Day 9: Working My Dog to Work

Today, I got a preview of what it’s going to be like to take my guide dog to work. 

Angie, our instructor, took another student and me to Berkeley to work our dogs.  We took turns chillin’ while the other student worked.  I drank iced tea and listened to a novel at Starbucks while the other student worked. 

When it was my turn, we rode BART from Berkeley to Oakland’s Lake Merritt station.  I got to use the escalator instruction I received the other day.  I learned how to take Chase through both the narrow fare gates and the wide gates for the disabled and bicycles.  I learned how to heel Chase down the stairs.

He was stressed on the first BART ride of the day.  I petted him a lot and fed him lots of treats.  But I think he was reading my anxiety.  And that continued when we walked from Lake Merritt station down Oak Street to KTVU.   I think it had to do with me walking the same route I’ve followed for 27 years without a guide dog.  I rushed Chase and it was hard for him to do his job.  Angie got me to slow down, and that made things a lot better.

At KTVU, we didn’t go in the building.  It probably would have been too much for the dog his first time there.  So instead we worked in the parking lot, patterning the safest way to go from the walk-in gate to the building. 

Chase did much better on the ride back to Berkeley, and on the round trip in the afternoon.  He was pretty mellow as he lay between my feet with his butt under the seat.  He also did a great job on the afternoon walks to and from KTVU. 

In the morning, I corrected him when he walked me too close to a four by four wooden upright on some scaffolding against a building on Oak between Third and Fourth.  So in the afternoon, he stopped at every four by four upright in that block to show it to me and make sure I was safe. 

When we returned to Berkeley in the afternoon, he lived up to his nickname, “High Speed Chase”.  We walked up Center Street to Oxford, and then on Oxford.  The more crowded the sidewalk, the more Chase seemed to enjoy the challenge of navigating around the people and sidewalk tables.  He cruised along, and when someone was going too slowly in front of us, he appeared to look for the passing lane on the left.  He would slow down when the passage narrowed because of trees or bikes or tables. Then he would speed up again when he had chance.  It was really fun walking with him on a street like that.  I could never navigate that sort of situation so fast using my white cane.

Day 8: A Day of Rest

And on the eighth day, the dog rested.  And so did I.

Sunday was a day off.  No training.  But a doggie still has to eat and do other things doggies do (if you get the pun).  So Chase and I had a leisurely day.  I slept an extra hour.  Normally, I have been getting up and getting ready before I feed, water and relieve the dog.  Today, he got the first shot, and I put him on tie-down in the room while I took a shower and shaved.  We went for a walk, just the two of us.  Only once or twice did he look at me as if I were stupid. 

My son and daughter-in-law, Jon and Annie, came to visit today.  Jon shot a little bit of video of Chase and me.  Here you go:

My co-worker, Marcia Antipa, also stopped by wtih her husband and sister (who is a volunteer at GDB).  It was great to get to spend some time with them. 

By the way, you might notice Chase gets going at a more brisk pace.  As a result, I have nicknamed him “High Speed Chase”.

Day 7: Stairway to Heaven (Or At Least, Escalator to Kitchen Ware)

My commute includes a couple of escalator rides at the BART stations.  So today I learned how to work with Chase on escalators.  As with everything else, he’s trained.  I’m not. 

The escalator ride is a juggling act.  First, you give the command, “Find the escalator.”  Then you say, “Good dog” and give him/her a treat.  You drop the harness and hold onto the leash.  Then step on.  The dog follows and places himself beside you.  You grab his collar lightly and when you feel the handrail start to straighten, you begin to walk off, telling the dog, “Let’s go.”  The dog does.  And you end up off the escalator with a heeling dog.   There’s a second option.  (Nothing, it seems, is simple.)  You can also “work” the dog off the escalator.  That means taking hold of the harness right after you get on, and being ready to say, “Forward.”  When you say forward, the dog walks off the escalator.  If you’re holding the handle, so do you.  The dog keeps walking forward.  We were in Sears at the mall near Guide Dogs practicing.  I think we forwarded into pots and pans, but I’m not sure. 

In the store, I also had a little boy – toddler size – come up and pet Chase.  If it had been an adult or older child, I would have explained he should ask first before petting my working dog.  But he was so cute and Chase was so patient, I simply had Chase sit and let the little boy pet him.  It was my first experience with someone petting my guide dog.  I’m sure it won’t be my last.

Chase also did a great job of passing the spilled popcorn on the floor near the theater multiplex.  If you’ve ever had a Labrador retriever, you know what a feat that is. 

I spent a little more time on clicker training today, working toward Chase, the BART Seat Finder. 

 Late this afternoon, Chase and I took our first solo walk.  We went over to the play yard.  It’s a fenced-in area with grass and dirt where the dogs can play safely.  Chase lived up to both his name and his breed.  I threw toys and he chased them.  Then he retrieved them back to me.  With his harness off and a toy on the run, he became a normal young dog, romping in the play yard.  It was fun, and it made him a quiet dog this evening as he lay next to me while I wrote.

We met a young dog being trained today that has the perfect guide dog name:  Seymour. 

Day 6: Chase The Change

Today was a day of change.  After a few days of trying a lot of different dog training tricks, we were still unable to get Nicole to walk at a pace I found comfortable.  She just didn’t seem to be able to maintain the quicker walk that made me feel comfortable.

So after talking it over with the Guide Dogs staff, they decided to have me try a different dog.  They brought me Chase, an 18 month old, 65 pound, 23 inches tall, black Labrador retriever. 

  

The difference was obvious immediately.  Chase walked like someone was chasing him.  Well, not exactly.  But he was definitely quicker.  And that made it easier for me to concentrate on the walk, not having to give constant encouragement to speed up.

