Guiding Eyes   Day 5 Thursday 30th

Drumroll.......
6:00 AM #2! Feed-Water-Park again. And it's a @1. Enough said.

Another 2 walk day and this time I'm riding solo with no training wheels i.e. instructor not attached. When we are ready to roll, I lift up the harness handle and say, "Pippi, Forward!" and a hand gesture to indicate the direction. Man, if you aren't prepared, if you don't lean back so the chest strap puts pressure on your Doggie, zoom! You get a yank forward and feel like the race is on. It feels, I imagine, like the pull of a horse in the trotters' race; a little jerky, a little off kilter, and a goodly pace. So off we go done the sidewalk, weaving in and out around poles, manhole covers, pedestrians, and baby strollers. As we approach a street corner, the command is "to the curb." Previously, Doggie came to a halt but I tended to overstep. I can just hear the dog thinking, "oh jeez, not again. How long does it take to train this woman- when I stop, you stop!"
Today we gently slid into the curbs like a ballplayer sliding into second base. No, ours didn't involve ground skid or dirt. So we are rocking along our route and reach an intersection where we stop and immediately turn left to the curb a foot and a half away. If the light has just turned to green/walk, we can just say Forward. If it's mid-cycle, we wait. Um... no. Detached from the other mom, my Doggie decides to push the light and begins to walk out into the intersection to take me across. This is like the proverbial boy scout enthusiastically grabbing the old lady's arm and walking her across the street....even though she never planned to cross the street. My instructor yanked me back and michief Doggie knew the dog equivalent to a 'coming to Jesus' conversation was about to happen! Instructor gave the harness a quick, sharp yuank with a low voice said sternly NO! Then I took up the harness again and said Forward and off we went, correctly.
Would you be surprised to learn Doggie didn't try pulling any other pranks? Yeah, Doggie is smart.

My instructor asked me to walk for a while under blindfold. I did my second round of molility training. Amazingly, I didn't feel panicked or afraid. I knew my Doggie knew the way and would guide me. But it was a different sensation, an uncertainty like stepping over the edge of a cliff and believing a bridge will suddenly appear for you to walk across. It doesn't make sense, the likelihood of it appearing seems slim and yet.....there it is. I did about 2 blocks that way and corny as it sounds, it was an eye-opener.