things and not paying attention. Although, as we progressed it got better. He did real good at following the cart. I bought starbursts, is anyone surprised, and another phone card.
This afternoon we had a talk all about how southeastern raises funds and how we can help. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I think I'd
rather just get info through the mail then take my training time for a talk like that. After that I just hung out while people worked on a wooden dog practicing different types of leash corections for different types
of problems you might encounter. I guess we will do an obstacle course
and they wanted it fresh in everyone's brains. It would've been good
to have a talk like this at first. I walked the nature trail with
Susan. Radar decided we had to keep up with Needra and so he was
really moving! it was quite a workout! He did well. Only missing his
usual curb. I only had to tell him over left a couple times. We did
rework finding the bench, because He got distracted by the other dog.
Tonight we had a night walk. The purpose of it is 2 fold. For those with
sight it helps them see if theya re depending too much on that too guide
them and not enough on the dog, and it shows us all how our dogs will
work at night and that they will still guide safely.
Some of those with sight were quite emotional when they realized, that they could now travel safely at night, even though their sight was weaker. For me it was just another walk
grin. Radar did well and was again hyper. Its nice to know he can
move really fast at times if I want more of a strenuous walk.
He was enjoying the cooler weather it peps him up so he should like walking, but if he keeps
this speed up we'll have to work on slowing it down grin.
Well, its late and I still want to shower. Tomoro I will have time to write
since we are staying on grounds so if u have any questions about
anything feel free to write and I will answer in private or on list.
good night
Thursday, August 19, 2004 7:32 PM
Subject: awesome obstacle course
Well, this morning they put a bunch of obstacles around the puppy
raiser routes, an l shaped route with 4 simulated street crossings.
Radar was amazing! He took me around small stuff and stopped at large
stuff. He was a little hesitant with an obstacle just off a curb, but really it was great And he stopped at every single curb!
This afternoon was all down time as the staff had a meeting. I slept, did laundry, and read.
The lecture today was just reinforcing obstacle work.
Now we are just hanging out. (We would be referring to, Kyle who's on the other computer, & I.) Some classmates are watching the Olympics,
and some are outside.
its very hot with thunder.
I found a schedule on the computer that says we are having traffic checks in the morning! Eeek! That is where
a staff person um prooves to you that your dog will keep u safe by doing things like pulling out in to the street and stuff. I hope
Radar will only have to do it once. If you don't hear from me well. He didn't do his job
LOL. LOL they wouldn't hit me, but I might pee my pants!
good night.
Shelly
Friday, August 20, 2004 6:00 PM
Subject: traffic checks and bathing
Well, traffic checks went fine. Heidi told me which direction the car
would be coming from, so I wasn't freeked out. She told me that even
though i am the one who makes traffic judgments that this time she
didn't want me to do anything because she wanted to see what Radar
would do. What he did was either stop or back up. During one check he
took me around an ideling car. He seemed totally relaxed about it.
This afternoon we were read the information our puppy raiser wrote us
about our dogs. Mine talked about how small and cute Radar, used to be.
She said to watch out he was a heart stealer! and that he would be my best friend. She said she hoped I would enjoy my new form of independence. I will meet, her tomorrow morning. Oh and I think I wrote Radar's birthday wrong its july 10. I'm anxious to hear her stories about Radar and learn new things. I just hope he's good on our route and that I remember enough of it to not make a dork out of myself! It was neat to hear
the other bios. There are all types of people who raise these dogs.
What they do the time and effort put in to raising and teaching these
dogs for the first year or so is incredibly appreciated! After
hearing the bios I bathed Radar. He was attached to a railing and i
used a hose. He wasn't crazy about it. he kept moving away. He feels
so nice and soft now! Then I learned how to clean his ears and teeth.
He doesn't care for that either! I can't imagine going through this
process every 2 weeks! It takes a long time. Lecture tonight was all
about proper grooming and other types of care for teeth, ears, and
such. It was quite helpful. Now I'm just hanging out waiting for
eight o�clock when a retrain leaving in the afternoon will be singing a
hilarious song he wrote about southeastern which I plan to record.
When I graduated high school I had all my friends talk on a tape and
leave me messages. Its one of my favorite tapes. I've decided to do the
same thing here and the tape will begin with the song. Than its
shower and maybe bed before 10. O�clock, What a concept! That way maybe I won't be late for breakfast as I have most everyday this week. On the
subject of food, they had yummy tuna melts! for lunch,
and i had one for dinner too, because, they were that good.
