Thursday 3 May 2012

It started today!

Blog 25   May 3 2012
It started today!

Today was the first day I took Lucky on a walk on my own! I have to tell you after a year and some change it was great not to have to walk with a cane.
I have not been home a week yet and things are really good. Lucky is settling nice and loves being with the boy and my wife. Every time they come into the house he goes bounding down the hallway to meet them. Of course being the hard people they are! lol. They pet him like crazy and play with him.
We bought his pet food yesterday and at the same time I bought him a Kong toy that has like frills on the end. Well you think I had given him the world he played with this Kong with my wife and boy for about an hour. I think it is great because he is now leaving my shorts alone, that is another blog maybe one day.   
All fun and games on the side the real training begins, yes I was with him for a month but now it is just him and I who have to do the work. When I got home I was not allowed to work Lucky until the trainer came and went over a couple of roots with us, Lucky did very well and I felt very confident with him on the street.
Today’s walk was for real! It was one of those roots that the instructor did with us. So what was the big deal you may ask? Today’s walk was without an instructor, that means nobody there to ask a question to! That means you had better be sure of what you are doing because Lucky will not have a whole lot of faith in me the next time we go out and that will be a big issue.
As I mentioned before in my last blog that working and building a good guide team is like walking on a sheet of ice, you have a good chance of falling but it is how cool you look doing it. It is the same when you mess up with your dog it is about building that trust before you mess up that will keep your team work solid.
Today’s route was so simple I could walk it blind folded! lol But for me it was the first time I walked it with Lucky and that is how you build trust and confidents with each other. You take your time and encourage each other and work through each obstacle one at a time.

I have no doubt that we are going to be a good team, I could tell by his street work today. He came right to the corners. He waited for traffic, and his next command. When a car came out of a drive way he stopped and would not move until the path was clear. I went to the store and as simple as that sounds for our first trip that was big. Lucky had to move me around obstacles (displays that I normally take out with my cane)in the store. He had to watch for other shoppers and make sure I was ok. When it was all said and done, I told him to find the cash and he did. I know some sighted people who could not do that.

Over the next month it will be just simple roots in the area and as we progress moving up to the next school semester in September Lucky and I will be well prepared for the task at hand.
A lot of people sight and visually impaired think that as soon as you get a guide dog, and are done all the training that you can just go anywhere and your dog is okay.
I can tell you that is the wrong approach! That is a sure way of stressing your dog out and maybe out of service. I have always said that training only begins after the instructor is gone and that is when the team building begins. A lot of people are very surprised when I tell them it takes a good solid year before a good guide team is made. Only after that first year can you really say that you know your dog and they know you.
Today’s walk was not about quantity but about quality. We did about a half of kilometer not a great distance but I can tell you the quality was definitely there big time.

If there is one thing I can speak about is quality in a guide dog! Trust me when I say Lucky has that quality, quantity will come in time but for now it is about quality and making sure Lucky and I keep building trust and team work.

Stay tuned you won’t want to miss this; Lucky has a big personality and no doubt that we are going to have a lot of!
Adventures around the corner!

1 comment:

  1. I am so happy for you! I hope that you and Lucky have a very long and fruitful partnership!

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