Day 4 - September 18

Today was a good one.  We learned at our 9 am meeting that we would have 3 walks.  Our first would be on the same route as yesterday, except this time I would have full control over the dog, holding both the leash and the harness.  I went out with Courtney for this walk.  As a side note I still haven’t met Gonzo’s trainer.  She became ill on Tuesday last week and had to go to the hospital by ambulance.  Apparently she is feeling better but is not able to continue working with the class. Yesterday it was Greg helping us and today it will be Lori going on the walks with some of the clients.  Gonzo did very well on the first walk with a few small glitches.  On one road crossing he was angling into the road, so I gave him a light correction and asked him to find the curb.  He straightened out immediately and when we got to the curb I gave him some love.  Courtney was saying that Gonzo worries about his mistakes.  He gets that he has done something wrong and looks back at me for reassurance that everything is okay.  My last dog Bogart would do something wrong, get a little correction, and give off the attitude of “yeah, whatever, I know what I’m doing”.  That was something good about Bogart, he was very sure of himself. J

We didn’t have time for a second walk in the morning so we had a talk about grooming our dogs.  We sat outside and brushed them.  Gonzo wasn’t really into it but, since he doesn’t shed, I prefer brushing him in a more relaxed setting.  It’s a nice thing to do at night while watching TV when the dog is just lying around.  It’s very relaxing for both the dog and myself.

I was paired with Bill for our second walk. This walk was longer with fewer intersections. The idea is to help us get more comfortable following our dogs and being able to get into a nice rhythm.  Bill’s dog, Ziegler , sure moves quickly.  When he was in the lead I had to really hoof it to keep up. This is great for Bill since he is an avid hiker and told us how he used to be a fast walker before he lost his sight, so he loves having a fast walking dog.  Gonzo had a couple of issues. One was at the intersection Rebecca and Kerr.  After we crossed it, he tried to fit me between a woman and a light pole.  There wasn’t quite enough room and as the trainers yelled “STOP!” I felt a big object beside me and was stopping anyways.  On the side street he blew a curb so we reworked it and it was good. On the home stretch on Kerr Street we came to a place where there was a grate in the sidewalk.  My last dog didn’t like these sidewalk grates and Gonzo is of the same mind.  So he went over right and took me between a thin grey post and a tree and some off roading bumps.  It worked and I cleared everything so I guess it was okay. The rest of the walk was fine.  By the time we got back I was covered in sweat and felt like I’d had a good workout.

We were told that we’d get a third walk in about 45 minutes.  I went and had a lie down in my room and got both Gonzo and myself some water.  This third walk was shorter but still had a nice long stretch.  Gonzo tried another shortcut where the sidewalk did a turn to the right and back left in a little dog leg.  Gonzo thought it was fine to go straight over the grass, holding his line.  We quickly reworked that and he did fine.  When we got back to that grate, Courtney wouldn’t let Gonzo do his last detour.  She said she didn’t want him thinking that every time he sees a grate he could do whatever he wanted to.  So we reworked it and we both made sure he went straight and didn’t take that detour like last time.  He did it fine.  Lots of positive feedback for him after that.

We were told at our morning meeting that tomorrow we'll walk to Fortino’s, a grocery store.  Yippee!  A chance to buy some chips and get some change for the pop machine.  Then in the afternoon we’re going to have lectures.  I was a bit annoyed to hear that.  At other schools I researched they do their lectures right after supper so the client doesn’t lose time working with their dogs.  I’ll share my thoughts in the evaluation.  When I mentioned it to the trainers they seemed to agree but said the people making presentations don’t work in the evening.  Of course, from doing a lot of work in the non-profit world myself, I think they certainly could come into work late whenever they need to do these presentations.  That would also help them to be concise.  Anyway, I’ll let you know how it goes.

To close my day I decided to go over to the Moonshine café again.  They have a Monday night jam session.  Bill and Duncan decided to join me.  It was a bit of a weird night.  The first fellow that got up to play when I was up played some old country tunes and he didn’t do a great job at describing the chord progressions, so everyone was struggling to follow along.  I can fake songs I don’t know if the rest of the band is strong but, if not, then I too get lost.  Also the songs he played were songs by people like Tom T Hall who had more of those talky singing songs that my dad had on 8 tracks.  I played 3 songs with the regulars, though.  A bit more folk/rock like Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door, All Along the Watchtower and another Bob Dylan song.  That all went much better, which certainly lifted my spirits.  I’ll be back next Monday to see how that goes.  At least it got us out of the school.

Now, time for some much needed sleep.