We’re on our way!!

Lyons and I have been a team for 19 days, and This is day three at home. I believe we’re on our way to becoming an amazing team! Saturday morning, we left Guiding Eyes at 3:30 AM to head to the LaGuardia airport. My boy did really well at three different airports, navigating carefully with minimal mistakes, and riding the escalators like a champ. We had a connecting flight, so we decided to use the airport indoor relief area. It had been over eight hours since he’d relieved. I don’t love those, and it seemed he didn’t either, but after some encouragement, he used it. We both felt better. When we arrived at the Colorado Springs airport, one of my bags did not come on the conveyer belt. The one that did come was the one with all Lyons’s stuff. Priorities! It turns out my other bag had arrived on an earlier flight. What a relief! I had asked a driver friend to pick me up from the airport, and he came inside to help with bags, for which I was really glad. I had my dog, two rolling suitcases, and two carry-ons, including my CPAP and a backpack. IN spite of my PS designation (Professional Schlepper), that would have been a bit much. 😊 Turns out my wonderful husband had come to surprise me at the airport and was waiting in the car. I truly was not expecting it and it was such a nice surprise! When we arrived at home, I asked Casey to hold Lyons while I went inside and spent a few minutes with Keats and Spike. Both seemed really glad to see me and spent what felt like an hour sniffing me. “Hey, what’s this dog smell? You were cheating on us!!” I brought each of the dogs outside to meet Lyons. We then decided to take someone’s recommendation and all go for a walk together. Casey took Spike, and I heeled Keats and Lyons while using my cane. We went for a walk around the neighborhood and let them relax for a bit. I’m glad we did that—I think it was a nice way for all three dogs to be together for a bit in a neutral space before going inside. The rest of that day was a bit of a blur. I got no sleep the night before, so I was having trouble staying awake. We all went to bed shortly after 9 and got some much-needed rest. We had all three boys in the room with us. I put a third bed on my side for Lyons, and he did really well on tiedown. He needed some reminding to settle, but once we went to bed, all was well. I really wish I had room for a crate in the room, but he is learning to go to his place and stay and is doing better with that after just two nights. We’ll keep working on it.

Yesterday was a low-key day. We decided to take a day of rest and not do much. I groomed Lyons on our grooming bench and he did well with staying on it. We let the dogs play outside in the yard. Spike was not too interested. Keats and Lyons started to tug but did not really get into it. We’ll give it time. Lyons enjoyed exploring the yard, sniffing around and doing some loops. Once it cooled off in the evening, I decided to take Lyons on a walk in harness. Before that, though, Keats and I went for a walk, just the two of us. He was on leash, and we took time to stop and smell the flowers, literally. Doing it this way just felt right. I hope it conveyed to him that he is still my boy and that I love him, and that even though he is no longer guiding me, that we will still enjoy walks together, just the two of us. When we came back, I had Casey take Keats out in the back with him. I just didn’t feel right about him seeing me leave with another dog in harness quite yet. I know it will come, but I want to give it a little time. Lyons was super excited to be working, and his work was phenomenal! We have so many mailboxes sticking out everywhere in our neighborhood, and after I showed him the first one and told him to be careful, He slowed down pretty much for every one. Truth be told, he was already showing awareness of them even with that first one, before I pointed it out to him. We had a nice 20–25-minute walk, going out to the main street, then looping back around and entering our neighborhood through a different street. During the walk, there were distractions, like kids running and someone walking their dog, but Mr. L. just kept walking. He honestly did very little sniffing and did not become distracted much at all. I truly believe that dogs know when we are depending on them to come through for us, and they do. He did so great, and my heart swelled with pride. I know we will have things to work on, but I already see him being careful and aware, and that makes me immensely glad!

This morning, I had dog duty, and I think we established a good routine for who goes out first, who eats first, etc. Having some structure is important with three dogs in the house. Lyons was very good. I put him on tiedown and he waited nicely for his turn. He’s starting to figure out how things go and that being patient will pay off. My husband and I went to breakfast at Black Bear Diner, which is close to my office. We used to live around there, so it’s an area I know well. A couple of the servers came over just to meet Lyons. They know us well and knew I would be getting another dog. They were very respectful and just looked from a distance. Lyons did well, lying quietly under the table, and showing me the door on the way out with a little direction. On the way in, we worked on targeting the door, and he caught on quickly. He usually does. We walked over to Starbucks, which involved crossing a couple of six lane streets. I started teaching Lyons to target the pedestrian push buttons using the clicker. Again, he catches on very quickly and definitely showed awareness of them even when walking to the office a little later. While crossing one of the streets, he actually showed me a median that I had never seen before. He did this both times we crossed that street. I’ll have to encourage him to keep his line and not veer left or right to show it to me. We will work on it. Going into Starbucks involves negotiating a very busy driveway. The first time we got a little off course, but we went back and reworked it, and the second time was better. Casey stood at the sidewalk we wanted to target, and that was helpful. Lyons did really well getting back out to the street once we were leaving to walk to the office. Getting to the DVR building also involves walking through a parking lot for a good distance, and Lyons made that really easy. Out of my three guide dogs, he has done the best at staying close to the curb and not drifting at all. When it was time to cross over and target the sidewalk, he went right to it! I went to my office to quickly pick up my computer and reset my expired password, which has to be done while connected to the network with a LAN cable. Lyons navigated the building as though he’d been there before. We did some targeting of stairs, doors, and even seats. We were in the lobby and it was of course empty, with it being Labor Day, so what a perfect opportunity to work on seats. I showed him one, and we worked on it a few times with the clicker. It didn’t take him long to start targeting them consistently. At one point, we had to go upstairs because I’d forgotten to get a cane from the office. I had showed Lyons the restroom door once. ON the way back, as we passed them, he stopped and showed it to me! We then proceeded to go back downstairs, at which point Lyons wasted no time in confidently walking up to a seat and showing it to me. What a good boy!!!

When we got home, we relieved all dogs and then let Keats and Lyons play outside. Lyons did most of the playing, but at one point, I threw a ball and they both started chasing after it. Keats got it, and Lyons had a bit to say about that. I haven’t heard his voice much, only a couple of times. He’s definitely not a barker, which is just fine by me. He is vocal though. He sometimes grumbles if he doesn’t want to do something, and he groans if he’s shifting positions sometimes. I’ve heard him dream once. I think it was when we went to the movies during training. I realized I never wrote about that. It was our last day of training before graduation. Those last two days deserve their own post, so I’ll do that soon. I also have some cute pictures to post that his puppy raiser just sent me today.

PS. Lyons must have known I was writing about him dreaming, because just now, I heard some little yips, and it was definitely him. He sounded so cute!!

Hope everyone has a great short week, and I will check in again soon to write about the last couple of days of training.