Manhattan Day, Songs, and More

Could it be that Lyons and I are really graduating in two days?! No, like just over one and a half days!! Seems like just yesterday I was getting ready to come to Guiding Eyes, and now I’ll be home in less than three days! I know time doesn’t stop for anyone, and in fact, I think it goes faster the older we get, not to mention when most of our waking ours are consumed with learning to work and bond with a new friend.

As the title suggests, today was Manhattan day. I was the only one in my class of four who was interested in venturing into New York city, but when I asked if they’d do it for just one person, they assured me it was no problem. My instructor, the class supervisor and I left GEB around 8 AM to head to the train station, where we caught the Metro North to Grand Central Station. There we got off and rode the subway for a few blocks, then did some work on the streets of New York city. We walked back part of the way, then took the subway the rest of the way back to Grand Central, where we ate a quick lunch and headed back on the Metro. My boy worked like a champ. He settled nicely on the trains and guided expertly through crowded stations and streets. Together we negotiated plenty of stairs, turnstiles, and worked to and around train platforms, in many cases on both sides. A couple of times, I got to see his intelligent disobedience in action, when I purposely asked him to go forward toward the edge of the platform, and he very deliberately turned to walk parallel to it instead. As far as clearances, he did very well. The errors were very minimal, and he even slowed down a time or two when people were ahead. I think our work in that department is really starting to pay off. One thing the supervisor suggested was that when he is tailgating (getting too close to people in front of us), I should give him a firm harness check instead of a correction. I had to do it only once during the entire time in the city, and it seemed to send the message. I was truly impressed with his work today.

I think Lyons would be an awesome city dog! I got the sense he thrives in environments where there is lots going on. Of course there were distractions—that happens to the most seasoned team, let alone a young team of just over two weeks. The important thing is that we were connected and I could tell when he was distracted, so I was able to help him refocus back on me. we have already come such a long way, and I feel like we’re so much more in sync. The guide dog handler dance is beginning to feel smoother, and we will continue to work hard until we are fully in step, then continue to do so for the rest of our partnership. Truly, though it gets easier, the work of a successful guide dog handler team is never done, as it should be.

Yesterday, I was playing some music on my phone, and I stepped out to park/relieve Lyons. When I came back in, the below song was playing, and it brought tears to my eyes, because many of the words were so applicable to our journey. I think the line that did it was the one about a girl who is learning to trust. It will take time, as we all know, but we are learning to trust each other, and we have a good start. The first verse is not so applicable, but I came in on the second verse. 😊

Looking Through Your Eyes

Also, I’ve decided that Lyon’s song is Upside Down by Jack Johnson, from Curious George. It so fits him!

Ok, since we’re on the topic of songs, tonight at dinner, somehow, we started throwing out country songs that involved drinking. Not sure how it even started, but someone mentioned tequila, and then someone said Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off. A few minutes later, someone else piped up with Ten Rounds with Jose Cuervo. At some point, someone said something else, and we busted out singing Friends In Low Places. That got me in the mood to listen to Garth Brooks music, which by the way you can’t find on streaming services. Good thing I made a compilation of Garth songs from albums I have. The song Two Piña Coladas soon came up. If someone wanted to make a list of country drinking songs, it would probably be a mile long! Red Solo Cup is popping into my mind at the moment. 😊

A quick note about YouTube, since all the links are from there, I’m noticing the Skip Ads option doesn’t pop up for me unless I go to the seek slider of the ad and press enter on it and try to move around. I don’t know if one has to do with the other but throwing it out in case. Also, I can’t press E to get to the search edit field as I used to do. I now need to press B for the search button, and when I press ENTER, I get the box. Back to the regularly scheduled guide dog program …

Yesterday was traffic Tuesday. Lyons did well with the traffic checks, slowing, stopping, and backing up. Toward the end, he was walking slower and much more cautiously. We took class and individual photos, had lunch, and then went to the mall for some more indoor work. At dinner, we had a birthday party for Maria from the kitchen staff. She was surprised and touched. We did lots of cheering and clapping, and Lyons did great! He didn’t get up even once. Tomorrow they’ll be showing us how to teach our dogs new routes with the clicker. I have a good idea of how this works and have taught my dogs lots of new routes, but we can always learn something new in the midst of familiar things, so I am looking forward to it. We will go to the movies in the afternoon and give our dogs some practice in this setting, lying quietly, ignoring popcorn, etc. Being that we have a movie theater within walking distance of home, this exercise is super applicable to us. A good movie and popcorn are just a bonus. 😉

I’ll leave y’all with something I’ve been struggling with. I of course intend to provide this feedback to GEB. I feel that the instructors are very hands-on, which is understandable to a point, particularly when starting with a new dog. However, when I got my first dog at a different school, we actually did independent routes once we were feeling comfortable with our dogs. The instructors were in the vicinity but not right with us. I have a hard time with constant prompting while traveling. I travel independently the majority of the time and won’t have this, nor would I want it. I think familiarizing students with an area and then hanging back a bit, letting them work their dogs on their own, would be so valuable, allowing the new teams to build confidence working independently, problem solving with their dogs without instructors giving the answers all the time. After all, if you get a guide dog, you will be traveling unaided, just you and your dog, at least some of the time. I also understand some people don’t want to spend time learning routes that they’ll never do again. However, I think the choice should be given.

I’m attaching a picture of us at Grand Central Station, taken by my instructor. I will hopefully post tomorrow or Friday morning to share our graduation link. Graduation will be Friday at 4 PM eastern. I hope some of you can attend virtually. Also, thank you all so much for your comments of support and encouragement, whether here, on FB, WhatsApp, text message, or just a phone call. It means the world.