As the bank ad says, “Chase what matters”.  And we agreed what matters is that I have a dog that will be an effective vision aid, not a pet.  Nicole is a wonderful dog, and we were beginning to bond, but she was not going to be the most effective vision aid for me.  

Chase was also immediately engaging.  He has a demeanor that says, “I’m so excited to meet you.”  He wags, wiggles and leans in.

Another part of today’s instruction was clicker training.  We learned how to use a clicker combined with rewards to teach the dogs new tricks.  I will likely use it to teach Chase the “chair” command.  That means he should find an empty place to sit.  It’s a technique that should be handy on BART.  The command is “chair” rather than “seat” because seat sounds too much like sit.  It can also be used to teach the dogs to find the button on the pole for the street crossing signal or to find a trash can (a handy command for sightless people who just picked up a bag full of dog waste and would rather not carry it around with them.)

Tonight, we heard about all of the great support Guide Dogs will give us with veterinary care when we go home.  Tomorrow is a work day.  Then we have Sunday off, and get back into the instructional swing on Monday.

Day 5: Taking Our Booties For A Walk

Today we took our booties for a walk.  It’s been hot here in San Rafael, low to mid 90s all week.  That means hot dogs and hot dog feet.  So today, I put Nicole's little booties (more like tennis shoes) on her. 

You can see the booties are cuties.  They have rubber soles and nylon tops, with a Velcro strap to hold them securely on her paws. 

With the booties on, we walked through downtown San Rafael again, working on a fast pace.  Today she went right to her trot with very little prompting.  Again Angie used the clicker to mark the behavior we wanted to reward.  And again Nicole stopped on a dime to get her high value reward, little chunks of meaty treats. 

It’s a case of be careful what you ask for.  I found Nicole’s original pace too slow.  Now I feel like I’m running for a bus when I try to keep up with her.  And again we were both panting by the time we finished the walk. 

Also today I took her a short walk from the dorm to a play yard.  Another student accompanied us with his dog.  Nicole played by herself for a while.  The other dog played by himself for a while.  Then they played together.  They romped and wrestled.  One would grab a toy and run, while the other chased along behind.  It was fun to watch her play and get tired doing something other than tow me around.

I find that more and more she’s looking to me for direction, affection and approval.  Right now, she’s sitting under the desk in front of me, with her head resting on my thigh.  I take all of that as a sign that she and I have begun the process of bonding, a key part – they tell me – of becoming a successful guide dog team.

A short video of Nicole walking with her booties on.

Day 4: We're Starting To Click

Nicole and I went for a walk today.  In fact, we went for two walks.  What we discovered on the first walk was that when I didn’t have a blindfold on, she didn’t walk fast enough for me.

I wanted to stride.  She wanted to stroll.

So on the second walk, Angie – the trailing trainer – tried a little technique called clicker training.  Nicole knows that when the trainer sounds a clicker, she gets a treat.  Angie replaced the kibble in my waistband treat bag with little cubes of meaty treats.  Those are called “high value treats”. 

I then gave Nicole the forward command.  Once she got into her stroll, I gave her the command “hop up” and tugged upward on her leash while holding the harness.  She knew that meant walk faster.  I repeated it until she was at a trot.  After Nicole took a few steps at a trot, Angie hit the clicker.  Nicole stopped immediately and looked up at me, waiting for her treat. 

For most of a mile, we kept Nicole at a trot.  With temperatures around 90 degrees, it was a workout.  Nicole went faster.  I went faster.  Angie went faster.  By the end of the walk, Nicole was panting.  I was panting.  Angie was panting. 

We’ll continue working on it Thursday. 

That’s right.  I’ll be here for Independence Day.  In some ways, that seems poetic and appropriate – to train with a guide dog on Independence Day.  I anticipate that having a guide dog will help perpetuate and enhance the independence I’ve worked hard to exercise for years.

My friend, Hutch Gott, asked me a couple of questions via Facebook: “Would be interested to know about your interaction w/Nicole and what it taught you. And how you will be grooming her daily.”

I’m not sure I’ve been doing this long enough to know what it will teach me.  I expect it will teach me dependence and trust.  I will come progressively to trust the dog’s training and to depend on her for safety. 

 

The grooming is simple.  I brush her against the grain of her fur with one kind of brush and brush with the grain with another kind of brush. I brush her top and bottom.  She loves it. I think tomorrow I learn how to brush her teeth. 

Day 3: Who Was That Masked Man?

The pace picked up today.  The entire class moved over to Guide Dogs facility in downtown San Rafael.  They call it “The Lounge”, and from there, students can walk pre-designed routes in the downtown area.

With a ratio of two students to one instructor, one student would go out and walk with his or her guide, the instructor right behind to teach and correct.  The other student remained behind in the facility, which has a comfortable common room, a small dining area, a kitchen, rest rooms and a patio. 

My route was about a mile roundtrip.  I did in twice.  Both times, I was blindfolded for the first half.  It kept me from using my small amount of residual vision to override the dog.  I had to trust Nicole completely.  Well, not completely.  I also trusted Angie, my instructor, to tell me when it was safe to cross the street or when the sidewalk was going to be a little rough.

 

If there are no sounders on the walk signals, a completely sightless person might have already developed the ability to read cues such as when traffic is moving perpendicular or parallel to him or her.  I usually use cues such as whether the traffic light is red or green.  The dog only knows that the handler said “forward” and not to walk in front of a car.  (No, the dogs cannot read traffic lights.)

Nicole and I are bonding.  Some of what she did today was a relief (to both of us in different ways).  We also received instruction in how to groom our dogs daily. 

And we had a yoga instructor come in tonight to help us unwind all those muscles we’ve been using to hang on as the dog takes us for a walk.