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."

Guiding Eyes  Day 20  Friday 

Let's see if these photos come through!

 
Gail and Pippi do Manhattan

Grumble, grumble, grumble... Tried to upload 4 pictures and only one showed up :-( The school's computer is sl-o-o-o-o-w and I'm working between a phone, email, flash drive and this computer. After I get back to my own stuff, I'll add in the pictures.

Morning outing was to the grocery store to learn how to learn how to manage a cart and a dog together without needing 'cleanup on aisle 7....and 8' every 20 minutes. I sort of felt like one of those moms with a child 'driving' the car attached to the front and a two year old asking for every cookie, candy, or chip bag they pass. You need to redirect the two year old's attention, keep the cart moving, and oh yeah, shop. I'm thinking a sighted adult along for the ride could come in mighty handy.

Okay, our last walk as a group! Went to FDR State Park. There was a 3mile and a 2 mile loop with no sidewalks. And the temperature was a brisk 41 degrees with a mild wind. I opted for the 2 mile, just in case the longer one crippled me. I didn't want to hobble in to, you know. I must admit that cute little 55 lb. bundle of energy and drive kept my butt walking, especially on the inclines! Except for the temperature, it was good practice for for my upcoming cardiology appointment (and the stress test I should have taken last year but somehow forgot.)

Tonight after dinner, we had an interesting last class. We were taught how to do doggie massage! Picture dim lighting, yoga-esque background music, 8 dogs sprawled out on the floor and 8 partially or totally blind people learning dog anatomy, like location of bones, muscles, and tendons. As the dogs relaxed, there was sporatic groans, heavy sighs, and of course, the unavoidable flatulence. From the dogs, not the people! We were told that massage stimulates their intestinal system and afterwards, they all poop. Took the zenned dogs out and bing, bing, bing we were holding stinky poop bags (some like Pippi's, were more 'pungent' than others. The stealth farter/pooper  could take on a toxic waste spill and tie for most hazardous.

Unrelated facts I learned today...
Miss Pippi was the youngest in a litter of five.
Her mother's name was Dixie (perfect for a dog moving to Georgia) and her father was named Carlton. (Apparently, he was quite a stud- a couple other dogs in our class are his offspring.)
Carlton had the same white blaze as Pippi, from neck to stern.

Now for the related fact. Pippi's  puppy raisers will be attending graduation! Yay!

Guiding Eyes  Day 19  Thurs  13th

If today is Day 19 of training, it means I've just about made it! Day 21 is graduation and Sunday morning Pippi and I fly back to Atlanta. It will be a new life for both of us; a companion, partner, and dependent for me hopefullyfor a long time, and for Miss Pipsqueak a new state, an unfamiliar environment where she only knows me, a 3 week mom. The , the depth of this relationship, physically and emotionally is, in the immortal words of Buzz Lightyear "To infinity and beyond!"

[Loving that my sweet pea is sitting in front of my chair at the computer with her chin on my knee just starring at me. I know this because I looked down and saw her looking up- no peripheral vision left down low.]

Today was a short walk around Mt. Kisco, a cute little town. We used Starbucks as our base. Everyone got a drink (thank you GEB for treating us) and one or two at a time, we went on our walk. Imagine walking into your local Starbucks and seeing 8 guide dogs sprawled out chillin' around the chairs and couches. Quite a sight, huh. Folks kept coming up to ask about them and some reached out to pet them- which we quickly but kindly informed them not to do since they were all in harness =ing work. Much easier than the wheelchair-bound man at Target earlier in the week who keep trying to hand me a peanut butter cookie for Pippi.

Also spoke with the school rep for vet supplies and received some free and purchased others. GEB offers all graduates a $200 stipend, yearly, for annual exam, heartworm meds, and tick/flea/mosquito med. If you keep your dog within 3 lbs. of target weight and send in documentation by July 1st, you get another $100 per year. Nice incentive to keep doggie healthy.

After lunch, we headed to PetSmart to be Obedience training in the distraction capital of the pet world. And the CEO of GEB  ("call me Tom and this is my guide Gus") came along.  with us!