Saturday, August 21, 2004 6:52 PM
Subject: puppy raiser day
Hey all, I overslept, so the morning was rushed. After morning feeding
we took individual and group pics. I'm annoyed because I discovered
what I was wearing didn't match. Braille lables don't work if you don't
read them right! GRRR! Then we did routes in teams of 2 I was with
Rebecca and it went well although she tried to keep me from running
in to something by taking hold of my harness! I was like "hey let us
figure out!" she appologized but grrrr I'm sure it didn't look good.
The route went well though he did a good job, and the almost hitting
the bush was my fault for not listening to him. I found out later when I mentioned it to Heidi that she thought I was falling. Then i felt bad for feeling mad. en we went to the
dining room where I met Christeena who raised Radar. She very calmly,
asked, if she could pet my guidedog and when I handed her the leash
she started to cry!, And so did I! Radar was so excited!! She's a very
nice lady. She brought him a bone and some doggy treats. And for me a
photo album of his puppy days. How cool! We talked for about an hour and had lunch during that time. We talked about the differences, between Collies
and Labs and Goldens. He was her first Collie. I was
thrilled to learn he's been exposed to horses. She rides! And that
he's fine with them Also fine with the cats and dogs. And he'll play
with a kong if it has treats in it, grin.
after she left I napped. Oh
and we went in the gift shop where Radar sniffed everything! i wasn't
trying real hard at first to make him behave. He was still so excited
and there weren't many people, but as more came in I attempted to get
him under controll. He wasn't listening until Christeena very firmly
said "Behave!!" and boom! he did. I hope we can get there someday.
Sometimes I do obedience in my room and I practice how soft I can get
my voice or if I can just use hand signals. He's great with no
distractions. LOL, I keep saying we should do obedience in the middle
of the dayroom! So after my almost 3 hour nap, I didn't even wake up
when Susan and her parents and Kate came in to my room! I fed, him and, then we played. We found a great activity. Radar loves to run! I held on the
railing and ran back and forth its a short railing.
Radar ran on barked and
jumped!! He was so happy! Kate said it was really cool to see. And it
was really cool to do! Now all I need to do is find a rail at home that I can run along. I'm not comfortable just running in the open,
and we'll be so set for playtime.
I gave him his new bone and gave
him some off leash time. He came and lay down beside me while I was
on the phone. I've begun to notice him being more affectionate
towards me. Its so cool! Its been a day of feeling very happy with my
boy. He's a good boy and I'm glad he's mine!
Week 3
Monday, August 23, 2004 6:56 PM Subject: sleepy rainy day
Today we went to the DTC again. We learned how to do sidewalkless travel. Its kinda cool every so often you tell your dog to take you back to the grassline or whatever u are following to make sure you are still traveling safely and all that. It rained quite hard during the morning walk and we took shelter near someone's garage, so it took us quite a while to finish the route.
Two of our classmates were gone. One retrain went
home this weekend, Steve with Micah.
And another student wasn't feeling well.
Its amazing how different it is with 2 people gone. So
nice and quiet! I enjoy my classmates, but sometimes it gets hard.
I've been around the same people for 2 weeks and little things start
to annoy you, and you just find yourself wishing people would
shut, up! I love my roomate, but there's not even privacy there unless
she's gone of course.
Just before the afternoon route I started getting tired.
Radar was excited he really likes cooler weather. He
was pulling hard and wouldn't slow down. My shoulder ached by the
end! And I got more and more tired! I barely remember doing the route
besides feeling frustrated with the speed. Radar's guide work was
good. He ran me in to a couple of bushes though. It was so funny. I
was walking with Susan and her dog kept running her in too, things like, polls and stuff. So her dog ran her in too, the millionth obstacle. And without Susan saying a word she turned herself around walked a few
steps and turned back around. The exact process we use to rework an
obstacle. We all cracked up.
Heidi must have been able to tell I was
tired she sighted guided me to the bus. When we got home she let me
feed Radar first, and then I napped for 3 hours or so.
I feel fine now.
I'm about to go watch Everwood.
Tuesday August 24, 2004 9:05 PM Subject: the beach
Hey all, Today we went to the saint Pete beach.
I went for a walk of about 2 miles. Well part of it was a run. Radar was excited at first
so off we went! I just ran with him. It was so awesome! Just going!
