Category: Animal House
OK, soooooo not sure if I should put this here or in the rave board...
But I am getting my guide dog! I start training in September! Totally happy, totally terrified, and have NO idea of all the things I should be asking!
Any pointers would be welcome - things you wish someone had told you when you got your first dog? Things you thought would be hard but were easy, or thought would be easy that were hard?
I am not interested in reviving the dog vs. cane debate, but am interested in knowing if you found the transition from cane to dog a challenge, especially if you were a long-term cane user?
Like I said, I am not sure what questions to ask, but I am excited and nervous (more excited), and will probably ask more questions as we go.... but I am honestly not sure of the "right" questions to ask, if there even is such a thing.
Thanks!
Kate
Good luck, Kate! I do hope I will be able to witness your journey. I can't wait to meet your guide.
Don't be silly, Meglet! You will meet my guide... who knows, maybe it will make our shopping trips more interesting... if possible!
Congratulations and good luck, Kate! A few things I learned. One, have something to keep you busy during down time. There was a lot of sitting around during training, as instructors would take people out individually, or in small groups, etc, especially at the beginning. Having books to read or whatever when you're just hanging out is good. But, even though it seems contradictory, there's also a lot of walking involved. I'm not sure how much of that you do now. So if your body's used to lots of walking, I'd say you're good to go. If not, maybe see if you can get out and walk or exercise more and build it up. I wasn't used to a lot of walking travel before I went to training, so at first I got tired easily. Oh, and because of the walking, make sure you have comfy shoes!
I personally did have a hard time transitioning from cane to dog. I had a cane in my hand from the age of four, and so it was pretty engrained in me. Dog travel is way different. You no longer get the tactile feedback, or the echo location by the tapping of your cane. The tactile feedback you get is through your own feet, and same with echo location: the sounds have to bounce off your own footsteps, or whatever else. that was very hard for me to adjust to, as much as I loved the fluidity of dog travel.
I have gone back to a cane now, but more power to you, and those who use dogs!
congratulations kate and I hope it all works out well and I reckon if I knew how to manage the dogs stress levels or knew how to make sure my dog didn't take on other jobs and what I mean by this is my dog also thought he was a guard dog.
There are many questions you can ask like how well the dog is around children, what commands there are and which area's of the house can it go or not like when I had mine the area that was a no go for him was the kitchen and reason this was done so that it couldn't learn how to beg for food.
Awesome! congratulations!
One thing I wasn't really prepared for was the shin splints I got intraining. Holy cow those hurt. Anyway, basically, what I discovered is that the walking posture with a dog is different than with a cane. Even though I walked allot before getting my dog, my legs were still killing me for the first week or two. I guess my gate changed or something so I was using different muscles. These end pretty quickly though so don't let that discourage you.
Alicia gave some great advice.
The only other thing I would encourage is that you really focus on trusting your dog. I think that was the hardest thing for me. You'll learn though.
Have a wonderful time at training and good luck with your new furry guide.
Thanks, guys!
1st day of training is Sep 3! Jenny, my guide, will be coming Aug 31 to stay for the long weekend, and then we start training!
Kate
I bet your excited about that as I know I was when mine was coming to me and that was Christmas eve of 1998 I think.
One thing I did too was talk to my dog and if you do that its pretty normal and you won't sound nutty for doing it, grins.
Don't look down at the dog when you're talking to it. My school said they got a lot of that from people with prior vision, and I still do it all the time. Just look forward, because that helps keep your body direction aligned.
Body direction is key. You can't tell your dog straight, and be facing 45 degrees off to your right and expect the dog to go the way you said. They follow your body direction. While they can correct for a little bit of error, your body placement comes into huge importance with open areas.
Talk to your dog. Love it, bond with it, learn its personality. Don't be upset if it's sad and missing its trainer. Your dog won't be your best friend all at once. Mine cried for the first day. It's upsetting for you, but just be patient, gentle, and understanding, and you'll get through it.
Praise and encourage. One thing that I found helped get me and my girl through the busy streets of New York was me constantly talking to her in an upbeat voice, let's go, that a girl, come on, good girl, let's do it. Not only does this keep their spirits up, "I'm being a good dog!" but I think it helps keep them focused on what you're doing.
Be aware around other dogs. Each dog interacts with dogs differently. My boyfriend's dog will cry, wanting to go say hi, whereas mine has a freakout session and it's all I can do to hang onto her. There's a pretty high statistic for dog attacks or incidents with guide dog users. Also know that the public are morons and don't have control over their dogs most of the time. Keep your dog moving past it with your voice, and avoid stopping unless the dog is distracted and refuses to move.
