We Made it to Week Two!

What a perfect way to start a Monday morning, sitting at a local coffee shop drinking a mocha and writing in this blog! Lyons and I are waiting to go on our route, so I thought I’d take a few minutes to write an update. Yes, his name is Lyons, L Y O N S (for screen reader people). He is currently tucked under my seat and being a very good boy, checking out everything happening around us but not popping up 30 times like the first day. He has earned a few nicknames: Curious George, Jumping Bean, and Jack in the Box. A few funny things about him: he is a jumper, and coupled with his extreme curiosity, I really have to watch him when I hold things in my hand that are not at his level, like a coffee cup, because he often tries to jump up to see what it is. Also, he has earned the middle name of “No Sir”. Jumping on the bed, drinking from the toilet, and trying to greet his friends while in a down stay, are a few of the things that make me call his middle name. *smile* 😊 To be fair, he only drank from the toilet one time so far. I keep the lid down and/or the bathroom door closed now, just in case he feels like doing it again. The other night, a couple of us sneezed at different times, and Lyons immediately jumped up to see what that was all about. Oh yes, and I definitely got to hear his voice last night. He was extremely excited about Nurse Donna’s little dog, Princess, a very cute Shih Tzu Poodle. I put Lyons in the play area so I could take a photo with Princess, and he was having none of it. He really wanted to be with that dog, and apparently she did too. She is a cutie!! I sent my parents the picture with the following note: “Well, it didn’t work out with Lyons. Now they gave me this dog to try next.” LOL I will post the picture so y’all can meet the Princess as well.

We are doing great after only five days of working as a team. Lyons is a smart boy and learns quickly. We’ve worked really hard, and I am so proud of the progress we’ve made. The instructor commented several times today how much more comfortable and in sync we looked. Lyons has a very nice pace and pull in the harness. He has a sensitive side, so if he makes a mistake and we have to rework, he needs a bit of reassurance. He is always willing to try, even when he’s not sure what I want. If he gets a little sniffy, he is usually very responsive and focuses right back on me. The “close” command is like 95% better—we’ve been working hard on that and I’m really proud of him! He also does not just dart out doors anymore. He waits nicely when I open the door until I say “let’s go”. Our hard work is paying off!

I started this post early this morning, but I’m finishing it after dinner. Today was a nice productive day with lots of variety. We worked to and from a nearby coffee shop this morning—Tazza Café. It was an area with lots of little shops, lots of pedestrian traffic, and some rounded corners. Lyons did really well, and the errors he made weren’t major—a couple of curbs where he overshot them a little, or he showed me the side curb instead of the one ahead. He did not get majorly distracted and was able to refocus fairly quickly. He actually did really well at staying focused in some pretty distracting situations. I was proud of him. This afternoon we had a vet lecture, and we also went to the mall. My boy did well on the escalators. With my last two dogs, I’ve always let them jump off first, but this time they are having us walk off with them and bring them along with us. Not what I’m used to but we made it work. At one point he was pretty determined to bring me to them, even when we weren’t intending to go there—guess he worked a lot there and got loooots of treats! After our routes, some of us got smoothies and others got bubble tea. I got a brown sugar/latte milk tea with boba. It was yummy! We’ve actually gotten coffee a couple of times while out and about, which anyone who knows me knows how happy that makes me! The staff here is so great! They feed and treat us so well! I am going to miss the delicious meals here. I am so spoiled with a nice hearty breakfast every day. I’ll miss that at home, since during the week, it’s all we can do to get up, take care of the dogs, and have a quicky breakfast before starting work bright and early around 7 AM.

A couple of random things to mention:

On Friday, my instructor changed out our harness handle to a longer one. She thought I might be crowding him a bit, so we’re trying this one. It’s still the ergonomic handle, just an inch or so longer. So far so good. It was great to talk with Lyons’s primary trainer. She is very sweet and was very happy to share a little more about Lyons struggles and successes in training. She seemed so proud of him! I can’t wait until next week when we get to see her again, this time with Lyons. I’m sure he will be soooo excited to see her! I also can’t wait to find out who his raisers were. I hope I get to meet them! I do know he was raised in the town of Lyons, New York. How cool is that!

Saturday we got our grooming supplies—a slicker brush and a comb. Lyons did great while I was brushing him. I’ll be brushing him tonight after I take him to the play area to run around for a bit. He has a great off-leash recall and comes right over when I call him. Also, I don’t think I’ve mentioned that he loves to play with balls. He will squeeze them and run around with them in his mouth, dropping and kicking them, then chasing them around. He also does like to tug, but I have to watch my fingers because he gets super excited. He will often roll around on his back like a goofball, flailing his paws in the air while trying to bite my hand. I’m amazed, because as amped up as he can get, he is gentle with my hand when he is playing that way. However, I have almost lost a couple of fingers when I am trying to feed him treats during training and he inhales them in typical Labrador fashion. LOL Saturday, the dogs also got a chance to play with one another—imagine six Labradors in an enclosed area, running around and letting off steam. It was so fun to watch! I wish I’d gotten a video. They played well together, and it was neat to see their different personalities and preferences during play.

I debated whether to post the following, since it was not something the instructors would necessarily approve of after just a few days, but I decided to because this kind of thing is reality, and I learned from it, plus it was funny. The following is a text I sent a few friends right after it happened yesterday evening:

“Note to self. Before you let your dog off leash in a room, make sure you are familiar with all the doors and make sure they are closed. I went to the exercise room today and thought I would give him a couple of minutes to let off some steam. Next thing I know, I can’t hear my dog anymore, and he is not responding to “come”. “Oh boy!” I thought. “Did I lose my dog after only five days?” Lol after he explored for about a minute, he decided to come back to mom. Phew!!”

They have a crate in the exercise room, which is very convenient. It was nice to be able to bring him and just put him in the crate while I exercised so he could be close by and secure.

A few of us have enjoyed playing cards together in the evening. I think I’ll teach some of my classmates Skipbo in the next day or two. We really have a good group, considerate and supportive of one another and pretty laid back. One of our classmates is going home tomorrow. She will complete her training at home. Another student will go home this weekend—he only came for two weeks. They’ll definitely be missed, but so good that GEB is flexible to meet people’s individual needs. We will be here until Sept. 2. Graduation is on the 1st. I am thinking of singing my guide dog version of I Hope You Dance, which I wrote mostly while here in 2014 training with Keats. Wish I could find someone to play the piano. Not sure I could manage to play and sing it at this point, without much more practice than I’ll be able to get in the next 11 days. Pretty soon we’ll be on our own—these 11 days are going to fly! We’ll continue to work hard and learn much from each other and the wonderful trainers.

I’ll post again soon. Have a great week!