Feeling him pulling, feeling safe! Feeling free! I went in the water
to about my knees. The water is warm like bathtub water! I stayed in
for a while. Radar wasn't crazy about it. He would back up when the
waves which were quite small came up, but eventually he relaxed and
started walking in the water. We were served lunch by a lions club
which owns a building there. We had a brief lecture on safety at
beaches and parks. It was just so great being at the beach. I felt
relaxed and calm all day. Heidi said it was fun to watch. She kept
making remarks like "well, I think we've sealed the deal�.
And �I couldn't take this dog away if I wanted to�." She's right. He's coming home with
Me, nine days from today!
Wednesday, August 25, 2004 5:14 PM Subject: tampa day 1
Hey all, well obviously you know where we went today. For those who
don't know its a good sized city. We practiced indoor and outdoor
steps, elevators, which I'd like to do more of, ate lunch in a
restaurant, and a variety of different types of street crossings.
They had 2 extra trainers and mixed us up a bit. I worked with a trainer, named Katie who seems nice and seems to be a good trainer.
She said I need to work on my tone of voice. Apparently my praise and my corection tone is much the same so she was having me lower my voice.
She feels that Radar is having trouble reading me. Interesting.
Oh,and I made my first sort of solo trip I was following Kyle but there was no trainer. Well unless someone followed us. We only went a few
feet across the sidewalk left to the stairs right in the door of the
restaurant and we wemt across to the counter where I bought a yummy
orange cream drink which was so, good!
Radar did well. He didn't get me quite around something my arm brushed it, but I don't know why, that happened, if it was him or me. We walked a lot today about ten street crossings and Radar missed 2 or 3 and ran me in to a few obstacles.
It was a day of realizing just how far we still have to go to,
understand each other and be a team.
Lecture this afternoon was on
access laws. And what factors to consider when trying to decide if you
should take your dog to a place or event. Like its not a good idea to
go to a concert because of the people, and how crowded the place might be. We talked about sighted guiding while your dog heals in
crowded places if you want too.
Now I'm just hanging around, being bored. The evenings drag there's not much to do. I guess I'll go, read.
Someone save me from my boredom!!
Thursday, August 26, 2004 5:43 PM Subject: tampa day 2
Well, it was more of the same today, but a shorter route. Radar missed
one curb. He likes to drink from puddles and tries to greet everyone.
In the afternoon after eating out again we went to the mall and just
practiced walking around. Radar likes shopping. He wants to investigate everything.
He got a couple hard corections for not listening.
When we got back we cleaned ears and teeth again. Radar doesn't enjoy
having either done. I wasn't hungry so didn't eat dinner, Now I wish I
had. I guess I'll rade the vending machines in a bit.
Ok that's my short update for today.
Saturday, August 28, 2004 4:02 PM
Subject: Friday-Saturday journal entries combined
Friday August 28, 2004
Yes, my creativity is soaring as you can see.
Today, we took our dogs to the vet for an end of class check. Radar is healthy. He weighs 62 pounds. he's the second smallest dog in class.
The smallest is Dolly the ausy and the largest is an 84 pound lab. There are 3 dogs at around 65 pounds, and the rest are all in the 70's.
We ate lunch at the Herritage House, an Omesh restaurant.
Oh! My! gosh!
the fried chicken was the best! So was the salad, the bread,
the everything. They had all natural peanut butter. It would have been
great on some chocolate icecream, but I was quite content just eating
it right out of a small cup. I looked for some to take home but couldn't find any.
We had the afternoon off because the trainers had to take 3 more retrains to
plane and bus. It�s very quiet now. I've moved to another table in the
lunchroom as the 2 others at my table besides Kyle are gone.
Fortunately its easy to find.
Saturday August 28, 2004
Today in the morning we went to a peer
along the manatee River. I walked it twice because the first time I
was feeling really down. I'm not even sure. I tend to have one or two
really down times brought on for no reason I can figure out. Heidi
and I talked alot about my depression how its impacted my training
how it might cause problems when I come home. And how I might handle
that. She says she can see it coming and that its usually afternoon
or evening. Interesting, because I'd noticed the same things even just
at home so it was nice to be backed up.
She just encouraged me to
keep working with him that we are doing well and do not let my self
doubt ruin it for me. So when we reached the end of the peer maybe a
half mile I headed back then walked it again so i could enjoy the
walk and Heidi could too. I don't know if she did but I did grin.