Remember, you're learning this for the first time (I assume.) Don't panic, and don't stress, just let it flow as naturally as you can. You'll pick up on your dog's signals, and you'll learn things as you go along. You'll not correct when you should, and you'll give a correction when none was needed. Mistakes happen, and you're no different than anybody else doing this, so don't think it's some test you have to pass.
Good luck, and I hope your doggie proves to be a wonderful match for you!
Cala,
THANK YOU! You have given voice to all of the fears I never knew I had... or maybe that I couldn't quite articulate. I feel sooooo much better!
What was it like the first couple days? The school I am training with does in-home training, so doggie will be adjusting to new home, new people, and (God forbid) kitties! Should I worry about her? How can I help make her as comfortable as possible?
The trainer says she can be a bit of a spaz, but from what I've seen (limited as it is), it's no more than any other dog and is in fact less so. I am also starting to wonder if culture differences play into the mentality (my trainer is from another country, so perhaps her idea of spazzy and mine are different?)
Kate
That's a really good point about not being upset if your dog isn't nearly as excited about meeting you as you are meating her. I had forgotten all about that little bit of advice but when I got my first guide, Digby, I was so excited I could hardly stand myself. He was so calm, just like, "yeah, ok, whatever." Lol, of course it didn't take us much time at all to bond.
Good luck and enjoy.
that is true, those first couple days can be a challenge. When I got my dog, I felt kind of bad for him because initially he clearly was looking for and missing his trainer. I did a lot of petting him, talking to him, etc. He adjusted pretty quickly. The dog may also try to test you as far as obedience. You can almost hear them thinking, "You're not my trainer, do I really have to listen to you?" LOL. I had to find a mix of being loving and firm, to show him he did need to obey me, but also made sure I highly praised him when he did. Cala is right, praise is really important. I see a lot of owners who are very quick to correct the dog, but hardly praise it. Mind, corrections, and sometimes stern ones, are sometimes needed. But the dog will handle that a whole lot better if it's balanced out with praise, because that's what the dog is after.
when me and I dog met each other we got on real well and I agree about having to praise the dog and I felt a bit bad when I had to tell it off but yes you have to let them know who is the boss.
Good luck and let us know how things go for you, smiles.
She's here! She's here! She's here!!!
Jenny's been here for approximately 22 hours. She and I have already started to bond. She's bonded some with my husband as well (I don't worry about leaving her with him for ten minutes while I have a shower). I'm not quite up to leaving her alone yet, because right now she's an absolute spazz with the cats... she gets very excited and jumps at them. I'm starting to show her that watching them is ok, but jumping/chasing is bad... she's starting to catch on.
She actually whines for me... I went downstairs to do some laundry earlier, left doggie with hubby, and she started whining for me. She's coming to me when called, and is perfectly happy curled up beside my computer chair now, or on her doggie bed when I had a little catnap earlier this afternoon.
Of course she's stretching the boundaries of obedience... but I can honestly say that I am loving this so far!
Day 1 of intensive training starts Tuesday!
Kate
awe cute and i'm glad you've got your dog and that you've bonded well together, smiles.
Yeah mine use to do that but only at the pool and not sure why but I think he probably thought I was going to drown or some thing but I did reassure him I was fine.
Another time he did it was when I was upstairs eating dinner and it had got past the time that I would feed him and had forgotten.
Day one of training. Did some obedience lessons... that was interesting. LOL My dog saw her trainer and was an absolte spazz when her trainer came to the door today. She just ignored her... hopefully as we go things will get better.
Jenny's about 50/50 with chasing after the cats... sometimes she will lunge at them, sometimes not... but it's gotten a lot better. Now I just hope the cats won't freak out when she tries to check them out!
Kate
Don't worry. Very soon she'll identify way more with you than with your trainer.I hope yall had a great day of training today.
Hey, all!
First three days' training have been full of excitement. The first two days we did some obedience training, a few walks around the neighborhood, and yesterday we went a bit further and even took a couple buses!
Jenny is settling in with the cats very very well. She is very quickly starting to understand that she can sniff the cats if they let her, but she cannot chase them. The other day she disobeyed a command I gave her. We'd just come in from her doing her business, and to calm her energy, I had her on her leash and was leading her to the water bowl in the kitchen. She stopped in her tracks at the kitchen doorway and sat down, and would... not... move. I started to scold her, until I walked into the kitchen and found one of the cats sitting just inside the doorway. So I sat on the floor and started petting both of them, and all was ok... Very impressed by my girl!