 We were told that that our dog would need to be under control and heeling nicely during a walk around the store before we could purchase anything.! We did our Obedience lesson and walked around with other people and their pet dogs shopping. Just in case that wasn't enough distraction, each instructor carried a squeaky toy and randomly squeaky-squeakied it. When not touring the store, we sat on benches in front of the vet clinic in the store, right next to the scale to weigh dogs. A woman came in being dragged, literally, by two dogs, one being an overweight yellow lab. He was repeatedly making a sound that might have been the noise for coughing up a rubber ball. He had a choke collar with spikes on it and he lunged at our resting dogs a couple times. Of course, the woman had no control and didn't do a thing. Pippi and one other dog jumped up from a prone position to standing and it took a lot of calm talk and a few cookies to regain composure. These dogs are NOT trained, nor expected, to be protective of their handler. But I gotta say, push comes to shove, Pip might have my back :-)

The toothbrushing kit I got from vet services at school has poultry flavored paste.Can I just say,  Bleech!
So my small purchase at PetSmart was a tube of doggie toothpaste with a minty fresh taste. Listen, I'm being very tolerant of those doggie kisses on the face but I'd rather be slurped by mint than chicken!

Tomorrow we learn how to get in and out of a car (not van) with your dog. We are also practicing, again....wait for it......yeah, teeth brushing, pill jamming, and ear cleaning. Oh my poor fingers.

Alterative link for watching graduation, which lasts 60-90 minutes:
www.YouTube.com/GuidingEyesGuideDogs

Guiding Eyes  Day 18  Wed.  12th

New York, New York....
Coming to the Big Apple is a symphony of sound, a cocaphony of smells,movement not to mention a sh*tload of people. Who always seem to be walking the opposite direction so you feel like a salmon swimming upstream.

We took the commuter rail into the city and arrived at Grand Central Station. Whoa...that's quite a building- massive, canvernous, bustling, overwhelming for the sighted, let alone the sightless.

[my faithful companion, Miss Pippi who comes with me nightly to the computer, has requested rather emphatically a belly rub. More like HEY! I'm here on the floor with all four legs in the air waiting. Move those fingers over here.

Back to Grand Central. My instructor took me to the whispering hallway where you can stand in opposite corners, face the corner and whisper to your friend diagonally across in the other corner and hear each other as if you're standing side-by-side. It occurs because of the conductivity of sound using convex arches and/or ceiling. Listen, science isn't my strong suit...just Google it to get the why and wherefore of it.

Took a subway a few stops. Gotta say I'll never complain about the cleanliness or aroma of Atlanta's MARTA after NY subways. Aack!

We walked and walked and walked. Park Ave, 5th Ave, Madison Ave, 42nd Street to the 60s. Saw 30 Rock (Rock Centre), the location of the skating rink, the humungous Christmas tree-surrounded by scaffolding as the lights are added, and boocoodles of skyscapers. Grabbed a bus, rode to 90th Street (I think), walked over 4 blocks and up to 94th to The Barking Dog restaurant. Typical NY eatery- crowded, close tables, dimly lit even in the daytime. Well maybe the overcast sky didn't help.

Watch words for the day (actually always): Be In The Moment. Sounds simple enough but every teacher fiber in me says Plan Ahead. Focusinging on Pippi and being in the moment to move with her as she weaves in and out around people, poles, construction,roadwork requires slowing down and smaller steps so I don't overstep her lead. Being in the moment means being aware of her movements and discerning the distractions that take her focus off working. I'm a beat behind on corrections which should be immediate and redirect her attention. All the while, I need to be aware of my body language which Pippi constantly reads. If I want to go straight ahead, my shoulders better be facing that way or she will head towards the way they are facing. And knowing where we are and where we are going is imperative. Can you say 'multi-tasking?' It's a handful even in White Plains, NY or Dunwoody, GA. In Manhattan there's only one way to explain it:stimulous overload. Pip and I gave it our best shot. She rates a 96 and I'm behind with about an 80-85. This team is still a work in progress and every day, when we go home, will involve more work. But when we are in the zone, it's friggin' amazing.

New York pictures tomorrow........

Graduation link:
Go to www.guidingeyes.org web page
Left side panel, find Prospective Students section. Locate Guide Dog Services-click.
Find Graduation in the left side menu- click
On Saturday there should be a live stream link to watch the ceremony. Check it about 1:15pm. If by some chance you can't find it or miss it, the ceremony will be available a couple days later on YouTube accessible via the same location on www.guidingeyes.org

Thursday and Friday: Trip to PetSmart and a grocery store, how to enter/exit cars,Vet supplies mail order, doggie massage.

Guiding Eyes  Day 17  Tuesday  11th

Today I put my fingers in places I never would have chosen before! I learned how to clean dog ears, "pill" a dog when chewing isn't allowed, and brushed dog teeth. All in 15 minutes.

Imagine someone holding your mouth with one hand along the edge of yyour upper molars, and with the other hand, prying open your teeth, jamming a pill pinched between your thumb and middle finger all the way back in your throat, just before the esophogus turns downward, then clamps your teeth together (gently but firmly, and strokes your throat to encourage you to swallow. Don't know about you, but I'd be gagging the second that pill  and those fingers hit my tongue. Pippi had to put up with me jamming pills (just Brewer's Yeast) down her gullet three times. I'm praying her future holds only chewable meds or ones that mix with food.

