Day 1: Dog Day Afternoon

Like the day, this entry will be short.  Patti and I arrived at Guide Dogs for the Blind in the afternoon.  For those of you not from the Bay Area, San Rafael is a short drive north of the Golden Gate Bridge.  It’s less short if you, like us, don’t live near the Golden Gate Bridge.  Our drive was about an hour.

Once they located us and put me in a room, Patti said goodbye.  The residence hall is brand new.  We are only the second class of dog trainee/recipients to stay here.  This is a picture of the front of the building

 

The inside is nice too.  Kind of like an upscale college dorm with private bathrooms.  The room also has a crate and tie down for the dog I’m to receive tomorrow. 

I met with the nurse, past of a staff that keeps watch over us during the two weeks we’re here.  The six people in our class then received a tour of the residence hall: meeting rooms, student lounge, exercise room, dining hall, and big fireside room in the front.  Each room has a front door on the interior hallway and a back door to a common area used as a patio and dog area.  The dog area has a place for the dogs to relieve and an exercise area for them to play.  The first one will be the first order of business every day once we have our dogs.

We had dinner.  The chef was nice, remarkably accommodating and a good cook.  We had a meeting after dinner.  I then spent the evening watching TV and writing this blog.  Now I bet you wish it had been shorter.  The good stuff starts tomorrow.