Radar was moving well and it was just cool. It�s just such a
Roller coaster. Heidi says i can be confident and bubbly and then boom, I'm down I'm not sure who its harder on me or them LOL motivation and
energy gone. I love this dog, but sometimes I just want to pick up my cane and go. Last night for example, my roomate had a phone call, and I went to get, her Radar was on tie down, and since the person is longdistance i didn't want to bother putting radar on leash. I just ran out and found her in a couple minutes. I really enjoyed not having to think about where Radar was then I felt bad for thinking that! How can I still be thinking things like "gee maybe I won't always take him with me so I can have a break." and "it would sure be easier to shop
without him." I'm almost done with the program Shouldn't i be completely sold? But it is a big change and a big responsibility and i guess its ok for me to take a while to see the benifits.
I love hearing people's comments!
"look at the pretty collie." "oh its a Lassie dog."
and while "can I pet him?" is gonna get really old. people who would
never have approached me will come talk to me.
He is so Nice! He is so sweet and playful. He can be such a pain! Will I be able to find a balance for my emotions? Will being home help as much as Heidi seems to think? Not that she thinks it will be easy, but... I'm really nervous about going home.
How will I get, him used to a routine? How will I get, him to fit in to my routine? How will we learn routes? Do I know enough to keep working on his behaviors?
This afternoon I did about a half hour walk down to the puppy kennel and back. He saw a squirrel and went nutso! I did 2 rounds of obedience to get him under controll. We talked about being constantly aware of his body language, springy and fast when he saw the squirrel slow and watching and stiffly holding himself, in "hunt mode.", watching through the grove of trees where they live. There is so much to learn. So many things that could hurt us when we get home. i'm afraid to go out alone with him. How long will that last? What if it never goes away and I never trust him? Can I handle waiting for that trust to develop? Will I stress him out with my frustration and depression? Can my love for him make up for the dork I can be? Shelly
Week 4
Tuesday, August 31, 2004 4:33 PM
Subject: Sunday August 29-Tuesday August 31, 2004
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Well, not much happened Today, I did the nature trail with a
student. Radar wanted to take a different route and got me
so disoriented I couldn't remember how to get back to the sidewalk.
It was a route we'd done before, but not the one we have permission to
do. Anyway, then heading back in I thought he had turned me the
wrong way so I got on him. It turned out i was wrong and he had been
going right. Poor dog! I feel so bad when that happens which is about
once a week or so. I just hope that doesn't stress or frustrate him
to the point of not wanting to work. Oh, and they also brought up 6
puppies that afternoon from the kennel. There were 2 smoothcoat
collie�s, 2 black, labs, and one yellow lab.
I will be editing this later, Possibly adding in little things I'm not sure you'll all just have to stay tuned.
anyway, back to the puppies. They were so cute! They all had
there own little personalities. We played with them,
for about a half hour.
Monday August 30, 2004
This morning we went to the mall. Some people (not me) did
escalators. my balance on those sucks with my cane so I wasn't about
to attempt it with Radar. I just walked around a bit. Radar likes to
shop. We kept wandering in to stores and it took me a while to figure
it out And when we did deliberately go in to a store he sniffed at
everything. Kyle's dog Reeda is a true lady. She only stopped at
Women's clothing or jewelry stores LOL.
We went to the DTC for lunch. I was feeling really down having all kinds of doubts about how this would work when I got home. So I sat outside to eat. I petted
and talked to Radar and prayed. It was strange even with the annoying
crows and loud traffic it became so very relaxing and peaceful.
After lunch we were going to do some more residential work or possibly go to a park, but we ended up going back to school. Robbie Radar's brother got stung by something and they didn't have the right meds for him, so back we went. I was reading when I realized my head was starting to hurt it got worse until I was stumbling around hardly
able to walk after feeding. It was one of those awful ones that
starts behind my eyes goes down through my jaw and around the back of
my head. Susan gave me some aspirin and Heidi brought me extra
pillows and water, and I slept most of the evening. When I woke up
the class was preparing to play a game called "my dog can do that" so
I joined them. It is a fun board game where your dog has to do tricks
or obedience things to move on the board. Radar didn't do so hot but
it was fun. he just couldn't figure out what I wanted him to do when I was trying to get him to sit and then put his front paws on the
chair! LOL! Then I needed to shower and head for bed.
