It’s time to share Dog Three’s name: Iowa. He was raised in New York’s Capital region for Guiding Eyes for the Blind.   He is 2.5 years old. He is a black labrador retriever and is 71 lbs.   His build is medium.  He holds his tail high when he is happy.

 

The past four days has been busy and exhausting both physically and mentally for me. The routine is back to being up by eight a.m. to feed and relieve both dogs.   Until now we slept until nine or ten, both being retired. The instructor, or GDMI, arrived at ten a.m. and we put in a full day of walking, obedience, practicing everything from ear cleaning to putting on booties.  We practiced shoreline travel, which is walking without a sidewalk and following the line of travel where the road meets the grass, etc. It gets even more complicated when there is a side street involved.  We practiced targeting with the bell with playing the ring the bell game, then progress to using the bell to helping targeting elevator buttons, etc. It’s interesting to watch this dog think and respond. He isn’t the quickest and not the slowest, he falls a bit above average in responding. But once he gets the target, it’s not forgotten.

 

We walked in the mall, in the park, in a city sidewalk setting, through restaurants, parking lots. We practiced using the elevator and targeting in the hospital I visit for blood work, the nail salon because of the narrow ramp beside the stairs, working among and through dogs, people, and obstacles. Iowa was great with all of it. The final walk was Iowa and I, my husband, Jerry and our pet dog and Andrea, the GDMI, walking to the local park, finding the bench and enjoying ourselves a bit before reversing the route back to the house.  I rate it a triple A+.

Thanks for reading my journal, may you and your loved ones have a blessed Memorial Day weekend.