Category: Animal House
Although I'm specifically interested in reading about peoples' experiences at gDB, I'd be generally interested in anyone's blog/journal about training with a guide dog. Any ideas? I'm switching schools, and am doing all the obligatory obsessing/researching. Thanks!
Don't know if this helps, but a woman on Twitter @swmartin has written a lot about this. I don't know how it will compare to other blogs or sites out there, but here it is:
Sue Martin's Blog
It's part of her new site which is more of a life story thing, I haven't really read it except enough to know there is a lot on her experiences getting a guide dog.
Hope it helps,
Leo
Thanks! I'll check it out.
Hi,
When I went to GDB Oregon last May I blogged about the training. I tried to cover the training itself as well as the general atmosphere food, dorm room etc. Here is the link.
http://aaronpreece.blogspot.com
HTH
You know, if someone wants to blog about their experience, here is my advice better or worse:
It sounds to me based on reading this site, that guide dog training, while not all-out militaristic, is pretty task-heavy. Why not keep a log instead?
A log is not about feeling, or crying, or tissues.
When I keep a log on patrols, it tells what time an incident occurred, what that incident was, who authorized it, the location (we, too, use GPS just not Foursquare), and the resolution.
This sounds pretty stark, I understand, but if you had a log like that it would jog your memory, and for certain you would get a lot more detail down about the experience. If you write like the teenagers and bloggers write, straight out of the gate, gushing with feelings and descriptions, you will tire quickly and skip days.
A good logkeeper or diarist will stick to the facts in running entries. Then write your story on the web later, when you feel you have time. And log every incident. If you don't you will not remember it. If you don't have a record, well, in your case you won't be standing before the Man, but you won't have that piece for your story later.
And know what else? You don't have a clue what will be crucial when you go to write or "answer for" it later. So write it all down, even if it's just taking the dog out at 6:15 AM in the pouring rain.
This is how diarists kept their records - the diarists which historians use later. The problem is, if you start writing fluff, you won't finish: you'll skip days. But if you have something to write with, and you put it down after the event occurred, it's down, with any details that are fresh.
I only wish I had learned this skill in my younger traveling days. I only really learned it after joining the Coast Guard.
And I could stand in front of you, look over one of my logs, jog my memory about a situation, and remember at least some things that aren't exactly on the log, mainly because that log has the date/time, place, incident, who authorized it, and what the resolution ultimately was.
In your case you won't have a Who-Authorized-it, but you will have everything else.
Just a thought: it's worth what you paid for it.
If it were me I'd blog once or twice a week at the very most. I think my friend Laura did that during the training with her dog Aspen. Granted I don't know if it's still up since that was about four years ago. And I don't think she posted all that much.
Mrpibb, thanks a lot for sharing that link--that's exactly the type of thing I was looking for. Now I just want to go more badly than ever; I've been without dog for a few months now, and the cane just isn't cutting it for me. Thanks again.