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
This morning we went to a park. It has a nice gravel path that goes for a mile with grass on both sides. I can jog with this dog! And he likes it! I walked it once with Heidi and once partly alone until another student caught up with me. It was so awesome! I felt so free just moving quickly in the middle of the path. I was able to stop Radar from the occasional veer in to the grass or greeting of people,
and he completely ignored the loose dog walking when we went by. Gives me Hope! We may not travel well in stores, but we will be able to jog the golf course! One of the wonderful things about this school is, it doesn't demand complete independince when I go home. Heidi and no one else as far as I can tell thinks I will be less of a compitant handler if I continue to travel with friends to the places I need to be.
Anyway! We ate lunch at a picnic area and then I went on the swing!
We then took the dogs to the dog park a fenced grassy area where they could romp, and play, and boy did they!
Eight running, growling, panting, guide dogs! And
one poor corgi who's dad brought him there for a quiet walk LOL.
Radar was pretty aggressive with the other dogs which surprised me
because he's usually calm. We got back about 1 and just had hang out
time until feeding than lecture at 4. Which wasn't really a lecture
we learned how to give heartworm pills and put frontline on our dogs.
Its very hard because of Radar's fur and i'll probably get a sighted
person to help me as you don't want it on your hands. We were also read
our medical records for the dogs and given any promotional materials
we'd requested. I got some bookmarks on how to greet a guidedog user
with facts about southeastern on the back. Yo could also take vidios,
newsletters, and brochures. Now I'm done for today.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004 1:25 PM
Subject: leaving today
Well, this journey has been full of surprises from start to finish!
As most of you are probably aware there is another extremely seerious
hurricane coming towards us. So class is ending today. Studentsa re
leaving today or tomorrow morning. I'm leaving tonight. No extra fees are
being charged because Florida is in the evacuation zone. I can't
believe I'm leaving this earlyBut before I try to write anything
about leaving. This morning we did a route on a dirt route practicing
finding the curb. Radar got very excited by a puppy and spun me
around! It was a good mile route.
In ten minutes we will be reading and signing contracts Radar will be officially mine! I do not feel ready to leave this support.
I haven't liked everyone in this class well enough to keep in contact with everyone but sometimes a few of them have been incredibly encouraging. I have never
heard one negative comment about my ability to work Radar as guide or his ability to be a good guide.
Oh my gosh! this is unreal I thought I had a day to prepare!! Am I really capable of handling him at home?
Hey Kyle is massaging my shoulders. I will really miss him! Not just
for that LOL! Like me he enjoys thinking and he is funny, and smart.
We were the only 2 who used the computer and watched 7th heaven so we spent a lot of time together. The other person I spent a lot of time with was my roomy Susan. A wonderful christian very calm and low key. She was a great balance for stressed out me.
Joann danice and London were often together and we didn't socialize much. They were all parents and quite a bit older and well we just didn't get to talking much.
Danice especially drove me nuts as she talked constantly. She even talked in her sleep no joke!
David the one with Radar's brother was
quiet and calm we didn't talk much either. Charles was a trip, very
quiet at the beginning of class. It was fun to watch him come out of
his shell in to a funny pleasant person. Like I said they were all
wonderfully supportive. There was alot of laughing and kidding amongst each other and some great pranks on the staff. And speeking
of staff. The kitchen staff were wonderful people who I enjoyed talking with. I will so miss the food of, �SEGD�. It was wonderful.
Now its back to frozen dinners! Yuck!!
Kate and I got off to a rough start, but
things did get better as time went on and while we didn't get to talk
much our conversations were pleasant.
Heidi, wow! She was an awesome support and
encourager, great motivator, a great people person she knew how to
interact well with everyone in the class. She handled my depression
and frustration and was so calm but she was great when I was up
because we could goof off together. She convinced me to stick it out
and that I can leave with this dog. And so I am.
I'm off to finish packing.
I hope you've found this training experience journal interesting to read. Please feel free to stay on the list and follow our progress on the return home. Thank you all for your emails, phone calls, and prayers. Writing to you everyday gave me a chance to
vent or brag and your responses were so great! I love you all!
Oh, Dear Lord I'm getting emotional!! LOL Radar is mine and we are coming home! I did it you guys! I'm a guide dog handler!!
updates from homeretiring Rade
