Thought Wheel

Ann Chiappetta

Guide Dog Journal Day One 🦮

| Filed under blindness Guide dogs

May 16, 2025. Day One of training

It’s ten a.m. and we’re ready for the first day and the challenges and string of successes along the path to becoming a good team. Andrea spends the first part of the morning describing the equipment, harness styles and body styles I can choose from during our time together. It’s a bit like buying a car. Leather or Fabric body for the dog? Synthetic leash or leather leash? I liked the harp-style harness handle, the quick snap fastenings and the Unifly style harness.  The equipment is in tones of blues with gray and the leather is smooth and sturdy.  I will train with the leather harness first. Dog Three is black and looks great with a bright blue collar and coordinating leash.

 

We begin with obedience   indoors. He is responsive if a bit resistant, to be expected. I’ve got to prove I’m worth it. I’ve got to mimic the other handlers and raisers in voice, body language or be close enough to it for this dog to respond correctly. It gets better as we go.

 

After obedience, I harness up Dog Three and Andrea snaps on the training lead to Dog Three and we are off.  There is so much to feel and think through, so many little pulls, tweaks, and movements to understand. It’s a bit like exiting a topsy-turvy ride and walking off it, equilibrium trying to assert itself after the wild ride.

His turns are great. His pace and pull are good for me. he takes commands well. His gentle lips and whiskers remind me ofVerona. I think we will give one another the grace to bump around, find our center.  This moment, the moment he accepts  the treat from my hand is when I’ve become determined to make this work.

Later the same day, the mall is great for indoor work and we get to know one another better.  He indicates the change in floor textile where the store ends and the mall area begins. He stops  at the elevator. He stops or indicates  the ATM, the tables at the  coffee place, etc. He targets very well. To the chair, the door handle, the ramp leading into and from the mall.

 

Day Two

Dog Three and I learn how to walk together. I pull to the right and he is still learning how to compensate for it. This results in me veering when I don’t want us to and the trainer helps me. She observes what is happening and we begin working on solutions. One solution is using the Unifly harness because it has a single centered handle designed to eliminate exactly what I am doing.  It helps with his pull and pacing as well.

 

Dog Three and the two cats and dog in our home are getting along as if they have known one another already.

 

As for me, I am exhausted, my hips hurt and  I love it.  I’ve missed this so much. My body hurts in places  like  in my quads and  shoulders. This will pass.

 

Two routes per day is the goal. We are doing the sidewalk less route in the morning and the indoor route/walks with sidewalks in the afternoons.  There are recorded lectures and follow-ups with the school’s own lead Veterinarian and the advocacy lecture. Both are coming up soon.

 

Guide Dog Journal 🦮

| Filed under blindness Guide dogs

 

May 7, 2025

I flew to Cape Cod  last week. It was the first time I jumped aboard a plane since before the Pandemic. It was great flying again. The travel bug has returned.

 

While I spent five days with my sister and her wife in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, Pat, the woman who raised my second guide dog, Bailey, visited. She brought her current guide dog in-training, nexie. She is a black lab, less than sixty pounds. She lay between Pat and I during lunch, placing her head on my foot.  When she did, I told myself my new dog would be with me soon and his big head would be propped on my foot soon.

 

It was wonderfully healing to be with Pat, talking about my second guide dog Bailey and his life with us. Until then I didn’t want to acknowledge the huge gap Bailey had filled and left due to his death early last year. Now, at least, I can begin learning how to allow myself how to love another guide dog.

 

The day after Pat left, she texted me a quick note. It said she found my new dog’s puppy raising region on social media. She said he has a big head and a soft face, which in dog terms means an intelligent expression. Jerry said he looks smart, the same way my first guide dog, Verona, had looked.

 

Now I am even more excited, and I want to shout it out to the world. I am going to meet him in eight days, and I cannot wait to feel his big head and introduce myself.

May 13, 2025, I spoke with dog three’s trainer yesterday. Her name is Andrea, and she is one of the Guide Dog Mobility Instructors, or GDMIs in the Specialized Training department for Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Now that I am older and often rely on a support cane, the admissions person thought my needs would be better addressed with a GDMI who will incorporate my other mobility challenges in addition to my blindness and receive a dog who is acclimated to a support cane when working with me. How cool is that? Andrea also works with the deafblind students and students with other disabilities. .

I got to pick out the color of dog Three’s collar, type of leash (biothane or leather) and booties. We talked about the types of harnesses and the harness handle. I prefer an ergo-style to ease the strain on my wrist.

 

We ordered dog food and today and tomorrow I am washing the dog beds and gathering up all the doggie paraphernalia I’ve collected over the years. I’ll donate some of it to a local shelter and   maybe Andrea will accept the dog booties for the equipment room back at the school. Hey, it’s all about reusing and upcycling now, right?

 

Jerry is so excited, and I know he will have to restrain himself. He will also need to pay attention and mind the rules for a while, something he doesn’t like.

 

May 15

Dog Day. It’s early evening in  Monroeville. The humid air keeps it from getting too cool. I am so nervous. I admit it to Jerry, who  seems amused by it.

 

The van pulls in and I feel the change coming.  I pray this match is everything for which I am hoping. It’s a quiet and simple greeting. He is curious but not overly excited.  I get a few sniffs, call his name and dispense a few treats. We go inside, he and my other dog are friendly and ten minutes later they are chasing one another in the back yard.  He doesn’t relieve himself until later after all the greetings are done and we are preparing for bed. He settles in on the tie-down on his new bed and soon we are all asleep.