Then there was the teeth brushing. No brushes yet, just a gauze pad aroung our pointer finger. I had to slip it under Pip's jowl on one side, aim the the back molars on the outside (front side) of her teeth, a quick whish-whish-whish and out of there so she doesn't accidentally chomp on my finger. I gotta say, any finger poked into my mouth without asking permission, will most certainly be biten. Hard. And on purpose. I'm just telling you the truth. If your digits are still intact, now try the other side of the mouth. Thank goodness I don't have to wrangle her to brush the backs of the teeth. Did I mention that toothpaste comes in liver and chicken flavors? My girl is using the minty fresh kind. I'm putting up with those lick-the-mouth kisses but the  liver/chicken breath would be too much.

Okay, now for the ears. While we were told as kids that nothing smaller than your elbow should be placed in our delicate ear canals, it's totally different with dogs. Not only do they have long throats that cause you to practically stick your finger up to your wrist to jam in pills, there ears also  have longer canals and you need to stick your finger, again with a gauze pad, all the way in til you reach the base of your finger. So now you're holding up one of those sweet floppy ears, and "dusting" all the little nooks and crannies in the canal. Really? Dusting the cartilage? Blech! That was disgusting. And I have the privilege of doing that once a week. Slight blackish stuff on the gauze is normal; a bunch of it means call the vet.

Teeth brushing? Every day so you won't need to take doggie in to a doggie dentist, be sedated, and have teeth cleaned with the same power tool and  high pitched sound- that would irritate a conscious dog-  many of our dentists use.

There's a few more openings on my fog, but I draw the line removing boogers from a dog's nose and I won't be trying any rectal thermonmeters either. A girl's got to have standards, you know.

 Guiding Eyes  Day 16  Monday  10th

 Today was Ride-the-Bus route. We trained with Pippi on Saturday to target the bus stop pole. Now we would see if she remembered. Bless her little heart, she did. Caught the next bus and found a seat in front. The rule is 'keep dogs sitting up if the ride is short. Tuck the tail under and block the backside with your foot. Be sure you know where your dog's head is located. Bus floors have tempting tidbits or there may be a child with candy sitting next to you. The woman to my right had a bag of groceries and Pippi turned her way, sniffing for aromatic destinations. I needed to cup her chin so I had control over that quick little snout. I joked with the woman that if she had any groceries she wanted to get rid of, Pip would gladly help out! We just rode two stops then walked back. I think our routes are a mile to 1.5 miles each X two routes per day= approximately 10 miles on the streets + stairs up and down (2 sets) daily to dining room for meals + the 18 steps (stairs) I do each night to reach the computer lab = a boatload of walking!

Afternoon walk took me to CVS to pick up items for myself and a fellow student. Going through stores now will be like attempting to cross a mine field. Little sniffer-girl is eye level with many products that look tempting, like candy and gum at the counter or someone's hand basket with stuff (and stuff is edible, right?), or even floor sniffing and slurping up morsels of things I don't want to think about. Each time head went down to sniff meant a leash correction. There must have been 10 and I think we were only in the store 10 minutes!

Lecture tonight dealt with training on a train platform tomorrow to keep both Pippi and me safe. It will be practice for Wednesday when we take a train into the Big Apple. No time for sightseeing, no time for shopping, just a 50 block walk Grand Central Station to out lunch spot. Those who train-ride in, take the van back. Those who van-ride in, take the train back.

One sad note... one of our classmates opted to leave his dog and return home. This would have been his 7th guide dog. He was finding the changes in the training program too stressful. He had soime health issues, difficulty dealing with change, and a robust dog. We were told at lunch that he had left but he sent his thanks to all of us. He was a combination of an old curmudgin and Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man. He was articulate and funny (mostly without intent but definitely with metaphors and similes!) and we all miss him.

Guiding Eyes   Day 15  Sunday 9th

Sundays have been wonderful 'down days.' Still feed-water-park on schedul, still have meals on schedule, but the rest of the day is ours. This is the time I catch up on blogging, grab a nap, and find time to play with my dog. Actually, I play with Pip every day as well as groom her.

This coming week is a humdinger. Monday bus work. Tuesday train platform work. Wednesday, day trip into New York City! Crowded streets, smelly subways, and a train, subway, bus, and van ride. Plus lunch in the Big Apple. Not sure about Thursday/ Friday, but Saturday is graduation! It is streamed live so if anyone wants to watch, I'll post the links to find it on Thursday or Friday.