Day 8 - September 22

Things are going well with Gonzo.  In the morning Bill and I were paired again for a walk.  Courtney is funny.  She forgot her debit card at home so she decided we’d walk to her place.  The round trip ended up being about 3.6 km.  It was a nice walk, going north on Kerr with the normal sidewalk obstacles of planters, people and patios.  Once we turned off, there were long stretches without even having to cross any roads.  Bill had success in the sense that his dog pooped again in harness but this time he noticed it, got the harness off and was able to pick it up.  He has had luck relieving the dog in the front area on the grass, so hopefully he’ll not have to deal with frequent relieving in harness for much longer.  We also had a long stretch where there were no sidewalks.  I was following Bill and Ziegler at their normal break neck speed.  I was sharing with Courtney that walking on the road makes me nervous, even when I’m walking with people.  So I asked how I could tell if the dog is over far enough.  She reminded me to periodically use the command “over left” with hand motion to the left.  If you are unsure you stop the dog and put your foot between his front and back paws.  On the other side of his body should be the edge of the road. Okay, let’s give it a try.  Put leg under Gonzo and, oops, dog leaps backwards.  Jumpy poodle.  So in my case I think the foot will go in front of the dog J.  The walk went very well with good work from Gonzo.

It is hard to believe that in a week we're going to be released into the world with these dogs.  There is a bit of anxiety about how they're going to handle their next big life change.  These dogs are born at the school's breeding facility in Guelph.  After 8-10 weeks they are fostered out to puppy raisers for the next year of their lives.  The puppy raisers are responsible for teaching the dog proper doggie commands like sit, down, heel, etc.  They also take the dogs everywhere so the dogs get used to being in public around people.  It is one of the most amazing volunteer jobs I can think of since they must obviously bond with those dogs they look after and then have to let them go.  The few puppy raisers I’ve talked to say it is hard but they feel really good knowing that the dog is going to have an important job and change a person’s life.

In the afternoon we climbed into the van to head off to Costco for some indoor crowd work.  Everything went smoothly.  Gonzo did a good job at getting us around all those carts left in the middle of the aisles and dealing with all the people.  No worries there.

Once we got home and relieved the dogs, I went back to my room and ended up having a short nap while watching the Canucks lose in China.  Bill, Duncan and I went out for supper to the Gingerman Pub.  It was nice to get out.  I had everything programmed into my GPS, but it turned out that while I was napping, I forgot to plug my phone in as well as turn off the GPS program.  So my phone got us to the place but had no battery left to scan the menu.  The manager was great and went through the menu with us.  It was a nice meal and a nice break.  We walked back with no issues.  I was saying to the guys that next week we’d have our dogs with us on such an outing.  Pretty cool!  Since Bill and I had walked up that way earlier in the day, I was able remind him of how much faster we went while following our dogs compared to with our canes.  I learned on the way back that he is using an ID cane, since he didn’t bring his travelling cane.  That explained his tapping technique.  ID canes are thin little canes and so easily destroyed.

We got our dogs and sat outside for a couple of hours just talking.  Eventually Sarah and Sandra returned from their supper and came out with their dogs to sit around and chat too.  It is wonderful that it is mild at night so we can do this.  I imagine getting a dog in the winter months would be a whole other experience in cabin fever.

Don’t know what we are doing tomorrow but, considering it’s going to 31 degrees before the humidex, I imagine there might be morning walks and then working in the mall in the afternoon so everyone, and the dogs, are kept cool.  I learned we are going to Toronto on Tuesday.  Looking forward to that since that will let me see how Gonzo does in city environments.