Excitement in anticipation of Santa Paws arrival dominated the atmosphere in the Leader Dog Residence today. Apparently we will all receive dogs with four legs, a tail, fur, poop a lot, gender of he/she, named Juno. The day was filled with questions to the instructors fishing for any small detail about our new dogs. It is fun to try to gain information; but none of the trainers gave any worthwhile intelligence. We had much time while waiting for our Juno walks to further get more acquainted with our classmates. Our class seems to get along well. We were well fed, which Leader Dog is well known for.
Our Juno walks took place outside of the residence on its practice trails/walk ways. Even though no snow fell today, the ground is still covered a beautiful white. Our trainers played the role of the dog, Juno; guiding each of us by holding the back strap of the harness while we held the harness handle and leash. Reward treats for proper guiding have been incorporated into the training. We will feed our dogs twice a day with Mini Milk Bone treats throughout the day as we train together. This positive reinforcement approach is a welcome addition to the program. Today, Juno found all of the curbs and doors, and boarded the training bus with perfection. Juno will probably misbehave tomorrow to provide us with more of a challenge. The below picture is Wil beginning his Juno walk with his trainer, Sue Heckman.
Before dinner, there was a transition/bereavement meeting for those of us returning for successor dogs. Six of us met with an instructor to share our experiences with losing/retiring our Leader Dog partners. It always helps to share with other Leader Dog handlers as they are the only ones who truly understand the end of the human dog guide partnership. We are able to provide advice, support, and lift each other up at a time when we say goodbye to our old partners while being excited at the same time about our new ones.
After dinner we had the basic equipment lecture covering our leash, harness, and collar. There is a cute stuffed little yellow lab animal (the same color as Titan) that we all demonstrated our abilities to properly harness our dogs. I am pleased to say that our dogs will be issued with Martingale collars. We were also given the dog’s permanent harness instead of an old used training harness. There is much speculation among the students as to the size of our dogs based on the size of our new harnesses.
It is like Christmas Eve around here with all good boys and girls too excited to sleep waiting on Santa Paws. Issue will take place after a Coney Island hot dog lunch. We will all return to our rooms and wait patiently for our deliveries. We have been carrying our new leashes everywhere we go so that we can work the leather with our hands thus transferring our scent to it. Our trainers will come to our room, take our leash, give us the dog’s names, and leave to go and get him/her. The dog will have the opportunity to park (potty), be shown our spot in the dining room (that also has our scent), and bring him/her to us. We will call our dog by name and meet him/her. At that time we will be given more specific details as to sex, breed, parentage, and puppy raiser. We will spend the next hour getting to know our new bundles of joy. Our time together will be followed by our heeling them in the building. So that we can begin to get a feel for each other as the partnership begins.
I expended some of my excitement on the elliptical in the basement workout room. It reminds me of a mini Family Y as it holds a good variety of cardio machines and weight equipment. I am winding down and heading off to bed with the Investigation Discovery (ID) channel on (Yay!!!).
Until next time…
We’re all waiting excitedly to hear about the new dog. Gad you got some elyptical time in. It ain’t the monster, but it should curb the addiction for a while. 😛