On Thursday,w e had a bit more excitement... we almost got hit by a bus! We were crossing at a busy intersection, a marked pedestrian crossing. 2 lanes of traffic had stopped in the westbound lanes, and we were in the second lane, almost crossing into the third, when I heard a pedestrian yell "BUS!" The bus came barreling through in the third lane and stopped just in time to avoid hitting us. Jenny pulled me forward and to the left as hard as she could toward the sidewalk... I honestly don't know quite what happened, but at least two people who saw it said that they would call the city and report it. Hopefully they did!
Hopefully today we are going to go to work! Maybe she'll be able to go with me this weekend?
Kate
well good to hear the training is going well and that would of been scary for you both but hope it didn't knocked yours or jenny's confidence levels.
I'm glad to hear she is managing well with the other animals there, smiles.
Oh my goodness, I'm glad you're okay! What is it with the two of us nearly being run down by stuff?
I can't wait to meet your girl and I'm glad she and the kitties are finally getting used to each other. Good luck!
awe and yes I like it when animals are able to get along together as I know some animals cannot but glad that your dog is getting to know the cats better and beginning to be there friend, smiles.
Meglet, not sure about the two of us getting run over by stuff... but seriously, it was SCARY!!!
Jenny went to work with me yesterday. In the morning, we toured around the building, the bus routes, etc., and she knows them right quick! She came to work with me in the afternoon and just slept. People saw her, but more than one asked "Oh... when did you bring a dog in here?" I am so proud!
I am going to work again this afternoon, but she's taking a well-needed day of rest (between training and settling in and going to work, the trainer thinks she needs a day off... and I agree); she's staying with my hubby for the afternoon.
Kate
it is understandable and great you were able to take her to work with you and yeah it is scary as myself have experienced being run over by a car.
I'm so glad things are working so well with you and your new dog, smiles.
A quick update. Last week Jenny had some issues settling in, which was a bit disappointing. The trainer was a bit confused by her behavior, but we seem to be doing much better. Jen's doing some great guide work! We've explored the off-leash areas, but today she's having a rest say... she's sleeeeeeeping! LOL
Kate
Probably my last update for a while:
Today was supposed to be graduation day, but there are a few more things that the trainer would like to do with Jen and me, so she is staying another week so that we can get that done. A part of me is a little frustrated/disappointed, but another part of me feels a lot more relieved that we will have a foundation of complete training, rather than graduating today and hoping for the best.
Graduation is next Saturday!
Kate
yYeah...better to graduate late and with the fairly complete package than to do it now and lack a little of the necessary stuff.
I recently failed a class at college. It was a hard class and I learned a good deal, some of it more related to myself than to my chosen field of study. In any case, I didn't fail horribly, but I still didn't pass, so I'll have to retake the class. Before writing the final exam, I realized that in a way, failure might be superior to success, since success at that point would have meant a barely-passing grade and no chance to thoroughly go over the material I was weak on. This way, I have another crack at the class. It sucked that I failed, but may prove better in the long run if it means I don't slip through with a 56 or something.
Very true, Gregg! So long as you have an opportunity to get through the class again, more power to ya! The only time failure if truly failure is if once does not learn from it...
Or something.. WAY too early to wax philosophical.
Yesterday we had our "pretend" graduation walk. It went really really well! We went from my house to the bus stop 6 blocks away, got on the bus, went to the local mall, navigated a farmer's market, and went to a restaurant for coffee/breakfast. Jen was pretty awesome! The farmer's market was the interesting part, because it's only at the mall once a week... so I'm giving Jen the guide command to "find left" to get around tables, and she keeps going... and going.... and going.... I keep telling her "Find, left, Jenn!" and she keeps going.... and I'm thinking to myself "Oh, crap, she doesn't want to get me around these tables, or she's distracted or something..." So as soon as she can, she pulls me over to the left, past the tables, and over to the restaurant... I'll talk to the trainer about it today... but I loved every minute of it!
Kate
I wanna meet her I wanna meet her I wanna meet her!
awe i hope you do get the chance to meet her as she sounds like a sweet dog, smiles.
Meglet, send me a text... we'll make it happen!
Kate
Well... it happened! We graduated on Thursday, and I couldn't be happier! Jenny and I are both pleased, tired, happy... and an officially licenced team!
Meglet met her on Monday when we went to the mall.. it was really funny because Jenny thought she was guiding in her jacket... she got us out of a couple of potentially sticky situations, which was great! :)
Kate
congratulations and you must be real proud of jenny and nice that she got to meet your dog, smiles.