Guiding Eyes   Day 21  Saturday 15th

What a relief to be using a decent computer again!!! The last weekend was crazy and I never finished blogging, so here are Sat the 15th and Sun. the 16t posts.

Saturday Nov. 15th
GRADUATION DAY!!! It started as the previous 20 days had- 6 AM Park-Feed-Water-Park. Obedience training then breakfast. Our morning agenda: to take the dogs across to one of the "community runs". This could be equated to mixed martial arts competitions neets dog racing. All eight dogs were taken out of collars and allowed to freely run in a communal play area. Each human  held onto the scruff of their dog while standing against the outlining fence. At the count of three, we released "the hounds." They all started racing around as if a starting gun had gone off. Standing against the fence prevented human accidents. Not the pee/poop variety but the being slammed-into-by-a-speeding- dog variety.

Racing at full speed could suddenly turn into one-on-one pretend paw-to-paw combat. Jumping on other dogs, playful biting, snarling, body slamming, as well as growls, yelps, and a whole lotta panting!

About every 5th or 6th lap, Pippi came back to me, just checking in I guess. After a quick pet and waggle of her tail, she was off again. It was awesome to watch, but I couldn't help being a little sad that most of my classmates missed out on this joyful view since they were totally blind.

The goal was to wear the doggies' butts out so they would behave during the graduation and possibly sleep. The ceremony was 3 hours later and some of the dogs had regained their stamina, their enthusiasm  by then.

Quick lunch, and we presented our instructors with a huge Edible Arrangements  (bouquet made out of fresh fruit) then hurried off to change into our grad clothes (same ones we wore in our pictures the previous week).

My sweet friend, Minnie Gallman, had sent me a corsage (sp?) to wear. (The last time I wore one must have been in my 20s! Three miniature yellow roses and some baby's breath on my deep purple shirt made it easy to spot me.

We each were escorted in by a sighted guide and our dogs to a seat. Our  instructors reminded us we were on YouTube and that puppy raisers and donors were present or watching so we needed to smile. Sort of reminded me of the beginning of the old TV show Fantasy Island when Ricardo Montalban said, "Smiles everyone" and then the sinister music began. On the show, not at graduation.

The plan was to get the dogs in a down position, and slide them under our chairs, a commonplace action after 3 weeks. A few -including Pip- wanted to socialize with the dog next door under the next chair. [Kind of sounds like her new momma, huh!] A couple repeated slides back under were needed. The CEO spoke  about our class and mentioned a few people. Began by talking about my conversation with him two days earlier at PetSmart when I told him about losing my fear of dogs to reach this guide dog goal and writing children's books. He said he hoped I'd write one about Pippi someday. The puppy raisers of our dogs received certificates and i was thrilled to identify which one belonged to Pipsqueak. Then the graduates got certificates too.

Following the ceremony, I had the pleasure of meeting Patience, Pippi's raiser. She brought a HUGE bone for Pippi as a gift and I thanked her for her loving care and willingness to give back that sweet little girl so she could come to me (even though they didn't know right then which "me" Pippi would get.) My cousins Adina and Bill Viezel and 2 or 3 sons-Reggie and Casey- came at my request to cheer me on. We all went to the set up photo shoot area and took pictures with Pippi. The 'celebrity status' feels a bit odd.

Patience seemed like a very calm, centered person and had some really nice camera equipment too. I have her contact info and hope to get to know her and her family better. She told me that Pip has always been a loving, cuddly dog and her then 9 year old son, Noah, loved to snuggle with Pippi. She told me they did not teach Pippi to put out her paw to say good night and that she frequently tried to jump into the shower with them. Sounds like the dog shampoo need to stay in the shower as well.

Patience had to leave but my cousins and I went on the kennel tour to see where our dogs lived during their training. I had the opportunity to see one of the rarest varieties of dog they get, a black and tan Glabb (golden and lab mix with patches of black and light caramel color. The dog's name was Fievel. Someone must have like that children's movie about the immigrant mouse coming to America!

I know now that people will be coming over to be entertained by Pippi, not to see me! I'm good with that. My cousins stayed until 5 PM when I went to eat the pizza the school ordered for dinner. The last90 minutes of our visit were watching and playing with Pip. I think I've become her "wingman."